Help me plan my visit to Barcelona!

[The Larch]

I am thinking about "Hotel Eurostars Mitre" as a place to stay. Far from being the cheapest or the most expensive, it does not seem to be so far away from the city center either. Could one of you spanish guys be kind enough to google it for reviews? there is a ton but I can't translate.

Also the flight is a hard decision: Malév, the national airways go to madrid quite cheaply, if we go from saturday until tuesday. judging by google maps, the Barcelona airport is very near to their railway junction so I dont think it would be much more hassle once we arrive there.

But of course we would need to arrive there first, and Vueling goes straight there, altough only a little bit cheaper, and we would need to stay until wednesday.

I'd go straight into Barcelona, I doubt that the money you'd save by going to Madrid instead would offset the cost of having to travel again to Barcelona, either by plane or train.

As for the hotel, apparently it's a nice one, located in a residential area with not much around but nearby a metro station, and from there it's a couple of line changes until the city center. People complain of breakfast being expensive.

As for the tickets, it seems that only september games have them available. Maybe you'll have to wait.

[Tamas]

Thank you!

Yes it seems we will wait until we can buy the ticket directly from the webpage

[PRC]

Expose yourself at the train station in Barcelona...  i've seen it done before and it's very exciting.

[Syt]

Whatever you do, try to avoid SkyEurope when flying. They're basically sinking into chaos. A colleague spent 9 hours trying to get from Sofia to Vienna (flight time normally one hour), because the flight was delayed, SkyEurope can't land in Vienna anymore because of unpaid airport taxes and she had to go via Bratislava instead with a borrowed plane of "Dubrovnik Air" or some such that reminded her of the old Soviet days. Her luggage went to Vienna airport, though, so she had to pick it up there.

[Tamas]

Due to various concerns, mostly that all the opposition before that time suck sweaty donkey balls, I have purchased the tickets for:
Barcelona-Valencia in March. Manage to buy two expensive tickets about the edge of the expensive zone, slightly above the corner flag, will be excellent to see players up close, less excellent to follow the game itself.

And the other thing is, the regular airline to Madrid is cheaper than the the budget airlines to Barcelona, so can anyone give me any pointers where to look for train and bus rides between madrid and barcelona?

[Viking]

One tip, at least from scandinavia, it's cheapest to fly to alicante or malaga and then on to your actual location from there.

[BVN]

Girona has also an airport if I'm not mistaken. And Girona is not that far from Barcelona.

[The Larch]

And the other thing is, the regular airline to Madrid is cheaper than the the budget airlines to Barcelona, so can anyone give me any pointers where to look for train and bus rides between madrid and barcelona?

For the nth time, I don't think that's really cost effective. It's not that expensive to fly to Barcelona itself, and even less if you book so long in advance.

[Tamas]

And the other thing is, the regular airline to Madrid is cheaper than the the budget airlines to Barcelona, so can anyone give me any pointers where to look for train and bus rides between madrid and barcelona?

For the nth time, I don't think that's really cost effective. It's not that expensive to fly to Barcelona itself, and even less if you book so long in advance.

Well, but it would be about 270 euros per person (for the roundtrip) and this means arriving possibly on the day of the game, and staying until Tuesday (game will take place either on saturday or sunday).
The regular airline's Madrid trip costs 130 euros per person, and can arrive on friday and leave on monday.

[The Larch]

And the other thing is, the regular airline to Madrid is cheaper than the the budget airlines to Barcelona, so can anyone give me any pointers where to look for train and bus rides between madrid and barcelona?

For the nth time, I don't think that's really cost effective. It's not that expensive to fly to Barcelona itself, and even less if you book so long in advance.

Well, but it would be about 270 euros per person (for the roundtrip) and this means arriving possibly on the day of the game, and staying until Tuesday (game will take place either on saturday or sunday).
The regular airline's Madrid trip costs 130 euros per person, and can arrive on friday and leave on monday.

Adding the train train ticket would be upwards of 100€ per person, so you're not really saving much by going to Madrid. Bus would be around 50€, in a longer and way more incomfortable trip. Personally, I don't think that the amount you'd save is worth the hustle of having to do this additional transfer, even moreso if you're having your parents on tow.

[DisturbedPervert]

But riding trains is fun!

[Tamas]

Things are moving fast: I already knew that my mom probably will not be able to make this march date due to work comitments but she did not mind it, was not that fond on coming.

HOWEVER, viamichelin sez that the app. cost of a car trip, back-and-forth would not be much more expensive than the combined cost of airplane tickets for two.

So, we will be going by car, and my sister and his boyfriend will be joining us. They frowned upon the combined costs of match ticket, travel and hotel, but getting a free ride changed their minds. My mom will accompany us (but not coming to the match) optionally.

Great!

So all is left is to find a suitable hotel, more or less on the outskirts of the city so the car can be left there easily, we plan on using mass transit for touristy stuff, instead of struggling with a car in an unknown city. But I have plenty of time to solve that question.

Thank you all for the helpful tips.

Attached, is fcbarcelona.com's example of the view from the sector the 4 of us will be sitting at.

[The Larch]

You plan on travelling from Hungary to Spain by car with the whole family? You're nuts.

[DisturbedPervert]

You're going to DRIVE 2000km from Budapest to Barcelona?   

Maybe you just go with a Gypsy caravan

[sbr]

You're going to DRIVE 2000km from Budapest to Barcelona?   

Maybe you just go with a Gypsy caravan

*pre-orders the AAR*