Moving to Barcelona

S

stamford

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I know that there have been lots of posts about going to Spain etc. but I am really interested in moving my 12m Motor Cruiser from the UK to Barcelona (and to live on the boat for six months of the year). I understand that Port Vell is currently full but it seems that there are plenty of marinas North and South of BCN e.g. Arenys, Vilanova. I would be really interested to hear from anyone who has made the trip e.g. best route through French canals, life onboard in Barcelona or nearby (good community feel?), costs etc. I have lived aboard before and my current boat is fully equipped for this purpose. Also is the trip down to Balearics "easy" I guess four to five hours to Northern Majorca (cruising speed is 25kts+)?

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Port vell is really nice, but olympic is also OK. Vilanova is a little busy with mainly yacht club berths, not sure if any available, Sitges is fine, good port, but probably full. Trip to ballearics, easy peasy, lots of anchorages, stay away from the very expensive marinas in summer. Hope this helps. Port vell full in winter, summer, they always seem to have berths.

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yep, i went to port vell, even with bigish boats 50 -75 feet they had space. Even rewired a pontoon for me to get shorepower too.

Loads of other places along there, no problem hopping along I think. In fact, i might do it next year.

Yes the trip to balarearix is fine, just take good care with weather. It's 100 miles due south to dragonara on west side of majorca, then another dozen into palma.

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We came into Port Vell june 2002 with the intention of carrying on south. We are still here having just taken to the place. Although they say it is fully booked people turned up here late this year and are staying over winter. We used to live in the middle of nowhere in north of scotland, and when we pulled in I thoguht oh suger its in the middle of a city. But basically it is great, which is why many boats come back year on year.
Got to disagree with colin a bit on Olympico. We pull out there and a week on the hard is enough with the racket from the discos, although having said that we met boay owners who had been there for years.
Torredembarra, an hour down the coast is a bonnie wee port.
Best of luck and may see you here if you come,
Mike

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Thanks for the replies. I hope to get out there next year and am looking forward to the trip through the French canals.

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Officially you'll not get into any of the marinas in Barcelona until you've been on their waiting list for 4 years - in practice possession is 9/10 of the battle and if you're there and can get in you'll probably be able to stay. Prices are relatively high, except in Port Vell.

I'd try Palamos, up the coast and Almerimar down the coast - they're much easier to get into and both have a reasonably sized live-aboard community.

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