Hello- we have plane tix to Paris for the week of Feb 7th (arrive CDG)- Feb 15th (depart to US)- so we will have 8 nights total. We found a great deal on an apartment in Paris for the 8 nights. What we are thinking of doing is staying in Paris the 7th/8th, then flying to Barcelona (Girona) via Ryanair (very cheap flight)on Mon 9th and come back either Wed or Thurs AM, then spend the rest of the time in Paris. (Keeping the Paris apt, and getting a hotel in BCN)

So, my question is, would you spend 2 or 3 nights in Barcelona? The flight arrives at 10.45 in Girona, then it is a 1.2 hr bus ride to Barcelona. The flight back to Paris leaves at 11 AM and gets in at 1 PM.

As for Paris, this is our first time. However, we are fairly 'restless' travelers, and 8 days in one place isn't our travel style at this part of our lives. We aren't huge museum people, but will probably spend a half day or so at the Louvre. We would like to do a day trip to Versailles as well. Thanks for the input,

If you arrive in Barcelona on Monday afternoon, that day is almost completey gone... By the time you get to your hotel and check-in, grab some lunch etc, it'll be mid to late afternoon. Sunset is fairly early in Feb in Europe.

If you only stay 2 nights, in reality, you only have one full day (Tuesday) to see Barcelona.

In a sense, you waste 2 days of your trip getting to/from Barcelona.

If you MUST see Barcelona, at least stay for 3 nights so you'll have 2 full days.

If I were you, I'd stay in Paris and do a couple more day trips. Or head to Brussels and/or Bruges for an overnight trip.

Another option would be to fly back to Paris on Wed night (leaving at 7.55, arriving in Paris at 9.30ish). We will be only taking a small backpack each (leaving everything else in Paris), so we could check out in the morning and have almost a full day Wed. to sightsee, giving us 2 full days in barcelona (Mon aftn, tues full day, wednesday am-5 PMish). This would allow us to get back to Paris late and have a full day in Paris on Thurs.

Cheap flight or not - flying takes a lot of time out of your schedule, door to door, and you're there for such a short time already, only seven days on the ground! If you must go to Barcelona, arrange your flight so you fly into Paris and home from Barcelona.

Again, if you MUST see Barcelona on this trip, then go ahead.

But you'll be spending 2 hours each way for the flight, you'll need to get to the airport at least 1 - 1.5 hour before your flights, and you'll spend another 1.2 hrs on the bus between Girona and Barcelona, and ? time between your Paris apt and the Paris airport (which airport does Ryanair fly out from, and have figured out how long it takes to get there?).

I'll say it again, I'd rather pick a destination within 2-3 hours by TGV from Paris.

I'm a pretty "restless" traveler myself and have just done the Paris/Barcelona trip (albeit with many prior trips to Paris under my belt.) Barcelona merits at least two complete touring days on its own. While I wouldn't recommend including Barcelona on an 8 night trip (due to logistic challenges) it is "do-able" if you are willing to spend just a bit more money.

I may be wrong on this, but I think Ryanair flies out of Beauvais Airport which is a bit distant from center-city Paris. You could instead fly Vueling Airlines from CDG to El Prat (BCN). While not quite as cheap as Ryanair, Vueling is also a "discount" airline. By eliminating the long bus trips to and from secondary airports (Beauvais and Girona), you could gain an additional five to seven hours of functional time in Barcelona. This would probably get you two full days in Barcelona.

Still, I do agree with the previous correspondant. A fast train to Brussels or an overnight excursion to the Loire Valley chateaus might be time better spent.

Bonne chance and bon voyage!!

That's right, Ryanair flies out of Beauvais airport, which is 85km outside of Paris.

To get there, there is a shuttle. From the Beauvais airport website:
<i>
From PARIS (Porte Maillot) To PARIS/BEAUVAIS

The departure from Paris is located at the bus park on the Boulevard Pershing, near the hotel Concorde Lafayette (Access map).
Show up <u>3 hours 15 min</u> before your flight departure time.</i>

Porte Maillot is fairly far out too.

If the flight you're thinking arrives Girona at 10:45am, that means it must depart Paris by 9am. Which means you need to be at Porte Maillot by 5:45am that morning.

Please reconsider this plan.

Vueling is much better option.
Paris ( CDG) - Barcelona (airport is only 15-20 min. from the center).

http://www.vueling.com/

Two of my favorite cities and have spent time n both.

I would stay in Paris and enjoy it thoroughly. This summer I fly Vueling from Paris to Santiago de Compostela. Vueling was a bit disorganized and it took a great deal of time to get through security.

If you are restless, visit the nearby French country side.

WITH SIDE TRIPS TO HELP WITH RESTLESSNESS I REALLY BELIEVE YOU WILL FIND YOUR 8 DAYS WILL FLY, TAKE THE TRAIN TO BRUSSEL OR LONDON. ALL IN ALL THERE ARE SOME WONDERFUL THING TO SEE AND DO IN PARIS TO KEEP YOU BUSY. HOW ABOUT GETTING AWAY FROM THE TOURIST AREAS AND SEEING IT MORE FROM THE LOCALS SIDE. I.VE SPENT 10 DAYS IN PARIS AND STILL HAVE THINGS I DIDN'T SEE. WENT BACK AND SPENT ANOTHER WEEK AND DID'T GET BACK TO TAKE A SECOUND LOOK AT WHAT I SAW THE FIRST TIME.

Yeah, Vueling is a good idea. You can find a cheap flight to Barcelona (Prat Airport), and then get a train or a bus to the center (it isn't expensive and it's really close).

If you want more information about how spend your time in Barcelona you can take a look to my blog

discover-spain.blogspot.com

I hope that you find this site useful for your trip.

Don't pass the opportunity to come to BCN up!

My vote goes with NOT doing the BCN trip - too much transit time. I LOVE Barcelona but would not want to cram it in with the time frame you are dealing with. The airports eat up too much time. If you must do something besides Paris I suggest a destination doable by train, like Brugge, London, or maybe Amsterdam or somewhere in southern France by TGV. You can leave from central Paris and don't waste all that time with checking in for flights. Plus I really enjoy the experience of European train travel. But with a day at the Louvre and goibg to Versailles (which can easily eat up a day) you may well have enough to do in Paris. Check out some walking tours - inexpensive and a fun way to spend a morning or afternoon getting some local insight and history. Have a great trip!

To answer the question, I guess I would stay in Barcelona 2 nights.

However, I agree with the others, I wouldn't do this at all. You must have money to burn, I don't understand why you'd pay for an apt. in Paris, and then fly off to Barcelona, wasting a day or two just on that travel time, while paying twice for accommodations. Not to mention the cost of the airfare and the transportation to/from the airports. If I were going to do that, I wouldn't be renting an apt. for 8 nights and all the hassles that entails, I'd just book a hotel room when needed.

I could see going somewhere else, but I also would do something closer to Paris, by high-speed train, where you don't have all the hassles of airports and travel by plane (as well as wasted time).

What about a daytrip to Monet's gardens in Giverny?

A day touring the WWII sites of Normandy?
http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/des...32&amp;sid=488


A daytrip to the gastronomic wonderland of Lyon?

There are lots of wonderful daytrips near Paris that don't involve getting on a flight.

Thanks for all of the input. To answer some of the questions, we thought about a train trip, but we have already been to the usual suspects (Brussels, Bruges, London, Amsterdam).Barcelona is somewhere we have always wanted to see. We thought about Normandy or Provence, but were advised that the weather in these locations in February wouldn't be the best (Mistral in Provence, Normandy-cold- not good weather for seeing the outdoor WWII sites). I definitely realize that you can stay in Paris for a year and not see everything (we aren't expecting to see everything)- we aren't planning on this being our last Paris trip

Also, the reasoning behind keeping the apt is that the apt we booked is 340E for 8 nights, much cheaper than getting 6 nights at a hotel (plus 2 in BCN). We def. don't have money to burn!! The flight to BCN is 30E r/t per person. Including the bus to Beauvais and to BCN from Girona, it will cost appx 100E total for transport. We looked at some PREM fares and found them to be equal or greater than this (50E pp r/t to Amsterdam for ex). In addition, I would want to be in Paris for two days, then Paris again at the end of the trip so that we don't have to worry about getting back before our return flight (FF miles, no open-jaw available).

I appreciate the information, we are weighing everything now trying to decide.