Hi Ian,

I'm with you on the not wanting to drive in the heart of Barcelona! But what we have done in the past is drive to Pl. Del Glories, which happens to be a large roundabout/flyover with a multi-storey car-park underneath and a metro station. You can get a car-parking ticket combined with a day's pass for the metro for just a few euro, and then your other passengers just get metro day passes. Glories is at the far eastern end of Av. Diagonal, and this is probably as close to the centre as I would want to drive, plus if you do go past it I'm not sure how easy it would be to turn round, so it may not be ideal if you want to avoid the traffic.

If you are going to get the train, then you will need to head for Flaca (on the road from Begur to Girona) or Girona and get the Catalunya express train, which should take about an hour and a half to get you into the city. Hope that this helps.

Hope you enjoy

Thanks, sounds like a good idea

Although when I looked it up my jaw nearly hit the floor - if anyone has never seen this 'roundabout' then check this out for a road from hell http://iankearns.dialnet.com/images/glories.jpg

It is as unique as La Sagrada Familia!

Yes - it doesn't look that good on the map does it! The first time we went there we approached it from "ground level", but if you are on the main road coming into Barcelona from Mataro, you will hardly notice it as a roundabout, more like a big flyover, and the entrance to the car park is by dropping down a slip road on the inside of the "roundabout".

Not for the fainthearted or nervous driver!

It's not as bad as the map portrays, as, as deadlegs says, the roads are at ground level and fly over level.