Catalans Away Game September 8th : Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:50 pm  

Hi,
I'm thinking of taking in my first game at Catalans this year, so can anyone give me any recommendations for the best way to do this? I have emailed Catalan Sport Tours for more information and prices, and am waiting for their reply, but I wondered if anyone else has any better ideas?
Cheers!

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:15 pm  

I'm not sure about what you might consider better ideas. Depends on what your priorities are.
First off I think is: do you want just to travel to the match (friday-sunday) or make it a few days holiday (thursday-sunday)
Next where do you want to stay - in Perpignan for the ambience and the usual friday night get together with the players at a central hotel. Cant say that this would still happen but it has in the past and quite a highlight of the weekend.
Staying outside of the town in a holiday resort is socially more rewarding than Perpignan itself which is pretty boring after a one hour walk around.
If you want an all-in package then CTS is excellent from my experience of using them, though prices and airport of departure is not yet available.
The only alternative to the CTS package that I know of at the moment is Mayfair World Travel who are offering a 3 night stay in Callela, half board and all transfers including to the ground for £389. The flights are out/in to EMA and I dont know if their price includes transport to/from EMA
We used Mayfair last year for a Bulls weekend trip to Harlequins and excellent satisfaction with their service.

Should you wish to DIY by booking flights,transport and hotels it could work out cheaper - depends on how far you want to go to tailor your trip and/or save money.
The only flights direct to Perpignan are by Ryanair from Stanstead. We did this one year for 4 of us sharing the driving and petrol costs. A long journey but saved the equivalent journey time at the other end.
Other Options are Jet2 fly LBA to Barcelona, BMIbaby EMA to Barcelona and others from Manchester and Liverpool.
If you can get a flight into Girona Airport then there is a 5 times daily FROGBUS to Perpignan at a cheap price

Hotels in Perpignan have filled up for the Bulls weekend. The usual favourits- IBIS, Mercure and Kyriad are fully booked but other marginally less central will be available

That's my experience of visits to Perpignan and hope it helps - perhaps other posters will add their experiences and advice

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Mon Jan 02, 2012 6:55 pm  

Last July 10 of us Rhinos fans flew from Liverpool to Barcelona with Easy jet, we paid £90 return for the flights

We had 2 nights in Barcelona and 3 nights in Llorret before traveling up to perpignan on game day

We all loved Barcelona and will definitely have the 2 night stay there next season, but we weren't too keen on Llorret as it was rammed full of eastern Europeans, although the "H Top hotel" we stayed in was all inclusive and was also very cheap, We personally will try somewhere else next season

The one thing i would strongly advise if you do travel over there, is to use Catalan Sports Tours as they were fantastic with both the airport transfers and the game day travel, the cost was very reasonable too

The downside to stopping in Perpignan is the amount of spending money you will require, 7 Euros a pint around the town Centre is the norm

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:06 am  

Carcassone is another airport local to Perpignan and a good place to stay for a couple of nights then hire car to Perpignan. the Citea hotel is a good one to stay and central in Perpignan also Collioure is good little town to stay its on the coast not to far from Perpignan. Barca and Girona as been mentioned are both woth staying at. There are plenty of places to fly into and out of it depends on how many days you plan to stay. For first timers CST might be your best option. Its a lovely area covering the Cataln parts of France & Spain.

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:21 pm  

If you don't mind being treat like cattle then Ryan air is ok.

The Best Western Park Hotel in Perpignan is very nice and clean with an as much as you want buffet breakfast. When we went Richard Lewis was also staying there.
It is only a short walk from the centre.

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:12 pm  

The Biffs Back wrote:

but we weren't too keen on Llorret as it was rammed full of eastern Europeans

I bet they were not too keen when they found it was rammed full of Leeds fans either.

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:23 am  

I bet we have more in Bradford, Eastern Europeans not Leeds Fans

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:49 pm  

I enquired with CST and their prices are out now.Depart thurs 6th Sept from LBA to Barcelona,transfer to beach resort near Perpignan as all the hotels in Perpignan are booked due to there being a journalists conference there,return to Barcelona early Sunday morning and fly back to LBA,£449 per person including B&B,transfers and match tickets.

Re: Catalans Away Game September 8th : Fri Jan 06, 2012 4:05 pm  

Thanks everybody for your extremely useful replies. The CST package does look very good, and everything is organised for you, which does appeal. The only downside is that they can't do extended stay options. Hmmmm, I'll have to weigh up my options now, armed with all the above information.
Thanks again.