planning a trip to barcelona and paris in sept

George, we are in the process of planning the same trip. We intend to fly into Barcelona and fly out of Paris. We intend to pick up a rental car as we enter France. We will drop it off coming into Paris. We haven't filled in the blanks yet. We're just getting started. Our trip will also be in Sept. but it will be next Sept and not this year.

Wow George, are you talking about next month? That is cutting it pretty close. I don't know anything about Barcelona, but from what I understand Paris is pretty busy in September.

You might want to check out sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Venere and Priceline for hotels. Oh yeah, check germanwings.com. They have some good places on that site. You can even check these sites for flights. Another site for flights is kayak.com. If you see something you like, go to the airlines website. Sometimes you can get a better deal through them.

For Oktoberfest, it is probably too late for hotels in Munich. You could try the above mentioned sites, and you may consider staying just outside the city and taking the train in for Oktoberfest.

Good luck!

I think the question of what to check out depends on how long you will have in each city.

Barcelona. For me, the essentials are the Ramblas (from the Placa Catalunya to the port), the Placa Espanya, the Barri Gotic, Montjuic and a walk on the beach in Barcelonetta. With more time, I'd add in the Eixample and the various Gaudi sights, Parc Ciutadella, and perhaps the Poble Espanyol (its kitschy, but still enjoyable, especially late in the day). If you have even more time, I'd suggest a daytrip to the monestary at Montserrat or to Tarragona or a visit to nearby Sitges. All 3 of these places can easily be reached by train.

For Paris, again, time is the key issue. My essentials are exactly what you'd predict - Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Champs Elysee, the Arc du Triopmphe and the Eiffel Tower. Of course, I'd mix this in with as much time as possible walking along the Seine or in the neighborhoods surrounding these places, or just sitting in a cafe and watching the world go by.

Palace of Versailles is a must. It's about 30 minutes outside of Paris but definitely worth it.

A suggestion for getting from Barcelona to Paris. We flew into Madrid and out of Paris in 2009. We took the AVE from Madrid to Barcelona and flew on Iberia from Barcelona to Paris. The tickets on Iberia cost around $70 and I think the flight was under two hours. We looked at some of the budget European airlines but Iberia turned out to be the best deal overall.