Be wary the ground is well away from the city centre itself. A good 10-20 minute bus ride.

Also take a sackful of cash. The beer is expensive to say the least (five euros a pint at least). What we did was buy cans from the Supermarket and congregate by the canal which runs through the heart of the city.

If your staying a few days a bus trip to "Canet Plage" is an option. Thats basically a beach area. Again a good 30 minute bus ride.

All in all it's a pretty sleepy place but you'll love the experience of the stadium. It's something really unique and the passion and colour you see in the ground is pretty special. Nothing comes close to it back here.

Don't worry about the tickets - they won't sell out.

Beer really is £5 per pint, so drink the wine if you can take it - its decent stuff (always ask for the local house wine in a half/one litre carafe - all good stuff, red/white/rose) and FAR cheaper than the ale - something to do with the tax I think. Beer from shops is ok, but make sure its chilled - warm beer in Perp is absolute shiiite.

The ground is a good 30 minute walk, but the weather will be warm and if you've got a bottle of wine (or cheap frog brandy and a bottle of coke

) its a gentle stroll. There is also a RL friendly bar just before you get to the ground - you can't miss it.

Enjoy - its a great experience!!!

Again if you have time my favourite trip out when we had a holiday based in Perpignan was into the Pyrenees on the Little Yellow Train (first get a bus to Villefranche, which is nice in itself).

..and that bar just short of the ground does fantastic "long sausage in a baguette" sandwiches! The cafe with the tree in its yard a little way from the very centre is very RL friendly, cheaper than most and does good food.

… and if you're there on Friday night both the Grand Café de la Post (the one at the back of the Castillet that Hanson mentioned) and the Grand Café de la Bourse (just up the hill from the other one, into the old town) show the Sky game. If you're interested.

... and the Bourse does pretty darned good food.

Bar on the corner is called Le Bon Coin I think - anyway as previous posters have mentioned you can't miss it.

Collioure (around 30-45 minutes' drive down the coast) is stunning.

And easily doable by train, as well.

If you are there a while there is a direct train to Barcelona which takes about 2 hours and is good in itself with the mountains on one side and the sea on the other and drops you in Barca centre about 5 mins walk from Les Ramblas.

Been twice did the week tour once (from Barca) and the weekend booze do the other.

The first couple of times I went we just had beers in the Post bar, and ate in the Place de la Loge, as seems to be traditional. Great time was had by all, but if you want a bit more variety my three top tips are:

(1) Go drinking further afield than the usual Castelet suspects, just a few ideas: (i) the Habana Club bar just around the corner on Rue Jeanne d'Arc does brilliant cocktails; (ii) Place de la Republique is a great suntrap with several decent bars, especially the Republique bar itself, (iii) Restaurant les 3 Seours in Place Gambetta is a good place for a beer and food.

(2) Have a good wander about: There's a bit more to Perpignan than meets the eye - the castle of the Kings of Majorca is worth a wander if you want nice place to chill out, the Arab district of town to the West of that is pretty vibrant, and the cathedral is good for a look. Most of all, there's loads of little streets with odd nooks and crannies, and there's a nice vibe if you potter around from tiny local bar to tiny local bar.

(3) Visit the seaside - def recommend you go to Collioure on the train, stunning place, or if you just want simple sun and sand any of the resort towns from Canet (easy on the bus), south through St Cyprien and on to Argeles are all good family resorts (especially if you fancy staying a few days more, better to do that on the coast than in town)

around this time of year aswell the catalonians enjoy their festivals, canet will be heaving and it is a fantastic place, stayed there the last two years we have been there and there is a great little pub called canet sud cafe, visit this and visit the famous wigan plant, ask for keith the plant and keith will have a chat with you

Hi guys,

Here are some advice

In Perpignan, you will naturally find yourself strolling along the river (la Basse), taking pictures of the Castillet and taking a coffee on the Republic square. Between the two, you will naturally find the Cathedral.

You can also visit the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Kings_of_MajorcaPalace of the Kings of Majorca[/url (Palais des rois de Majorque) who is a very old fortress built in the 13th-14th century when Perpignan was the capital of the kingdom of Majorca.

Around Perpignan, a trip in the [url=http://images.google.com.au/images?rlz=1C1GGLS_en-USGB291GB304&sourceid=chrome&q=petit+train+jaune&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=XIZtSoG8BZWQkQWjmsmpCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5yellow train[/url (Le petit train jaune) is a great family trip in the summer. The train climbs the Pyrenees and give great views on the surroundings from an open carriage. You can take a train from the Perpignan train station (normal train which leads to the yellow train station).

As said above, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CollioureCollioure[/url is a great destination for a one day trip. It is a very picturesque port where you will love to stroll along and eat in a nice restaurant. The trip takes 25 mins from Perpignan by train, the ticket costs 5 euros. It is really worth being seen.

If you are fond of culture and if you want a trip in Spain you can even take the train to Figueres (1h20) where there is a Dali museum. Further away you have the lovely medieval town of Girona, and even further Barcelona.

In France [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CarcassonneCarcassonne[/url is a nice city to visit, with impressive medieval fortified walls.

If you want to go to the sea, [url=http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_en-USGB291GB304&um=1&sa=1&q=canet+en+roussillon&btnG=Search+images&aq=f&oq=Canet[/urlis the natural destination, easy to reach by bus from Perpignan. Beware, it is the Mediterannean see, in the middle of the summer it gets pretty crowded.



Regarding drinks and food, I would advise you to try the local wine. Habits are different and French do not have the beer drinking culture of Brits, hence the high price of pints (French will typically drink half pints). Regarding food, try local restaurants. A good advice is to avoid the places too obviously touristy where the price is not always justified by the quality. Look for labels on the restaurant doors like the "[url=http://www.hotellaresidenceetretat.com/routard.jpgGuide du routard[/url" (Back packer's travel guide) which indicates good quality for a reasonable price.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

If you are staying in the Ibis, the tellys show free hard-core pornography on a Saturday night.

Thanks to everyone who has replied.

Really appreciate it.

I'd rather know something about a place than go in blind, so to speak, and miss out.

Thanks again.

...mind you, if you listen to Gulf Coast Highwayman's advice you might come home blind instead

Just one last thing, how much is the wine per say half/litre?

Not much of a wine drinker but I will be if it is a lot cheaper than beer.

Don't get a taxi we got charged 80 euros return from torreilles plague to the ground which is about 15km could have hired a car for two days for that

have you not heard about our sponsors? [url=http://www.catalansporttours.com/Catalan Sports Tours[/url They advertise over there >>>>>

use their services and help the site.

assuming they don't just dump you like a hot potato a couple of days before the game - or is that special service only for Quins fans?

Don't be silly enough to pay onto the tour buses, they have two doors front and back, just jump on the back



P.S Tio Pepe's night bar is the best in Perpignan by far, the bar near the Castle is the place to drink during the day, the bar staff enjoy the RL banter and they usually have a decent selection of sports on.

Oh and one last thing, I hope you have got some decent money to take with you because it is fecking expensive over there.

Alot of our lot ended up on the wine, one bottle is just cheaper than two pints if I remember correctly.

Not planned! but going to Barcelona with the wife and Hull are playing Cats at Bezier the same weekend . Anyone got any tips how to get there and back, she will hate me for this if it takes to much out of the weekend but what the hell?

There is a direct train from Barca to Perp but I would have a look at avaliablity before you get there, we foolishly assumed it wouldn't be sold out and ended up on the longest train journey ever known to man.

Unless you drive it, it is not possible to get there and back in the day.

There are only a couple of long distance international trains from Barcelona in to France each day, roughly one in the morning and one late afternoon / evening. The latter would probably mean that you missed the game.

Google 'Seat 61' for details of how to obtain tickets / train times etc.

It's not as cheap as you might think either ....