Our online field study quotes exclude the cost of travel
insurance and flights to Barcelona.
Travelling by Air
Making your own flight arrangements can save you money and give
you more flexibility in choice of airlines and flight times. Besides Barcelona
(Prat) airport, airlines also fly to Reus and Girona, both between one or two
hours drive from Barcelona. Hotel transfers from airports other than Barcelona
involve a small surcharge that is included in the quote. A Barcelona airports
location map is available: Barcelona airport locations.
The low-cost airlines are:
Ryan
Air provide low cost flights from London Stansted, Birmingham or Bournemouth
airports to Girona for as little as £40 return. There are also flights from
London Stansted or Luton to Reus. Bookings can be made online six months in
advance for up to 50 passengers, but full payment must be made at the time of
booking. The onward journey to Barcelona from both Girona and Reus is
approximately 1 hour by coach. An additional €400 should be allowed to cover
the extra airport-hotel transfer costs.
In February 2007 routes start from Bristol and Durham to Girona. In March 2007,
flights start from Newcastle to Girona. The company has just announced that it
wants to set up a new hub in Reus, which will mean new routes and at least
double the number of flights from the airport, which serves the Costa Daurada
resorts and is eight miles from Tarragona.
EasyJet
flies to Barcelona from Liverpool, Luton, Stansted, Bristol, East Midlands,
Newcastle, Gatwick, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The fares are from £50. A
maximum of eight tickets may be purchased at a single booking online. Therefore
if there are more than eight people travelling, you will need to make multiple
bookings. If you require assistance, ring the easyJet reservation centre on +44
(0) 870 6 000 000. Please note however, that their agents are unable to make the
bookings over the phone if the date of travel is more than one month in advance.
BMI
Baby (0870 264 2229) flies direct from Manchester and East Midlands airports
to Barcelona, with fares from £50. Bmibaby starts a new route from Birmingham
to Barcelona on March 24 2007.
British
Midland (0870 6070555) flies to Barcelona from East Midlands, Manchester and
London.
British
Airways (0845 7733377) flies from Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham and Glasgow
to Barcelona and Girona with prices that are now competitive with the low-cost
airlines (February 2003). (groups):tel. 0870 5332266
Iberia
(0845 6012854) has flights direct to Barcelona from Newcastle, Birmingham,
Heathrow and Manchester from £118.50. Iberia also fly from Edinburgh, Glasgow
and Aberdeen. They are particularly good in dealing with group bookings.
Monarch
has flights direct to Barcelona from Manchester from £28. Group booking
enquiries email reservationsgroups@monarch-airlines.com
(10+ passengers). Telephone group bookings of 15+ passengers +44 (0) 8700 133
123
MyTravelLite.com
has direct flights to Barcelona from Birmingham. Online bookings can be made for
up to 25 passengers at a time. Group booking enquiries for 26 passengers or more
can be made by clicking here.
UK telephone 08701 564 564
In cases where students and accompanying staff have to use more
than one flight, all flights will be met upon arrival and groups transferred to
their hotel, but a surcharge may be incurred depending upon the time delay
between arrivals.
For large groups, travelling to Barcelona by coach may be the
lowest cost option. Further UK-Barcelona coach transport information: UK-Barcelona
coach transport.
Small groups may prefer the option of travelling to Barcelona
on the scheduled public coach service. Seats on the London-Barcelona Eurolines
service may be booked online by clicking here.
Travelling by Sea
Brittany Ferries (08705 360360; www.brittanyferries.com)
sails from Plymouth to Santander twice a week.
Acciona (08717 206445; www.atferries.com)
sails from Portsmouth to Bilbao from June 28 to September 23. Further
information from the Spanish Tourist Office (020 7486 8077; www.spain/info).
