bevzy

We had decided to find places to stay as we went in Dordogne and Barcelona in September but it seems it is a popular time to visit. Would it be a problem not booking ahead and any suggestions of accommodation guides eg gites for reasonable family places to stay.

shandy

You don't say whether you are driving or going by train. If you are in your own car I wouldn't worry about making bookings ahead in Dordogne. You are past the main tourist season. Nearly all towns have a booking service or just look for chambre d'hotes signs (a Bed and Breakfast in private houses) as you go along. Stayed at some great ones when we were in France, including one which came within my definition of a mansion. (It used to belong to Napoleon Bonaparte's brother). In Barcelona you might want to make a booking ahead. It can be hard in a large city to find acceptable accommodation that isn't too expensive, especially as you travelling with children presumably. If you are having a few days in Barcelona you might even want to try and find an apartment with a bit more room and even a kitchenette rather than all just living in one hotel room. I have just pre-booked accommodation in Paris and London for my family of 5 (necessary as it is Christmas/New Year when we are travelling) and found a lot of place when I a search for family apartments and destinate name under google. Would also check whether there are any major events on whilst you are in Barcelona. If there is you should certainly pre-book.

TopMan

I can understand this plan in a REGION but not in a city. What advantage is there to going to Barcelona and then looking around for a place to stay that will accommodate four people? Why spend your valuable, and I assume, limited, time there searching for a place to stay...unless you feel this is the best way of finding the best place to stay?

Just don't understand the rationale.

bevzy

I live with a man who prefers to be able to stop when we feel like it rather than be stuck with a schedule but I prefer to book ahead- it will be into Oct also so maybe will book the city as you suggest and leave the rest open!.

m_kingdom2

Whilst you may not like sticking to a schedule, I'd advise staying a set number of nights in pre-decided properties.

Sometimes, when I'm on holiday in X, I get a whim to go to Y - usually I will end up having to pay an higher rate. The concierge will organise my transportation and forward accomodation. I'd imagine you won't have this facility.

It's very difficult to tour and expect to find rooms vacant - for a couple who can have any room type - double bed or twins - it's hard enough, but you require at least two rooms!

Why not structure your holiday with advice from the people on this forum? This should sort out some of the timing and accommodation issues for you.

MFNYC

I would book in advance. Quad accommodations aren't easy to come by in general, never mind at the last minute. Few hotesl even mention them on the sites (you have to contact them directly). You should at least book something you can cancel without penalties as a backup and if something better turns up or your plans change, cancel. If you don't book in advance, do some research on which hotels can accommodate you.

llamalady

.....if you are willing to stay in
motel-esque type Formula 1 places
close to the larger cities you'll
be fine but if you're looking for
'something special' for four I'd
reserve ahead.

I think Kingdom comes with a good
idea - reserve a few places so you
know where you'll be and what the
facility is like.

Bon chance!

StCirq

The part of the Dordogne that most people are interested in visiting isn't a very big area, so one - at most two - hotels/B&Bs or whatever will be sufficient for a stay there of however many days you have planned. So why not select your accommodations ahead of time to make sure you get something acceptable in the right area? And if by chance you need a quad as opposed to two rooms, you NEED to book ahead - there just aren't that many quads available.

Also, until mid-September there is lots of tourist activity everywhere in France, the Dordogne included. Once you get into October, a lot of places start to close up until Easter.

You also mention a gîte - you don't really expect to show up and have a nice little cottage available for you, do you? If it's a gîte you want, you'd best get going on that right now.

As for Barcelona - again, do you want to drive (please don't tell me you're planning to do this trip by train without booking accommodations! IMO the Dordogne just can't be seen without a car) into a large, unknown city and start stopping at hotels to see what's available? BIG waste of valuable time, IMHO.

Christina

If you are referring to the gites registered with the govt. in that official Gites program, they often get booked up way ahead of time. Also, they often have minimum stay requirements, or stays that must start on a Sunday, etc.

indytravel

The last week of Sept. & first week of Oct. in '99 I was with 2 friends in Spain. This was in my days before I planned heavily. In fact this trip may have been the epiphany that led me to planning.

I had 2 rooms booked in Madrid for the nights we were there, but nothing in Barcelona. We landed in Barcelona on a Wednesday to find there was a magic convention in town. The tourist bureau at the airport had nothing to offer but a few hotel rooms way out in the 'burbs.

We rented a car and found Tarragona for 1 night, Sitges for a 1 night and still did a 'burb Sabadell 1 night before we got into Barcelona for 3 nights.

What I learned is to pre-book hotels especially in major cities. We had to absorb the high cost of an on-the-spot car rental. We had the frustration of drifting around looking for places to stay while having no clue where we really were or what we wanted to see.

The car cost was offset a bit by the lower cost of the hotel in Tarragona, but the other two hotels were just as expensive as the one in Barcelona.

I will say I don't know how it happened but we stumbled upon 2 beautiful places: Tarragona & Sitges. Both I'd love to return to someday. Sabadell was OK, but it's not on my return list.

Another tidbit I've discovered is hotel rates. High rates and low availability are now a very large, red flag. I don't want to be in a city that's filled to capacity. I would rather go at a slower time. Tourist attractions are less full, restaurants are easier to get into, crowds are smaller and hotels are less expensive.

If I'd have tried to book a room in Barcelona before I left, I would have found very few rooms available and the room rates much higher than normal. I would have known to avoid Barcelona for those days. I would have researched someplace else. Maybe I would have found Tarragona ahead of time, maybe not. But I would have known what I was getting into.

bevzy

yikes-thanks everyone-I'd better get into booking. Yes we are driving but find it hard to know how far we will be able to go each day.

holly777

Barcelona hotels:

hello! I just returned from Barcelona. You do not say the ages of your children - we had 3 teenagers with us, so needed 2 rooms, but ours could sleep in their own room.

I searched Fodor's & the internet beforehand, and couldn't decide on anything that I felt I could trust was clean enough, for under 200 E. The nice places all seemed too expensive when renting 2 rooms.

My husband's travel agent found this for us, and it was just fine.

Hotel is called: NH Les Corts. We paid 78 Euros for each room, and it was not huge, but everything was clean with own modern bathroom, a closet & desk & phone & air conditioning. English people at the desk to give directions were very helpful.

We stayed at one that was not right in the center of the action, but a 15 min bus ride. There was another NH Les Corts, right in the center and it looked nice from the outside.

http://www.hotelnhlescorts.com/

One more: (location good for airport - not great for touring the downtown)
Best Western Hotel Alfa by the Airport.
phone: 34-93-3362564
free shuttle, 10-15 min to airport.
Our outgoing flight was delayed 8 hours, and so we decided to go rest at a hotel...travel agent again found this for us. They gave us a suite for the afternoon for 100 euros, and it had one room with a King size bed, and another room with two single beds, 2 tvs, and a very nice modern bathroom with big jacuzzi. The regular room rate was 93 euros.

also, take with you a few basic phrases in spanish...not much english spoken there.

have fun!

BDM

We just got back from Barcelona and stayed in a great apartment. It's 40 yards from the Poble Sec metro stop and very clean and quiet.

We we with our 9 year old daughter and the apartment had a nice bedroom and then a fouton (sp?) in the living room that would easily sleep 2. If you want more info let me know at [email protected].

One of these days I'll send a report on our trip but needless to say, Barcelona was fantastic. Oh, by the way, the apartment was in the 110 Euro range including fees.'

Brian

bevzy

thanks so much everyone-only just found last messages but I booked an apartment 9020 Angel with 'loving barcelona' that was reasonable-hope it is ok-anybody been there.

ira

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