My plans are still in flux, but I have a potential rental about 20 miles west of Perpignan in the Pyrenees Orientales, off Route D117. We thought we might fly into Barcelona instead of Paris, as it's closer. We thought we would pick up a car at the Barcelona airport, spend a day in Barcelona, and then drive to the house in France.

Would this drive be pretty much straight autoroute, and is that the best way to go? Or would it be better to take the coastal road? We wouldn't be in a super rush, and would be traveling midweek.

We thought about taking the train to Perpignan and picking up the car there, but it doesn't seem possible to rent a car with automatic transmission in Perpignan, although we could farther up the road in Narbonne.

So is the drive from Barcelona to Perpignan pretty easy? I live in New York and only drive a few times a year, which is why I ask these kinds of questions. Thank you.

Hi Karen, I linked this post also to the Spain forum so we can get some cross-forum expertise.

Hi

Reckon just under 2 hrs BCN to Perpignan.
Fill up with tobacco, alcohol and fuel on the Spanish side !

You'll find it easy - highway pretty well all the way, and they drive on the same side !

You can pay by Euro or cc in the manned booths, but using the auto cc machine can be a problem as US cards don't have chips unlike most of the Euro cards.

Peter

1. 20 miles west of Perpignan should be very nice countryside !
2. If you are going to spend one night in Barcelona, instead of picking up the car upon your arrival at airport, why not pick up the car the next day when you are leaving? Driving and parking in Barcelona could be nightmarish and time-consuming. You may not want to waste your precious travel time like that - with jetlag en plus…
Indeed, once you are on the autoroute between Barcelona and Perpignan, the drive is easy.

Thanks all for the help.

So the autoroute is the way to go, and not the coastal route, past towns like Collioure?

If we do this rental, it's in the Fenouillades, near the Gorge de Galmus. The town is Maury, known for sweet wines. The house is a good deal.

We just drove from Nice to Girona via Perpignan and it is a breeze--we used the highway and no problem at all.

Given your scenario though,if you want to spend a day in Barcelona, I tool recommend not picking up a car till you are leaving Barcelona. Since you mentioned that you are not in a hurry, Girona is very nice too...and another option of a place to fly into or take a train from Barcelona and it is in your direction. An of course there are very nice places on the coast along the way that you can divert too and then get back on the highway.

You can see my trip report just published for more info of this area...we rented in the Pyrenees too but on the Spanish side--it is a gorgeous area...

Enjoy

Here's a link to Letha's trip report .

Thanks again, everybody.

Letha--I enjoyed your trip report.

Since posting, I found a map of Catalonia (French and Spanish sides), and the drive does look pretty easy, with plenty of opportunities to diverge if desired.

hi karen:

my wife and I have a very similar itinerary planned for late July...fly from JFK to MAD, pick up rental, drive in a 2-day segment to Perpignan where we meet friends for a rental about 15 min. east of the city.

we plan to stay one night in the spanish countryside near Zaragoza, then drive to france the next day....we have driven along some of the gorgeous coastal road from perpignan to the costa brava a few years ago, and it is a dramatic, albeit, slow-drive!

good luck, and just from curiosity, what company are you using for your rental car?

thanks
pac

Thanks. I'm renting through Alamo, because I get a 20% company discount, and they've thrown CDW into the low price. In the past, I've rented in France through the broker Auto Europe (had a very good experience--I recommend looking into them if you're not yet locked into another rental). Thanks for sharing your itinerary. We're going to be driving pretty quickly to our rental in France, but we have two weeks to backtrack slowly into Spain.

Why not go highway one way, and take the coast road on the way back ?

The coast road was pretty slow and exciting ( hairpin bends, no crash barriers, broken surface, etc) in the 70's but has now been enormously improved particularly on the Spanish side.

I regularly do a day trip with my freeloading family visitors (!) Nimes - Perpignan - Elne- Port Vendres - Llanca - Cadaques - Roses - Figueres - Le Boulou - Perpignan - Nimes. It is a long day, but allows lunch in Cadaques, Dali stuff in Port Legat and Figueras, etc

You could easily do a one day drive back to Barcelona via the coast road.

Peter

karen:

I am using Auto-France (a Peugeot broker located here in NJ) which I had an excellent experience with last year..

Is this the same as AutoEurope?

pac

No, it's not the same as AutoEurope.

The coastal route back is really nice with wonderful views and lovley villages / towns.

All the comments about picking the car only when you leave Barcelona are valid ones !

Enjoy your stay in the Fenouillades. The whole area is great.

John

Karen, you might enjoy this article on Perpignan just published in French Monthly. It's a nice e-zine to subscribe to if you're interested France. Every month they have an in-depth article on a particular city or region of France.

- Roz

Roz,

Thanks for the link to this article and for the tip about this monthly e-magazine!

Kathleen

I forgot to mention that I'm interested in hearing more about Perpignon. A friend of mine (French) just bought a house there and has invited me to visit. I have never been to this area of France before, so I'm interested in hearing more impressions of Perpignon and surrounding areas.

Thanks in advance!

Kathleen