Day trip from Barcelona to France

Hi there,

I live in Barcelona and I want to take my parents and wife to a nice lunch in France next week. We will be driving... can any one reccommend a good place to go?

Never been to France before.

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Got to be Collioure from where you are.

It will be very busy at this time of year though but as long as you are there early ie not after 1pm you should be able to choose a restaurant that appeals to you and your parents by strolling it%26#39;s narrow steets.

Plenty of choice here and it is a stunningly beautiful place.

But must stress it will be busy and you may have to park on the edge of town and walk in unless you can be there around 9am or so.

Lunch in Barcelona sounds a really good idea to me as well !!!

Neal

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Next week is August 15, a national holiday in France and the worst week in term of number of people on the road.

It is also a major fiesta week in Collioure, starting on August 14 and lasting until August 17 or 18.

Collioure will be extremely crowded (the August 15 fireworks draw an enormous amount of people, something like 100,.000 people(yes!) and people are not encouraged to take their car (there are quite a number of %26quot;special%26quot; trains on fireworks days)

In other words, I would not advise you to go to Collioure next week

You could take the highway via Girona, Figueres, Le Perthus, and exit at Le Boulou )

From Le Boulou you would have several choices :

Drive to Ceret (La Terrasse au Soleil, Le Mass Trilles are good restaurants albeit on the expensive side)

Drive to Vivès, a few km from Le Boulou and have lunch at l%26#39;Hostalet de Vivès, a typical catalan restaurant with enormous portions;

Drive to Argeles via Saint André, Saint Génis des Fontaines and have lunch at l%26#39;Amadeus at the beach.

Drive to Saint Cyprien (same road, turn left following direction to Perpignan when you reach the outskirts of Argeles) then turn right after Elne following the St Cyprien road and have lunch at l%26#39;Almandin

Go directly to Perpignan without exiting at Le Boulou and have lunch at Les Antiquaires

In all cases, do not go without a reservation, it will be crowded everywhere, except maybe in Perpignan

Do not take the national road from Figueres to Perpignan, driving through Le Perthus is awful in summer

Expect delays at the border

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Wow!!!

Perhaps we will be better off staying in Barcelona... Maybe go to France another time. Thanks for all of your advice!!!

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