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GETTING THERE |
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Hotels in Barcelona |
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Vacation Rentals in Barcelona |
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The quickest and easiest way of reaching Barcelona is to fly direct to El Prat de Llobregat, the city's airport. Catalunya's other major airport, Girona - used mainly by charter flights and less than an hour from resorts on the Costa Brava - is also handy for Barcelona. Only ninety minutes from the city by train, it's an attractive point of entry into Catalunya in its own right, and is often much cheaper to reach than Barcelona itself. The other charter airport in the region is at Reus, west of Tarragona, again just ninety minutes from Barcelona by bus or train.
How much you pay to get there depends on the season, with the highest fares being from May to September, when the weather is best; then dropping during the "shoulder" seasons - March-April and October-November - with the best prices during the low season, December to February (excluding Christmas and New Year when prices are hiked up and seats are at a premium). Note also that flying on weekends may add to the round-trip fare; price ranges quoted here assume midweek travel.
You can often cut costs by going through a specialist flight agent - either a consolidator, buys up blocks of tickets from the airlines and sells them at a discount, or a discount agent, who in addition to dealing with discounted flights may also offer special student and youth fares and a range of other travel-related services such as travel insurance, rail passes, car rentals, tours and the like. Some agents specialize in charter flights, which may be cheaper than anything available on a scheduled flight, but again departure dates are fixed and withdrawal penalties are high.
Another option if travelling from Britain is to go by
train, bus or car
, though these inevitably take much longer than a plane and often work out no cheaper.
Booking flights online
Many airlines and discount travel websites offer you the opportunity to book your tickets online, which may cut out the costs of agents and middlemen. Good deals can often be found through discount or auction sites, as well as through the airlines' own...
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Flights from the UK and Ireland
Flying to Barcelona from the UK takes about an hour and a half, around thirty minutes more from Ireland, and connections at the other end into the city are so frequent that you can easily be on the Ramblas sipping a coffee by noon. There are
charter...
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Flights from the USA and Canada
There is a fair variety of
flights
from most parts of the US to Madrid, with connections on to Barcelona. Occasionally, however - and especially if you're coming from Canada - your best bet may be to route via another major European city....
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Flights from Australia and New Zealand
There are no direct flights to Spain from Australia or New Zealand. However, a number of airlines do fly to Barcelona with a stopover elsewhere in Europe or Asia. Another possibility is to fly to Madrid, from where you can pick up a connecting flight or...
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By train
From London
to
Barcelona
takes around 24 hours by train on the standard cross-Channel route, though using the
Eurostar
service through the Channel tunnel (which runs from London to Paris in 3hr) can shave up to six hours off...
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By bus
Buses
from London to Barcelona travel via Figueres and Girona, and arrive 26 hours later (most buses continue to Valencia and Alicante). They are operated by Eurolines (
) in Britain, and by Iberbus/Linebus and Julia in Spain.
...
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By car, ferry and Eurotunnel
The bus follows the most direct road route from London to Barcelona: if you plan to
drive
it yourself, unless you're into nonstop rally motoring, you'll need roughly to double the time. See the list of ferry company and Eurotunnel telephone...
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