Itinerary Barcelona & Southern France 9/23-10/14/15
 

Hi
My wife went through travel books and came up with the following itinerary. Any feedback is welcome.


WED – ARRIVE BARCELONA GET CAR AND SLEEP LOCALLY.
THURS – CARCASONNE – SLEEP CARCASONNE
FRI NIMES – SIGHTSEE NIMES – SLEEP NIMES
SAT NIMES – PONT DU GARD; UZES (HARIBO) SLEEP IN NIMES
SUN LE BAUX – SLEEP LE BAUX - SIGHTSEE AND SEE CARRIERE DES LUMIERES
MON ARLES SIGHTSEE ARLES AND AVIGNON SLEEP ARLES
TUES DRIVE THRU CARMAGUE – SLEEP STES MARIES DE LA MER
WED COLLIOURE SLEEP
THURS FIGUERES – SEE DALI MUSEUM – SLEEP HERE OR DRIVE ON TO BARCELONA
FRI SAT BARCELONA
SUN RETURN HOME

Typo The dates are 9/23 - 10/4/15.

Hopefully, most of your hotel reservations are confirmed by now.

Overall, it's nice to see you spending the time in Provence, but it's a lot of moving (changing hotels) in less then two weeks. You will not have the time to actually enjoy any of your locations, except for the two nights in Nimes and the two in Barcelona at the end of our road trip.

I would find someplace outside Nimes and use it for a base for a few days instead of changing hotels everyday. It's such a loss of valuable time.

We have not reserved any hotels yet. That is my next step.

Ditto Robert2533

All the sites you want to see in Provence are close to each other. Stay in only 1 location

We're not fans of the Camargue, compared to the rest of Provence - which you are seeing very little of. Also, we're not Dali fans - but Fiigures itself is not nearly as interesting as Barcelona - which you are also seeing very little of.

You won't really be "doing" much on Wed & Thurs - except for Carcassonne - which is only a 2 1/2 hr visit (we were there for 2 weeks a couple of months ago). If you arrive early or mid-day in Barcelona on Wed, I would try to drive 3 1/2 hrs to Carcassonne that first day. Or, you could drive 2 1/2 hrs to Collioure, and then hit Carcassonne on the way to Provence.

Most of your too-short vacation will be spent on the A9 & changing hotels. If this was my vacation, I would skip "sleep locally" in Barcelona, Collioure, Figures, and Camargue. And add 1 night to Barcelona and 3 to Provence. If you can skip the "sleep locally" in Barcelona, adding Collioure to break up the long drive from Provence to Barcelona would be fine - but I would make sure I spent a full day in Collioure.

Stu Dudley

That sounds like good advice. I would like to add a day to Barcelona. We get in to Barcelona at 10am on Wednesday. I was hesitant to drive too far the first day, but if got enough caffeine I should be able to do it.

With certain exceptions, I like to skip nature sights in Europe because they take up too much time and the national parks in the USA are as good or better. I was not enthusiastic about the Camargue for that reason. If we were there for a month, it would be different.

You will love the Carrier des Luminaes (sp). We went there several years ago and I would love to return - and I think this year it is Michael angelo - I am so jealous. If you edit your trip, do not omit that! I did like the Dali museum in Figueres too - the sight I was actually a bit meh about that you mention was Les Baux - thought it was a nice view with wasy too many tourist trap shops (but I am not a shopper).

I think my wife really wants to go to the Dali museum. I am also not a shopper, but my wife is.

Carrier des Luminaes has 2 presentations this year. Masters of the Renaissance and a 'tribute' to Jules Verne. Both are very well done.

I spent 4 weeks last month in the south of France. I posted a TR of photos that you may find helpful to see where you want to go.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-pictures.cfm

If there is ANY chance that you will experience jet lag, then please note that one consequence of jet lag is a substantial increase in microsleep episodes, which are so short that you aren't even aware of them, but that are strongly associated with car accidents. And do NOT trust caffeine to solve the problem – caffeine does NOT appear to eliminate microsleeps. Please consider your options for using public transportation for at least a day or two!

Have you have already booked flights into and out of Barcelona? If not, you might consider open jaw flights. Either way, consider trying to put all of your time in Barcelona at the END of your trip, and do consider waiting until you are ready to leave Carcasonne to rent your car!

So only 2 days in Barcelona? Not much! But at least Barcelona has an international airport, so you can return there more easily than many of your chosen destinations. Nonetheless, I would recommend that you think through your priorities in advance so you can make the most of your time there.

I SUSPECT YOUR REALIZE HOW IRRITATING ALL CAPS ARE. ;-)

Personally, I don’t mind one-night stays – but then, I’m a solo traveler with extensive experience with them. YMMV.

I had mixed reactions to the Teatro-Museo Dali in Figueres … I thought it interesting, but NOT a great venue for most of his work, even if it was a great venue for some of his larger pieces…. JMO.

Sorry about the caps - I just made the itinerary as a list.

I put the places I would like to see but when you haven't been there you really don't know which one to pick as a base. What if you pick the wrong one and make a reservation and have to stay where you are and wish you were staying somewhere else?

If anyone can recommend a good base I would be happy to stay in one place and sightsee from there.

I will keep Carcasonne as one night because I know it can be done in one day, and I really want to see it.

I would like to stay a night in Les Baux, too. (or use it as a base?) Please let me know what you think. I would like to make some reservations.

I thought it might be interesting to see the Carmague, too. I was hoping the flamingos would be there when we were and since we would be spending the day there hiking I thought it would be nice to just stay at Sts Marie de la mer by the beach.

I would like to get to see Coulliere, too. I like to be by the water when possible and it sounds very nice.

Perhaps we can stop to see Figueres and the Dali museum and continue on to Barcelona to have another day there.

Thanks to all for your help. The trip is right around the corner.

" What if you pick the wrong [pvernight location] and make a reservation and have to stay where you are and wish you were staying somewhere else?

Consider using booking.com to reserve your lodging -- many of their accommodations give you the option to cancel within 24 hours. DO pay attention to the cancellation policies for the places that most interest you and DON'T abuse the option. :-)

"If anyone can recommend a good base I would be happy to stay in one place and sightsee from there."

Sounds to me like you would really benefit from a bit of research. Get some good guidebooks (always a worthy investment, IME, or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, note their opening/closing times, and mark them on a calendar. Then pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together

Les Baux would be a fine base for Provence. I don't think there are any hotels in the Village itself, but there are several in the region. St Remy is close by & that is a very popular base.

Do you have my 31 page itinerary for Provence & the Cote d'Azur? I've sent it to over 3,000 people on Fodors. It describes our favorite villages, scenic drives, markets, restaurants, sites, etc. If you would like a copy, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll attach one to the reply e-mail. Do so soon - we leave for 5 weeks in France in 2 weeks from tomorrow.

If you visit Figures/Dali on the way to Barcelona from Collioure, I don't think you'll end up spending much time in Collioure. Wait until you wake up in the morning in Collioure and then decide if you want to visit Figures or spend more time in Colliour. We once stayed there for 1 night and liked it so much that we changed our itinerary "on the fly" and stayed for 2 more nights.

Stu Dudley

Hi
Thanks for all the good feedback. What is a good neighborhood to stay in Barcelona?
Jim

"What is a good neighborhood to stay in Barcelona?"

Try searching this forum -- LOTS of information about that, and many other things.

We used St Remy as a base to tour Provence and it was very convenient. We stayed at Mas Bellevue, a lovely place in the midst of olive groves, just outside St Remy. Nice room, great pool for guests' use. http://www.relaxprovence.net

We spent a morning in Les Baux and it is one of the few places in 24 days of touring France that I could have done without, though the drive there and the views from there were very pretty. It really is quite barren, and unless you enjoy touring ruins, your time might better be spent elsewhere. We visited Arles, Avignon, Pont du Gard, and St Remy, with St Remy being our least favorite after Les Baux, unless you like to shop a lot, in which case St Remy would be heaven. Our favorite day was driving the hill towns of the Luberon (see Rick Steves France guide book), with our favorite stop being Rousillon with its beautiful ochre cliffs and buildings. We also stopped in Aix on our way to the Coted'Azur.

We loved Carcassonne, especially at night - very magical. We stayed in a funky place in the medieval walls - Les Logis des Remparts - and had a great dinner at Adelaide restaurant with a view of the chateau. lelogisdesremparts.com

Happy planning!