Barcelona Travel Forum

In April of 2010 we will be taking the Disney cruise ship from Florida to Barcelona, and would like to know the best way to get from Barcelona to Rome. We are considering flying with local airline which won't cost very much per person. There will be five adults and one 5yr old child. Is there anyone who has done this in the past that can give us some travel tips.

Ernie

Be aware that Ryan Air has strict baggage weight limits. Coming from a long cruise, that may be an issue for you. Check Vueling which flies from Barcelona to Rome. Have a great time!

Ahh, Donna beat me to it, I was also going tu suggest Vueling.

btw Donna ... what place did Kasha choose for her vacation ? ;=)

Europe does not really have 'local airlines' but it does have budget airlines. Flying anywhere is not cheap, but budget carrier fares are usually much lower than mainstream carriers.

You will find all European budget carriers and their routes listed on www.whichbudget.com

All are safe, and their reliability stats are often better than mainstream carriers, but you should be aware of these things:

Cheapest fares are booked well in advance. Fares rise neareer to departure.there are no last-minute cheap fares. You should be loking and booking at least 6-8 weeks beforehand. Start regularly checking for fares in December 2009 or January 2010...you may chance upon a 'sale' (never announced beforehand) which will cut your ticket prices. Look now for September to get a rough idea of what fares might be.

Hold baggage limits are 20kg for most, 15kg for Ryanair. Exces baggage carriers very high charges indeed.

Check-in times are strict. A couple of minutes late and you will miss your flight with no refund.

There are no pre-allocated seats. If you wish to be sure of sitting together you need to check-in early so you are in the first boarding group.

The baggage issue will be your main problem, I think.....and may mean that budget carriers are not suitable. Mainstream carriers will, of course, cost much more.

The alternative is by train, a long journey (21+ hours) with several changes but one which you might choose to do by breaking it up into segments with overnight stays on the way.

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

will give you train times and details in English.

You could hire a vehicle and drive, of course......but one-way hire will be very expensive. www.viamichelin.com will give you route and estimated driving time.

If you do decide to use a budget carrier, and find fares which appeal, it is best to book them there and then, imo. Don't wait to see if they drop, because they are more likely to rise.

you already get good advice above

you may check sites like www.trabber.com to find possible flights

Vueling and Clickair tend to have good deals and are quite good if you do not expect frills (both companies are in process of merging now, so it will be the same company when you travel). Alitalia, Lufthnasa, and other regular airlines may have good special deals, but these may appear close to your travel dates.

Be aware than Ryanair may have better prices but check how may "extras" you must pay (luggage, check-in... these will add a lot to the final price) and Ryanair use remote airports, so it can cost you more in transfers than the actual flights (apart of the time: GRO airport is 1:20 h away from Barcelona, while BCN is about 20-30 min)

Budget airlines tend to be cheaper booking in advance, even probably they still do not show fares for 2010

another option will be by ferry: www.grimaldi-ferries.com

'best' and 'very much' are keywords here
apart of the help above, other options were mentioned here
http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-449432-1-1-Travel-0-274654-Barcelona-discussion.html

A :)

Yes, Isa. The Barcelona>Civitavecchia ferry might well be a feasible option. It is an overnight ferry (as is the Barceona>Livorno ferry, also a possibiolity). At the moment, I cannot find timetables for next April....this does not mean that they will not run, it may simply be too far in advance for the data to be available.

From Civitavecchia it is about an hour by train to Rome, from Livorno 2-3 hours. Times and fares in English here:

http://trenitalia.com/homepage_en.html

There are also plenty of private hire transfer companies from Civitavecchia to Rome, if one googles 'civitavecchia rome transfer'.

Vueling Airlines