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rail travel in that part of Spain is fairly limited
(and quite cheap), so you probably won’t get
your money’s worth.
By bus
Eurolines
(
W
www.eurolines.co.uk)operates
a year-round bus service to Barcelona from
London which takes up to 28 hours. It usually
costs around £100 return, though there are
advance deals and special offers – it’s always
cheapest to book online. Eurolines also sells
Barcelona tickets and transport to London at
all UK National Express bus terminals.
Driving to Barcelona
It’s about 1600km from London to
Barcelona, which, with stops, takes almost
two full days to drive. To plan your route,
try motoring organizations such as AA,
(
W
www.theaa.com)and the RAC (
W
www
.rac.co.uk)which also provide advice on
insurance requirements, documentation
matters and how to avoid toll roads. If
you’re bringing your own car, carry your
licence, vehicle registration and insurance
documents with you; you should also
have two warning triangles and a fluores-
cent vest in case of breakdown. For
more details about driving conditions in the
city, see p.28.
Many people use the conventional
cross-
Channel
ferry links, principally Dover–Calais,
though services to Brittany or Normandy
might be more convenient. However, the
quickest way of crossing the Channel is to go
via the
Eurotunnel
service (
T
08705/353535,
W
www.eurotunnel.com), which operates
drive-on-drive-off shuttle trains between
Folkestone and Calais/Coquelles. The
twenty-four-hour service runs every twenty
minutes throughout the day and, though you
can just turn up, booking is advised,
especially at weekends.
Alternatively, Brittany Ferries operates a
car and passenger ferry from
Plymouth to
Santander
(twice weekly; 20hr). From
Santander, it’s about nine hours’ drive to
Barcelona, via Bilbao and Zaragoza. Or
there’s the P&O service from
Portsmouth to
Bilbao
(twice weekly; 34hr), east of
Santander in the Basque country. Both
services are very expensive, especially in
summer, when return fares can cost as
much as £800.
Any ferry company or travel agent can
supply up-to-date schedules and ticket
information, or you can consult the encyclo-
pedic
W
www.directferries.com, which has
information and links to every European
ferry service.
Arrival and departure
There are three main, adjacent terminals (A, B and C) at Barcelona’s airport and a
fourth on the way, with taxis and airport buses found immediately outside each
terminal and the airport train station a short distance away. The city’s main
Barcelona Sants train station and the Barcelona Nord bus station are both more
central, with convenient metro stations for onward travel. In most cases, you can
be off the plane, train or bus and in your hotel room within the hour.
By air
Barcelona airport
(
T
902 404 704,
W
www
.aena.es)is 18km southwest of the city
centre at El Prat de Llobregat. There are
tourist offices in terminals A and B, handling
hotel bookings; there are also ATMs,
exchange facilities and car-rental offices.
The
airport train service
(daily 6am–
11.44pm; journey time 20min; €2.60; info on
T
902 240 202) runs every thirty minutes to
BASICS
|
Arrival and departure