How to Plan an English-Speaking French Wine Tour from Barcelona to the Cabardès AOC Near Toulouse and Carcassonne in 10 Easy Steps

 

Step 2: How to Select a Place to Stay in Barcelona

You are reading the O’Vineyards Winery and B&B blog and I am your guest writer, Darren.  As I mentioned in my original post, I am a part of the O’Vineyards family through marriage.  My spouse and I are working on developing a special relationship with O’Vineyards Winery and B&B, but this relationship is still in development.  I will share more about that with you as we learn more about how the circumstances are going to play out.  In the meantime, I will be doing some guest writing for this blog.  I will be focusing on articles about travel, the wine-making process, food, happenings at the vineyard, and interesting things to muse about while enjoying your favorite bottle from the O’Vineyards Winery.

In the current series of ten articles, we are exploring how to plan a wine trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B and the Carbardès AOC in the region near Toulouse and Carcassonne from Barcelona, Spain.  The O’Vineyards Winery and B&B is actually located in the village of Villemoustaussou, France.  Villemoustaussou is just minutes from Carcassonne, and it is about an hour away by car from Toulouse.  Carcassonne is just a short trip by car or train from Barcelona, so a trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B, and the region, can be a perfect trip for a visitor to Barcelona who would also like to enjoy a French wine trip.  My brother-in-law, Ryan, has previously written about how to plan a wine trip near Toulouse, how to plan a wine trip near Carcassonne and things you can do in Carcassonne.  One of the greatest features of Carcassonne is the walled medieval city that lies at the heart of Carcassonne.  This walled city is a UNESCO world heritage site and a popular international tourist destination.

I live in the United States, but my spouse and I happen to be planning a trip to O’Vineyards Winery and B&B to visit my in-laws, the proprietors, Liz and Joe, through Barcelona.  Since we are traveling through Barcelona on this particular trip, I thought it would be helpful to share what we have learned during our planning process. In my last post, I shared information on how to get to Barcelona.  In this post, I’d like to share information about how to select a place to stay in Barcelona.

First, choose a neighborhood in Barcelona to stay.

If you are visiting Barcelona to enjoy the sites, you are most likely going to want to stay in a neighborhood that is close to the sites and is easily accessible by public transportation.  The three best areas in Barcelona for these purposes are probably:

1. Plata Catalunya: this is the large central square at the heart of the city.
2. The Gothic Quarter (Old Town): this neighborhood surrounding Plata Catalunya is the heart of Barcelona where the whole city began. It features winding cobbled streets, beautiful architecture, and outstanding restaurants.
3. Las Ramblas: La Rambla is Barcelona’s most famous street.  The street lines the Gothic Quarter on one side, and El Raval on the other side.  It is very popular to stroll down this street and enjoy the people and sites.

If you are looking for more budget oriented regions, or perhaps a neighborhood closer to the beaches, some of the other neighborhoods in Barcelona may be more suitable for you.  You can read a guide of Barcelona neighborhoods here.

Second, choose a hotel.

Once you have chosen a neighborhood, you will want to choose a hotel.  Our favorite search engine for hotels is TripAdvisor.  TripAdvisor allows you to search by neighborhood, amenities, and traveler ratings.  The reviews by travelers for each individual hotel can be very helpful in making your selection.  You can read about O’Vineyards Winery and O’Vineyards B&B on TripAdvisor, as well.  Usually you can book your stay right from within TripAdvisor.  But TripAdvisor is much more than a hotel search engine.  You can also search for restaurants and things to do in the area that you are visiting.  It is an exceptionally powerful trip companion.

 

Third, figure out how you will travel around the city.

Once you have selected your hotel, you will need to plan a way to travel from the airport or train station to your hotel, and you will need a means for traveling around the city from your hotel.  The Old Town and Las Ramblas are very walkable, but for more distant traveling, Barcelona is served by taxis, the Aerobus that links the airport to the city,  the Barcelona metropolitan transport system buses, and a metro system.  If you plan ahead, you can make an efficient transfer between the airport or train station and your hotel, and you can have a good plan for traveling around the city during your stay.

I think that if you follow these simple steps, you can easily select a place to stay to in Barcelona that will meet your needs.  My in-laws, Liz and Joe, are hoping that you will take a couple days out of your trip to Barcelona to visit some wineries and other sites in the South of France.  O’Vineyards Winery and B&B makes the perfect stop for an English speaker.  My father-in-law, Joe, gives wine tours in English or “en franglais”.  My mother-in-law, Liz, prepares fusion-inspired street foods that are served in the afternoons paired with the wines made from the vineyard.  While tasting the wines, you can relax on the decks overlooking the vines and the Black Mountains in the distance.  If you’d like to stay a night or two, the B&B is a beautiful modern structure with spacious rooms.  Each room has a private bath and a view of the sloping hills of vines.  Check out this earlier post by my brother-in-law, Ryan, about things to do in Carcassonne.

Come back next time, and I will share with you some ideas for things to do while you are in Barcelona.

I introduced this series of articles in an initial post, and the other ten parts of the series are:

1. How to Get to Barcelona
2. How to Select a Place to Stay in Barcelona (this article)
3. 10 Things to Do in Barcelona
4. 10 Foods to Try in Barcelona
5. How to Get to Carcassonne from Barcelona
6. How to Select a Place to Stay near Carcassonne

Coming soon…

• 10 Things to Do Near Carcassonne
• Wineries to Visit Near Carcassonne
• 10 Foods to Try in the Carcassonne Region
• 10 Souvenirs to Buy to Remember Your Trip to Carcassonne