Villas in Spain, Barcelona area

DebbieR

I've been looking for a villa to rent in the school summer holidays in the Barcelona/Costa Brava area. Could anyone point me to a trustworthy internet site where I can book accommodation. I've priced packages on Thompsons , James Villas and the price including flights for a basic villa for a week is upwards of £2000. I've priced flights from Durham Tees Valley airport at just under £700 and I reckon car hire is around £150-£180. Is it worth "doing it youself" or would you recommend the package? We've always gone to Cornwall previously and this is a big step for us so I want to be sure I do it right. Thanks in advance.

budgetflyer

Does it have to be a villa ? Costa Brava area has some fantastic quality holiday parks like Sanguli where you can rent luxury Mobiles or lodges.
My guide has loads of tour opps who do these holidays.

Villas on Costa Brava high season tend to be quite expensive as the season is short compared to Blanca, del Sol and the Canaries,

DebbieR

We fancied the idea of having our own pool on the doorstep, thats what attracted us to the villa idea. We like to do our own thing so I hadn't really thought of the holiday lodge but I'll have a look at the sites on your link-there seems to be a good variety there and it may change my mind. Thanks for the info.

elisebutt65

I always use this site for accommodation in Spain - You book direct with the owner and they have a testimonial service so you can seee what the previous renters thought about the accommodation. Homelidays

DebbieR

Thanks for the site Elise. There's a lot of info on it that looks as though it would be useful to me. Ill have to look in the morning-my brain is totally confused now!

Dumyat

we stayed in that area using a company called https://www.interhome.co.uk
the management service was excellent.

dont discount sharing a pool. we have had a villa with a shared pool.(was about 10 steps from the villa) we only shared with about 6 villas and they were out at work all day. the pool was huge!! same with some apparments. villa with its own pool is the dearest option and often the pool is quite small.

why not look in costa dorada area too. you can get train easily to Barcelona and you could do the theme park at salou! we stayed in a villa in miami playa. its a quiet spanish resort but you have salou a few miles up the road if you want the action

it is cheaper to hire direct from villa owners but you might feel safer for your first time going with an agent.

have to warn you now! once you have done a villa holiday you will not want to do a package deal to a one bed hotel room again

tubbies74

thanks for that

DebbieR

Thanks dogrose. When we've gone to Cornwall we've always stayed in lovely cottages with all mod cons and I'm so used to that now that I can't bear the thought of a hotel room, especially with an eleven and fifteen year old. I'll certainly have a look in the Costa Dorada area too, My daughter's itching to visit Barcelona and we'd like to visit the theme park too, they're the main reasons we're wanting to visit that area.

Louisa_Jane_2

We have booked villas using https://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk and https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk. Last year we stayed in the area around Begur, Tamariu etc. It was fantastic - lovely small coves, not too touristy, lots of snorkelling if you are into that (my DH and DS's are!!)
We stayed at http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/s3321.htm for one week(although I've just looked and it is fully booked for July/August)and
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/Spain/Costa-Brava-Girona/holiday-villa-Begur/p16249.htm?property=16249

DebbieR

Thanks for that Louisa. There's some beautiful ones on this site. I've heard of Owners Direct but I didn't know how reliable they were so I was a bit reluctant to book anything through them. If you've had no problems though I'll certainly consider them.

Louisa_Jane_2

DebbieR wrote:

Thanks for that Louisa. There's some beautiful ones on this site. I've heard of Owners Direct but I didn't know how reliable they were so I was a bit reluctant to book anything through them. If you've had no problems though I'll certainly consider them.

You just book direct with the owner of the house (just realised, that's why it's called ownersdirect!!) as with holidayrentals, cheznous etc. We've never had any problems - the accommodation has always been excellent and it's nice to build a rapport with the owners .