Hi All

Taking advantage of Ryanair's 30th Anniversary sale and just booked flights to Bordeaux via STN at beginning of September! With suitcase (£50!) it is only £190 all in for wife and 16 year old son.

Bikers at heart, but unfortunately not on bikes this time, as hiring a car and driving to Barcelona to see my other son who works there.

Probably do a round trip from Bordeaux to Toulouse, Barcelona, Pamplona, Pau, Biarritz and have the last couple of days in Bordeaux. My son and I like historical sites eg: Henry 4th / 5th, WW2 and the wife likes shopping!

Any ideas, tips, good places to stay would be much appreciated.

Thx

Chris

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[/SIZE] "Live dangerously for as long as you can!"

Here's a couple of places I stayed in recently:-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...cassonne-82151

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...di-homps-82156

Toulouse is a big place and is based on the industry of Aerospace, including Airbus.

Carcassonne is excellent for a day out on the "tourist trail" of its' walled citadel.

St-Girons is further into the foothills of the Pyrenees and it has a museum dedicated to escaping over those mountains during WW2 - the ratlines for escaping allied airmen and those who did not want to work as slave labour for the Nazis.

After those, Barcelona can take up the rest of the week: beware of pickpockets!!

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Dave

Toulouse is definitely worth a visit, the centre is stunning, meander down the streets around Place Capitole. You can go on an Airbus tour if it's of interest & nearby is an aircraft museum if you're interested: Ailes Anciennes Toulouse - Ailes Anciennes Toulouse - Bienvenue

Carcassonne is great but hellish in summer. If I were you I'd visit very early in the day or very late. If you park up at La Cite, do not leave anything in your car on display, the thieves all know which are rental cars (as we all do due to the registration which isn't local to the south). I personally would stay outside town, possibly in a Haute Vallee village (Carcassonne - Quillan) where you could leave the car behind & get the train into Carcassonne & make a day of it (1€ a ticket!). There's not much else to see in Carcassonne but expect a LOT of tourists!

From the Haute Vallee, I'd use the D118 & ?D119 to Perpignan. There are Cathar Castles to visit along the route, white water rafting, canoeing, Bugarach (where the world was going to end a few years ago!) and lots of vineyards!

Getting to Rivesaltes, take the 'north Perpignan' junction to get onto the autoroute, save getting snarled up in nasty traffic & head over the border. L'Escala would be a nice place to stop & spend some time on the beach & visit the Roman ruins of St Marti d'Empuries, it's opposite Roses. St Pol del Mar is another lovely beach without the concrete jungle of so many of the other resorts in the Costa Brava & not far out of Barcelona.

I could write reams but I hope that helps

Hi

Thanks for the great information and we will now visit the Airbus area, as my son is keen to get into the air industry. We have been told that the walled castle is excellent and have a plan to reach there for the first night or now after your description of Toulouse may stay there for our first night.

The museum sounds interesting and we will head for there on the way as well.

Appreciate your tips and we can't wait to get over there now.

Chris

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[/SIZE] "Live dangerously for as long as you can!"

Hi Walkabout and Creer

Thanks very much for all your great tips and after taking in the Toulouse Airbus tour, the amazing spectacle of Carcassonne, sadly missed the museum at St Girons and the ruins at St Marti, we took the great roads of D118 and D119 and stopped in L'Escala. Beautiful!

We then went to Tossa De Mar and as I like a Kiss Me Quick hat and a pint of Watney's Red Barrel I let the side down by booking two nights in Lloret De Mar! My missus has just about started talking to me again, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the quiet! It was OK and the banter at the Queen Vic was fun!

Anyway from there to Barcelona and showed the lad round Gaudi's Segrada Familia which took his breath away and has come on unbelievably since the last time we were there in 2005!

The markets in Grazia and off the Ramblas are incredible with the most amazing displays of fresh fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, olives, nuts, bread and cakes you have ever seen! Kieran says the Morrisons fresh fish counter will never look the sane again! He genuinely couldn't believe the choice and how fortunate the Spanish are not to have the supermarket mentality that the UK has unfortunately been pushed into.

We are leaving Barca tomorrow, but still don't know whether to go either the Pyrenees via Sort and Pau route or via Zaragoza and Pamplona to San Sebastian or Biarritz for the last couple of nights. Any suggestions?

Had a great trip and hope to get the missus on the back of the bike next time and ride the coast line of France, Spain and Portugal to Cadiz and Gib and then back via Spain.

What a trip and will start planning even If I can't afford to go! As you have to live and aspire to something in life to keep your motivation up. Don't forget my motto : " Live Dangerously, for as long as you can!"

Thanks chaps for your help in having one hell of a great trip.

Chris

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[/SIZE] "Live dangerously for as long as you can!"