Day Trips from Collioure
 

My husband, almost 2 yr old daughter and I will be in Collioure for 2 weeks and are looking for day trip ideas. We will have a rental car, we both speak french. We like wineries, markets, we don't mind some walking, we'll have a stroller with us and she will walk happily but slowly for quite a while. We'll be there the end of August.
Thanks for any suggestions.
T

hi Trish,

we never got to stay in Collioure as when we arrived there [on the french equivalent of a bank holiday] it was "complet".

but we very much enjoyed Perpignan which is where we ended up staying, [your DD will love the little rills and fountains in the centre] and the pyrenees where we had come from.

viamichelin.com says that it's about an hour's drive to Prades via Perpignan so the mountains are definitely within reach. the Cadogan guide to the area was very good with suggestions for drives, walks and excursions.

1. The coast from Collioure to the Spanish border (winery, aquarium, charming Maillol museum 4 km from the center in his former country house).
2. In Collioure you can walk to the small chapel of ND de Consolation and picnic there.
3. Céret and the Museum of Modern Art
4. St Génis des Fontaines (cloister), Elne (cathedral, cloister, Terrus Museum), Sorède (turtle park).
5. Villefranche de COnflent (World Heritage fortified town), Abbey of St Michel de Cuxa near Prades, Abbey of St Martin du Canigou near Vernet-les-Bains
6. Priory of Serrabone near Ille-sur-Têt
You can also drive to Figueres via Portbou and visit the Dali Museum, Cadaques and Port Lligat and hike in the natural part of Cap Creus.
7. The castle on Salses near Perpignan, the African Park in Sigean) ........

Carcassonne beautful castle town fairly close

Your best best for me

Sunfrance.com many other options

Regional trains are good cheap for self guiding

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I've done much less planning than I normally due, the time just dissapears with the baby. I'll check up on everyones suggestions.
T

We loved spending a month in the region last fall. We stayed in St Cyprien-la Plage, and made a couple day trips to Collioure (which we'd enjoyed on a previous trip ) We loved visiting Perpignan and Ceret and also visiting the Cathar ruins of Queribus and Perypertuse (which we'd first visited when we stayed in Collioure). You will have a wonderful 2 weeks. It is a vibrant region and people are really friendly.

Don’t forget Spain is a short distance from Collioure.

Cadaques, with the Casa Salvador Dali, would make an interesting day trip. Cadaques is as charming as Collioure but different enough to be worth the trip. I don’t know your daughter so as to whether the Dali house will interest her you need to decide. There are stairs to go up and down so you may need to carry her sometimes. Here is the website http://www.salvador-dali.org/museus/en_index.html, click on Casa-Museu. Book lunch at Casa Nun, request a terrace table if it is warm, for wonderful seafood – if you check tripadvisor they have the wrong location on their map, it is at the right end of the sand/gravel beach.

If Dali interests you enough and you have time the Teatre-Museu (check link above) in Figueres is worth a trip also. You may be able to do them both in the same day but if you spend the time Cadaques deserves it may be too much. You could space the two trips out for when you need fuel for the car, it is much cheaper in Spain.

Enjoy your stay in Collioure. We spent 4 days there nearly 10 years ago and loved it. So much so that we went there for lunch two years ago after staying in Cadaques before heading back down the Spanish coast.

bookmarking

I want to second the Cathar ruins of Queribus and Perypetuse. They would be good uses of the car.

Thanks for the suggestions, we'll be heading to Barcelona for 4 nights at the end of the trip and will fly home from there, but a day trip across the boarder sounds like a good idea. I have gotten my map out to check out the cathar ruins at Queribus and Perypetuse the description in Lonely Planet sounded interesting. We also have 2 nights in Perpignan at the start of the trip before our house rental begins.
Thanks again everyone

We've stayed in Collioure numerous times and it is wonderful, though August will probably find it much more crowded than we're used to.

Be sure to visit the interior of the church at the port; it doesn't look impressive from outside but is great from the inside (if not lit, you can put in a coin euo at the side of the altars to turn them on). Also, the tourist train takes you on a long, extensive tour up the mountain, down to the neighboring town and back along the fishing harbor; beautiful and money well spent.

We did the reverse of you. We took Ryanair to Girona and rented a car to go into France. We loved Cadaques and one of our other absolute favorites was Besalù, Spain, though I don't know if that would be in range for you this trip. The scenery between the two countries is outstanding! Have fun.