Barcelona to France Day Trip: Girona & Collioure Lunch

4.92

(144 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I barely had time to finish my coffee before we were rolling out of Barcelona—our guide, Marta, already joking about how early it felt for everyone. The drive north was all soft hills and that kind of morning light that makes you squint even if you’re not fully awake. Girona came up quicker than I expected; suddenly we were walking across this old iron bridge—red beams everywhere—and Marta pointed out it was designed by Eiffel himself. She told us a story about Game of Thrones filming here (I haven’t seen it but some people got really excited). We grabbed pastries at a little café where the owner smiled and said something I didn’t catch—my Spanish is still terrible—and I tried this flaky thing with custard inside. Still thinking about that taste.

After wandering around the cathedral (we didn’t go inside—apparently the nave is almost as wide as St Peter’s), we piled back into the van. There wasn’t any border sign or anything when we crossed into France—just a shift in the road signs and suddenly things felt different. Collioure kind of sneaks up on you; one minute it’s winding roads and vineyards, then there’s this splash of blue from the Mediterranean and pastel houses stacked along the water. Our guide gave us some tips for lunch (she recommended anchovies, which are apparently a big deal here) and set us loose for a couple hours. I ended up sitting on a stone wall near the harbor with my sandwich, just watching these old men play pétanque under some crooked trees. The sea air smelled salty and warm—it made me want to nap.

The drive back was quieter—most people dozed off or scrolled through photos. Marta kept chatting with the driver in Catalan; sometimes she’d switch to English to point out something random (“that vineyard makes rosé for half of Paris,” she said at one point). There was something funny about having breakfast in Spain and lunch in France without ever showing your passport—like cheating at geography class or something. Anyway, if you do this day trip from Barcelona to France, bring your ID just in case (Marta warned us). And maybe swimwear if it’s summer—I forgot mine and kind of regretted it when I saw those kids splashing around by the castle.