More wintering dilemmas, Barcelona, Menton, Marseilles....

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All_at_Sea

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We thought about going to barcelona but have had no response from them yet by email. Can anyone suggest anywhere else along that stretch, close enough to get to the city easily. we will probably stay for 3 months, depending on weather.

Any help appreciated. We are currently in Faro, heading east and aim to be wintered for November december and January, living aboard.
 
Steve_Chafer said:
We thought about going to barcelona but have had no response from them yet by email. Can anyone suggest anywhere else along that stretch, close enough to get to the city easily. we will probably stay for 3 months, depending on weather.

Any help appreciated. We are currently in Faro, heading east and aim to be wintered for November december and January, living aboard.
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You mean Port Vell, Barcelona? There is a waiting list. Phone them, forget the email, they speak good English. Port Olympic is a bit further out but you can bus in. Barcelona is a good wintering spot with plenty of liveaboards, city on the doorstep and communications throughout Spain and the EU. But it is expensive. Public transport is excellent you should not need a car just learn how to use the buses and metro and buy the appropriate season tickets. Cheap and good transport. Everyone gets mugged. Good beaches. Apart from muggings nothing much bad to report. Port Vell is well-run and very secure. Oil costs €1 a litre to dispose of but won't affect your overall budget, I suppose.

Marseilles -- yacht club marinas. Two or three of them. Not many liveaboards or Brits. I doubt you'll find a winter berth. Phone, don't email. The biggest, SNM, is probably the best to try first (sorry don't have phone numbers to hand, try Block online) speak English. Security fair. Staff above average. Public transport excellent and cheap. City on doorstep. Wetter and cooler than Barcelona. A bit quirky and enigmatic, good for French speakers. Excellent communications, TGV to Paris and UK and rest of EU. Treat yourself to first class and you will not be disappointed. Of course from Paris you have a major rail hub for pan European travel.

Menton. I doubt you'll find a berth. Phone don't email. You have to trundle along to Nice to get to any decent centre. Not in the same league as Marseilles or Barcelona. Has a good micro-climate. Very warm as is all of that coast to the Italian Riviera. Better than Marseilles weather. Some liveaboards and Brits tend to be fairly wealthy. Big Brit expat community ashore and in Monaco and along to San Remo. Very flash out west, you need to be A-list to get the best out of that.

If you are a fairly 'normal' Brit yachtsman your preference would be Barce, then Marseilles then Menton, of those you mentioned. I admire your choice not to consider the options in the Bouche du Rhone but am too polite to go into further details about that ;)

Coming in from Faro suggest you spend a few nights at least in Almerimar, Cartagena and just possibly Torrevieja (I hate but many like). Denia is very expensive but good reputation. Forget Valencia.

Give Port Vell a ring and be nice (they are really nice in the office). Or take the train over, there is a fast TGV equiv across to Madrid and down to Barce and do it face to face. Nice trip anyway with a night or two in Madrid as a bonus.
 
Check Cartagena as you go through. Very good value for money, and an interesting town centre with plenty of life, but crappy surrounds. Two people have recently reported Barcelona and Valencia full, but how hard they tried and what size of boat I'm not sure.

I confirm a personal bag snatch in Barcelona. Just take one look at the security measures small shops take, and you can read the problem. Further confirmed to me when I saw three occasions of people shooting up in daylight in the parks over a period of four days. Shame really, great city otherwise.
 
You might wish to consider Torredembara near Barcelona.On our way down coast in 05 we spoke to some Brits who wintered there regularly before spending each summer in Balearics.They seemed happy there.Typical newish Spanish Marina with shops nearby.Trains regularly go to Barcelona from there.
 
You would definitely find a space available at Sant Carles, we could do with some more staying on board in the winter to liven it up then, as most only manage short visits as they are still working.
http://www.mdlmarinas.co.uk/mdl-santcarles-marina/home.asp

There is a regular bus service to Barcelona, although we avoid it having had 3 attempted robberies passing on the Autopista. I am sure the problem is not with Spanish people, but some of the immigrants who seem to cause problems in most cities now.

As you are considering France, presumably the warmer winter in the south is not such an attraction, but the Costas Blanca and Del Sol are a few degrees warmer.
 
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