http://www.vrbo.com/239622#comments We were very pleased with the cleanliness, location and provisions in the apartment. Jose, the owner, is very helpful and accommodating to your needs. The apartment is quiet and secure. There are all the needed amenities within easy reach-pharmacy, bakery, supermarket and local, reasonably priced restaurants. Unfortunately, on our last night, we had a backpack swiped from our rental car as we got gas at the station diagonally across from the apartment. One must be ever-vigilant. I would stay at this apartment again, nonetheless.

Just re-visited my report to get some info & saw the latest comments in May. Stu, I enjoyed looking at your photos of Barcelona. For some reason, we never saw the Sardana dancers.
Virginiafish, did you write a trip report?

What a wonderful trip report! Thank you for sharing your trip with us, Kwoo.

My husband and I will be making our first trip to Spain at the end of September this year. I was delighted to find this TR since we are planning a very similar trip. I feel much better about renting a car for the portion of our trip outside of Barcelona now that I've read this.

Thanks again!
Tammi

bookmarking, thank you

Thanks for all the good information. Great report, enjoyed it very much.

Thanks, Kwoo. Your report has decided me to go to the Costa Brava, specifically to Girona, instead of San Sebastian.

Bookmarking

bookmarking

Thanks for all of your compliments. Glad to hear my trip report is helpful.

Hi Kwoo! Thank you so much for posting all of the details of your trip. I just posted a reply to an existing thread (to which you also recently replied) because I'm planning a trip to this region in June. I could use your advice if you have any time and are willing to give me some feedback. If you click on my name you'll see my post from a few minutes ago.

Thanks so much!
Amy

Hi Kwoo-
Thanks for your comments on the post I added to doodled's itinerary plan. I will start my own thread very soon after I iron out a few additional details.

Wanted to explain that we planned to leave Spain via Bilbao/Madrid because we are also interested to spend some time on the Basque Coast but now I'm beginning to wonder if splitting the trip between Barcelona/ Costa Brava and San Sebastian/Bilbao is going to be too hectic. While we do like to explore and enjoy the outdoors we'd like to maximize the relaxation, too! We haven't bought the plane tickets yet so I guess we can still decide whether or not to focus on the Costa Brava and enter/exit via Barcelona.

PS: I did find out that automatic cars are available for rent by major rental agencies.
Thanks again!

Hi Kwoo, I didn't write a trip report mostly because, after this wonderful trip, on the last hours, our backpack was stolen with our tour books and my notes and notations, making it hard to recreate. I will try to write a short one soon, though, as I always find them so helpful!

Hi virginiafish,
That's too bad about your backpack being stolen! It would be nice if you could write a short report. I love to read about other's trips, especially to places I have been because then I can really relate. And it brings back wonderful memories!

Kwoo, I tried to reconstruct the trip, but without our books, or notes, it is difficult. We stayed in an apartment in Barcelona, loved Runner Bean tours, saw the usual sights for 4 days and then, went up the coast. We stopped at the botanical gardens along the coast, hiked along the coast in Tossa del Mar, and stayed in Girona for 3 nights at the the Hotel Historic, which was perfect in all ways. We drove up to Cadaques, spending an afternoon, and went to the Dali museum in Figueres. We could not "do it all" and I wish we had more time in Costa Bravo. Your help was invaluable in planning!

virginiafish - sounds like a great trip. there's a current thread by someone who wants to go to Paris and Amsterdam after staying in Barcelona, and I was trying to encourage them to stay on and explore the area, but lacked the detailed info.

this sounds like exactly the sort of trip i wanted to suggest.

annhig: if you can point me to their thread, I would be happy to help them out. this forum has helped us plan so many wonderful trips and I like to "give back".

bookmarking!

virginia - I'll have a look for it.

here it is:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...don-7-days.cfm

Kwoo,

Thanks for this trip report. It helped me make a similar plan. The recommendation of Cadaques was one thing I hadn't thought of.

I am in Boston area too and have a daughter who studied in BCN for a year.

Hopefully I'll manage a trip report. After Cadaques we are staying near Ripoll and Le Seu d'Urgell before returning to Barcelona. I was just looking at possible mountain biking excursions today. We are off on Thursday and will be going to Spain after a week in Italy.