I am an Australian woman planning to drive from Carcassone to Barcelona for a few days in mid May and want to avoid taking the car into the city.
Need help identifying a location and hotel I can find easily (driving alone) where I can stay, park the car and use public transport to get into the city to do the tourist things.
Also, is the mountain drive to reach Barcelona as circuitous as it looks?
Thanks for any and all help.

I do not understand why you don't want to take the car into the city...IMO you would be far better off being IN the city and then using public transport but not knowing your concerns I am hesitant to say more.

I would use the train to get there. Is there any reason why you wouldn't? Although I love driving, the ease of letting the train find the way can't be beaten!
This is an excellent website for train travel in Europe

http://seat61.com/

Thank you both
I will be driving because the next leg is back into France touring in Provence - had assumed that like most cities finding my way around in Barcelona would be hard, and parking harder...but maybe I'm wrong about that.

Driving to and into Barcelona is no big deal. There is a good freeway system, which could get right into the city center. But even when your hotel got his own garage or one nearby you will pay quite a bit to let the car sit there for several days.

Similar as in cities you know, there are several areas at the edge of the metropolitan areas, like Granollers at AP-7 from France, with motel-style accomodations, e.g. the Sidorme chain. Usually inexpensive (rooms around €40-60) with free parking and easy to access from the motorway. So you won't have to drive into town if you don't want to.
But: You will need to "commute" by suburban train into Barcelona, which is neither expensive nor complicated but trains will usually stop around midnight. So this is not so good if you wish to experience the night life (or even a late dinner). And the locations are usually not some quaint Catalan villages, but suburbia or business park-style conurbations.
The upside is that you are already outside of Barcelona if you want to drive to some nearby day trip destinations like Montserrat.

The resorts on the Med sea NE of Barcelona are also well connected with the city by suburban trains, but I have never stayed in one of those, so I can't say which ones are ugly or nice.

Thanks for the reply Cowboy1968 - good advice re outskirts was what I was after. Managing expectations re accommodation offering sounds wise.
I will check out the NE direction - by the sea sounds promising.