Hi Y’all!
Wife and I are gonna be in Barcelona this fall. Hoping to plan a day of wine tastings in the surrounding regions one of the days. Wondering if anyone has good suggestions for drivers, tour groups, or cant miss wineries that are an easy tasting day from our Barcelona base?
Thanks!
can’t help you - sorry! - but have a son planning on studying abroad next year so am curious to follow this thread and see any responses
Mentioned a couple of places I went to last year in the penedes region here.
We had a car, but one of the highlights, an e-bike tour with two good wineries, included a bunch of people who had trained in from Barcelona. Did the half day tour—totally great.
wine tourism isn’t particularly developed in the region, so be prepared to rent a car. I did this with my wife in 2014, and we had an absolute blast in the Penedes region enjoying Cava (Codorniu has an especially great experience), and then we traveled to Priorat and spent a couple days there. It’s stunning, and I can’t recommend Trossos Del Priorat enough for a small luxurious hotel in Gratallops. Priorat wineries are set up for tourism, but they don’t get a ton of guests, so it tends to be fairly inexpensive and the wines are outstanding. Notable spots to taste… Clos Mogador, Mas Martinet, Clos Figueres (awesome restaurant too), Alvaro Palacios.
thanks!
whatd you think of the overall driving experience in Spain?
Overall, very easy. Probably the easiest country outside the US to rent a car and get around, in my experience. The only tricky spots were in the mountains around Priorat…cell reception is super spotty, so you need to download the maps on Google maps before you go so you can still have GPS. Finding Ferrer Bobet, for example, is darn near impossible without GPS. That’s still the best tasting room I’ve ever experienced, no contest. It’s at the top of the mountain and has 270 degrees of floor to ceiling windows. Absolutely stunning.
The old towns around Priorat have some super narrow streets too, so get a smaller car, and you’ll be just fine.
Wife and I drove north of Catalunya, i.e. Girona and other towns, in September last year. We usually tag team, she doesn’t drink alcoholic beverages and usually end up driving back after meals with wines and/or after winery visits. If you are based in Barcelona, driving into and out of the city, usually very congested during rush hour, for day-trips may be daunting for a 1st time driver from the US. Easier if you will be based around the countryside.
I wonder, is there an easy way to train out to a suburb from central barcelona and get a car there maybe?
I’m not dissuading you from driving within the city, not that big a deal if you drive in other large cities, just stating facts that you might want to consider.
I don’t know the logistics of trains to airport, but it’s a relatively short cab ride from Plaça Catalunya, and it’s where I can think of for you to get car and be already out on the highways.
I was traveling through Pendes and stopped at Pares Balta, based on someone’s recommendation (on this board). Fantastic experience. No reservation, just walked right in.
That’s one of the places we went. Agree on the experience. Cool tour and the host opened a lot of fun bottles for us to try.