Hi. I'm looking into travelling to the Catalans away game this year. Never done it before so just after some advice and guidance about the best way to go about it etc etc. Thanks in advance.

Have a look at CFW Tailor Made Travel.

If you're happy booking things separately then doing it yourself rather then using a travel company works out cheaper (99% of the time).

We're flying to Barcelona Thursday morning, staying one night in central Barcelona then on the Friday getting the train down the coast to Calella or Lloret for the next three nights.

Best way to search cheap flights is via skyscanner and I normally use booking.com to search for hotels. Any transfers (match and airport) can be booked via Catalan sports tours who 95% of travelling suppprters use.

We'll probably be looking at approx £300 for the flights, hotels, match ticket and airport/match transfers.

Whatever you do, don't plan to get the train from Barcelona to Perpignan and leave it to the day to get your tickets. It is eye-wateringly expensive

We've always booked it ourselves. Since staying in Lloret we've always stayed in fenal gardens which is now where the club packages stay. Didn't enjoy Calella, personally i found it a bit boring but it depends what you're looking for. We found the food & nightlife in Lloret was much better so we've stayed in Lloret for the past 4 years. We sort our own transfer from Barcelona airport to Lloret and back to the airport which costs us around £60 each but it saves you getting a coach transfer which is around a 3 hour journey. Overall it comes to around £350. Doesn't matter where you stay though to be honest, its a quality trip and i'd recommend it to every RL fan.

I'd love to do this, but I think I'll probably leave it till next season when I'm more settled in.

The first time I went (2015) it was through the Club and they offered the Fenels Gardens in Loret as well has the Tahiti Playa in Santa Susanna for 5 days.
In 2016 it changed to Loret only so I booked it through Thomas Cooke and stayed at the Tahita Playa in Santa Susanna, I got 6 days including evening meal for near enough the same money. All I had to do was buy my own match ticket through the Club and arrange match day transfers which I did through Catalan Sports Tours.
I have booked the Tahiti Playa again for this year, I like the area so much I went back for 10 days in September last year.
Santa Susanna is a bit quiet but it suits me and in September I found out it was 8.5 Euro return into Barcelona to see the sights. These day trips to Barca were most interesting, easy to get lost so I mostly stayed with the different Hop on Hop of bus tours, apart from one afternoon spending a few hours wandering down La Ramblas which is quite an experience.

Seems like, however they organise it, *everyone* stays in Spain? Is it not feasible to stay in France? Perpingnan, Carcassonne (which I'm told is lovely), etc?

Edinburgh to Perpignan via Stansted Wednesday to Sunday 5 of us . Day trip to Barcelona on the Friday . Do things back to front us Jocks lol .

Regards , EW

It is but I think a lot of people who go have stayed in France a number of times in the early years and like us have now changed to go to Spain instead. I think the main reasons really are availability of flights (there's far more choice to Spain then that area of France) and the general cost whilst over there (food/drink is far more expensive in Perpignan then it is in a Calella/Lloret). I also like staying in Lloret because it gives us the opportunity to do a day or stay a night or two in Barcelona.

If you were going for the first time though it would be nice to experience staying in Perpignan for a couple of nights.

Carcassonne is indeed lovely but IIRC the cost of the train to Perpignan is ridiculous (well over 100 Euros). Plenty of cheap hotel rooms in Perpignan and although the town is fairly quiet it is still a very pleasant place to spend a weekend.

Perpignan itself isn't much of a tourist town, but it is a good place to use as a base to explore that region from (car required). Best restaurants are in what looks at first glance to be a side-alley behind the Castillet. Don't bother with the more touristy stuff on the main drag by the river.

Thanks, Nicky (and aboveusonlypie and CPM), that makes sense. I speak a fair bit of French but no Spanish, which perhaps makes me a little more comfortable there. Although I've been to Barcelona before, the Ramblas, the Sag Fam, Gaudi Parc etc, and I realise *everyone* speaks English there.

I know France isn't cheap but 100 euros! I'd have thought hiring a car wouldn't be much dearer than that.

Last year I stayed in Spain for first time. Upon getting to Perpignan for the match, the beer in city centre was double that in Spain. Soon mounts up!

Quote: Aboveusonlypie "Carcassonne is indeed lovely but IIRC the cost of the train to Perpignan is ridiculous (well over 100 Euros). Plenty of cheap hotel rooms in Perpignan and although the town is fairly quiet it is still a very pleasant place to spend a weekend.'" £44 return fare if booked in advance https://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/?prex=T_ ... g!!+trains +to +carcassonne&ectrans=1&ef_id=Vtmg6AAABAYCJHhk%3A20170117153459%3As&gclid=COSB39fAydECFQ6NGwodossCbg#/proposals/Carcassonne/Perpignan/2017-01-17/16:00/2017-07-08/06:00/passengers:senior;60;1/class:Economy/direct:0

Quote: Aboveusonlypie "Carcassonne is indeed lovely but IIRC the cost of the train to Perpignan is ridiculous (well over 100 Euros). Plenty of cheap hotel rooms in Perpignan and although the town is fairly quiet it is still a very pleasant place to spend a weekend.'" £44 return fare if booked in advance https://uk.voyages-sncf.com/en/?prex=T_ ... g!!+trains +to +carcassonne&ectrans=1&ef_id=Vtmg6AAABAYCJHhk%3A20170117153459%3As&gclid=COSB39fAydECFQ6NGwodossCbg#/proposals/Carcassonne/Perpignan/2017-01-17/16:00/2017-07-08/06:00/passengers:senior;60;1/class:Economy/direct:0