Barcelona Weekend Break
Getting to Barcelona
If you are taking a weekend break in Barcelona and travelling there from the UK or Ireland, you will almost certainly be travelling by air and you will have the opportunity to select from a number of low cost budget airlines.
Flights to Barcelona
Here are some tips for getting the cheapest Barcelona weekend break flights.
Firstly, do not book your weekend break through a travel agent or a tour operator. You will be able to cut your costs in half (and probably by more) if you organise your flights and hotel independently.
The best way to do this is over the internet and everything that you need to do so is on this or other pages of Barcelona Weekend Break.
Virtually every airport in the UK has a carrier offering a direct route to Barcelona and competition for your business is high. This means that prices are always low if you shop around and if you know what you are doing.
How to get the cheapest Barcelona flight tickets
There is a misconception that the earlier you book your tickets, the cheaper they will be. Unfortunately, this is not always the case (as we have found out to our own costs). Follow our advice below to get the best flight deal and avoid being "a budget flight sucker".
If you want to get the absolute best deal for your tickets, here is what you need to be aware of and what you need to do.
When to book and how to get the best deal
1. Summer flights
If you plan to visit Barcelona in July, August, late June or early September, book your tickets the minute that the flights become available.
Some airlines start releasing ticket 12 months in advance whilst others hold them until 6 months before the flight dates.
Ticket prices for this peak busy period start low and increase continually until all the seats are sold out. Book early and get a good deal, buy late and pay a premium (and sometimes fail to get a ticket at all).
2. Off peak flights to Barcelona
If however you plan to buy your tickets for a period outside of the busy summer rush, the approach above will probably cost you money rather than save you money.
The airlines still want you to book early because they sell their tickets in advance and get (your) money in the bank. The big difference though is that most of the airlines run at less than 100 percent capacity outside of the summer hiatus and this means that they still have seats available right up to the day of the flight.
The result is that tickets for these "off peak" periods start off at a reasonable price (to entice you to buy), following which they initially increase and then, as the departure date nears and seats remain unsold, the price starts to drop - often very significantly.
An easy way to check this (if it is an off peak period when you read this) is to compare a summer advanced booking on an airline with the price for a flight that departs next week on the same airline. You may be surprised at the prices that you see.
The google link boxes on this page hold links to budget airlines and flight booking companies enabling you to check this out (and make a booking if you wish).
A few other tips to help you get the most from your flight booking money
- If you can take a weekend break during the Monday to Friday period you will see flight costs drop. There is always a hidden weekend surcharge that inflates weekend flights.
- Always compare different flight times for price. Flights departing in the early hours or late at night are nearly always cheaper than those departing in the mid morning or mid afternoon. Leaving your home airport early and your arrival airport late also maximises your Barcelona holiday time, so you save money and gain hours.
- Don't just look at prices from one airport. You may get a much better deal at a different airport using a different budget airline. If the saving is significant, explore the cost of leaving your car in a secure "airport side" car park. Some of these car parks have rates that work out less than 10 pounds Stirling (14 euros) per day. If the car park cost 25 pounds and you save 60 pounds on the flights you have just paid for your first night's dinner for two.
Barcelona airports
The "Aeropuerto de Barcelona" is the city's international airport and a number of budget airlines fly directly to this airport. They include jet2 (from north east England via Leeds Bradford airport), EasyJet (from a number of UK destinations), plus with Monarch and a number of other airlines. You will usually find links to flights reservation sites, including the airlines above, in the google boxes on this page.
If you cannot find a flight from your local airport to Barcelona, then a flight to Reus airport may be an alternative. This airport is about 80 km from Barcelona city and there is a direct bus route. Reus is serviced from a number of UK cities like Doncaster (Robin Hood airport), Cardiff and Birmingham. RyanAir fly to this airport.
RyanAir do not currently operate a direct route to Barcelona.
Information current as of 2007.