# Ryanair's Girona route.



## Grizzly

Have Ryanair dropped the Dublin to Girona route now that they are flying in to Barcelons's main airport?  All other spring/summer 2011 destinations are loaded?


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## oldnick

Sadly this appears to be the case-. Evidently flying to three airports at/near Barcelona from Dublin is one too many next Summer. Now that FR have a daily BCN flight I'm surprised that FR have not already cancelled to Girona and will fly thru Winter.


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## Grizzly

Thanks Nick I thought that might be the case. Trying to get to Tossa from BCN. Any thoughts?


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## deli

Could it be that they have not loaded the Girona route onto their system yet, otherwise it appears that Ryanair had pulled out of Girona altogether as there are no flights from Girona, not just Dublin- Girona. 
Also they are not servicing London from El Prat, can't believe they have no London Barcelona/ girona route !


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## oldnick

you may be right deli. I checked all UK flights to girona and could only find Glasgow in the system ,which does suggest there will be flights.

I had a lovely week some months ago on the Costa Brava and intended to return this Summer . Besides the interesting attractive historic city of girona there are so many pretty tons and villages and good scenery -and the coast is beautiful.

GRIZZLY -If there are no Dublin flights,  then getting from BCNairport to Tossa is a tiring  drag with luggage and accompaying moaning female and kids.

Alone ,with light luggage it's better (isn't any trip ?)

The quickest way -but i dont know if its still available- was the airport train to Plaza Catalunya and thence a bus to tossa . Quite easy with Sarfa buses -did it four years ago. 
Otherwise its the big bus station in barcelona at estacio nord. Regular buses to tossa. But this means at least one change on the metro getting from the airport to Estacio Nord.
the whole thing could take over two hours. Approx cost 15 euros per person.

There's a train station 30 mins from tossa at Blanes and then a local bus but that's also a drag way of getting from BCN to Tossa.

If there's three of you i'd take a taxi for about 100 euros. If there's four of you  -no question a taxi is a must -depending on  traffic it'll take 60-90 mins.
I'd also check out the airport transfer services on the web, but they tend to cost more.

Maybe there's still a chance Ryanair will do the Dublin route..


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## Grizzly

Thanks Nick. I hope so. We had it all booked and paid for, for last April but the volcano got us and everything had to be cancelled. Thankfully we got refunds.

If Ryanair do continue with Girona I hope they do something about the flight times because the flight gets in so late to Girona you have to spend the night there. The local hotels know this so the prices are high. A bit like Bergamo.

Flying in to BCN is a hassle but if the flight is early you don't have to overnight in Girona and save on this cost. Girona is lovely though.


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## Odea

Ryanair have pulled the Dublin to Marseille route and it is gone from their drop down menu. Girona is still there. This suggests that they haven't loaded it yet. Knowing Ryanair they are looking for something from the airport to keep the flights coming.


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## ollaetta

I checked the website just now for flights to Girona in the New Year and it gave me prices so it's definitely still there.


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## Odea

ollaetta said:


> I checked the website just now for flights to Girona in the New Year and it gave me prices so it's definitely still there.


 
It's the Spring/Summer timetables that the OP is talking about. From March 26th 2011...


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## ollaetta

Oops!   Sorry about that, should have read the first post more carefully.


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## delgirl

Still no sign of the spring/summer timetable! A friend heard on the radio some time ago that Ryanair were going to stop the Dublin Girona route.

Can't find any info on the net and would like to book early for Easter. If anyone has any info, would love to hear what's going on.

Usually book in October - they're very late this year.  Really don't want to fly to Barcelona, it would add an extra hour onto my road journey.


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## oldnick

I share your and OP-Grizzly's puzzlement.
After nice time this summer we intended a longer break next summer in c.Brava.
Spoke to the agent who organised our villa this summer and he told me there is a general bewilderment in the travel trade in that area at what is happening next Summer with ryanair , girona's biggest customer by far.
Lots of  Ryanair routes to girona that have not yet been loaded for next Summer; almost nothing out of UK,save Glasgow.
is this a negotiating (blackmail) tactic of Ryanair with girona or  are they really cancelling dozens of routes ?
Nobody at ryanair says yes or no.


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## delgirl

Just heard on 6pm news that Ryanair is planning to move lots of routes out of Dublin from January 2011 as the DAA costs are too high.

Whether this has anything to do with the lack of flights to Girona or not, I don't know.


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## oldnick

I just checked about half of the 55 Ryan routes ex Girona next May and June .Only found Glasgow. So Ryanair pulling routes out of Dublin has nothing to do with it.

I'm wonder if the DAA costs or the ten euro charge are really the decisive factors for Ryanair to decrease flights exDub. 
Maybe there's an ever growing awareness that there's likely to be far less of us flying abroad next year.


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## Odea

I agree. Yet lots of people are regular flyers with Ryanair on the Girona route.  They have been loyal customers over the years, some with holiday homes in the area. I must say it is pretty lousey of Ryanair not to have some sort of announcement about this route. Then again they have dropped lots of routes over the years for all sorts of reasons and didn't give two flying penguins about their regular customers.

Incidentally Nick which resort did you stay in, in the Costa Brava?


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## oldnick

hallo, odea.
 I am a car-renter. Can't spend two weeks in a villa without a car. Wife wants pool and shops. i want to explore. Catalonia, as you know but other readers may not, has nice verdant scenery and interesting historic towns besides Girona -and is handy for trips into France(e.g..Coulieres never been there, lovely place).Figueres for Dali museum which my family loved and I hated,

We stayed in Calonge, thirty mins drive from Girona airport, making it one of the nearer resorts.  Not much there- small village -a mile inland from the coastal strip of  shops and hotels,  nice beach and some safe and pretty coves for swimming.
Two miles north is Palamos -thriving Catalan port  with good ,reasonable priced restaurants and shopping.A further 3/4 miles is Begur with historic town and coves.
 Also, two miles south of Calonge  is Platja D'Aro- busy tourist strip,not my scene, but wife and her sisters and kids loved it for shops,  cheap eateries, the "buzz ", lovely beach.
As Calonge is only 30-odd mins from Girona it was also handy for a couple of visits to that lovely city.

Must say though that villas ain't cheap compared to Cdel sol and C. Blanca. Being a cheapskate i was pushing wife to book at the southern end of C Brava where property is cheapest -Lloret and Tossa. She thought they were too like Fuengirola which may be true of Lloret, but not Tossa which I like. We went there and she admitted it was much nicer than she thought. 

We were thinking of L'escala area next Summer but thats nearly two hrs from BCN airport and we may drop the whole idea.


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## Odea

Sounds great. I was hoping to head to Tossa but unless Ryanair re-open Girona route I might head to Porto or Cinque Terre in Italy.  Then again I just might give my business to Aer Lingus, my tiny protest.


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## Bronco Lane

oldnick said:


> I share your and OP-Grizzly's puzzlement.


 
I would say that Ryanair is too busy placing full page adverts in newspapers about Terminal 2 etc, than doing what they should be doing, ie, keeping their customers updated about flight schedules.


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## delgirl

Just spoke to someone at Ryanair and they said that it appears that the Dublin to Girona route will remain and the flights are currently 'under review'.

She seemed to think that they will be up on the website next week.  Let's see.


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## Laramie

They need to make up their mind soon because I am not going to miss out on the hotel special offers that are available elsewhere if you book well in advance. If not Girona/Costa Brava then it will be elsewhere with Aer Lingus.


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## oldnick

In todays  there is an article about how M.O'L is threatening to pull out of Girona unless airport fees are greatly reduced, and that  he has the upper hand as Girona is almost entirely dependent on him.


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## Laramie

Thanks for that Nick. Maybe they should be renamed as the "Hello Money or else Airline". I see that the main Barcelona Airport has built a new Terminal and Ryanair are moving in to the old terminal. No matter what he says he loves when airports build new terminals because he gets the old one.


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## oldnick

Big debate in catalania travel circles at present about whether to give in to M. o'L. who is also making same threat to pull out of Reus. Ryanair controls a large chunk of  the overseas tourist market into Catalonia, and pulling out of Girona and Reus so late in the day could have devastating effect on on tourism ,like all areas ,is already down. ( He's not as important further south in Reus which has big charter market, but still big. C.Brava will be badly affected.

Whlst MOL has stopped and started routes willy-nill before ,mainly based on what he can get from the local, national and supra-national govnts like EU, the recent strenghening of his muscles in this example, also recently in France -and now Ireland - is actually quite scarey.

Very difficult to make holiday plans or whether to buy an overseas property in a certain area (not that anyone is at present)  if he can stop and start routes like this.

Its great that he broke the rip-off monopoly of national airlines.
Its great when he opens new routes and offers cheap fares..... but one starts getting uneasy at  his actions. 

As much as I'd like to see cheap girona flights part of me wants the Catalonian govnt ton say " F.off! you already could millions in subsidies .No more demands"

(This post has been written as an escape from our present national issue....)


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## SlurrySlump

I see that Ryanair have also increased their on line check in fee from €5 to €6, Yet they moan about the government's travel tax etc.  I am going to make a conscious effort to fly with a different airline in place of Ryanair next year on at least one trip as my little protest.
They remind me of those companies of old that undercut everyone in order to wipe out the opposition. Then when the competition was gone they increased their prices.


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## WaterWater

It will be interesting to see if Ryanair will introduce new routes if the government is forced to scrap the travel tax or was that a lot of hot air.

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/irish-govt-s-10-euro-tourist-tax-to-be-ruled-illegal-by-eu-commission


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## IsleOfMan

They seem to be more interested in selling their 2011 calendar than keeping their customers updated on routes, timetables, increased charges etc


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## BOXtheFOX

Now that the travel tax has been reduced to €3 in the budget with added incentives from the DAA will M O'L increase his routes in and out of Ireland from the continent and will we see a decent "sale" from him?


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## Black Sheep

Ryanair seem to be doing Girona up to the end of March only


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## BristolGiron

The following link may provide some explanation - the local chamber of commerce is not able to support Ryanair's flights to Girona in the future. But apparantly they provide only 6% of the support that Ryanair receives. I have tried e-mailing Stephen Mcnamarra at Ryanair and various Aena e-mails at Girona but of course no reply. I know staff at Girona are getting concerned too.


europapress.es/catalunya/noticia-camara-comercio-girona-estudia-dejar-participar-economicamente-convenio-ryanair-20101203181801.html


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## Tintagel

BOXtheFOX said:


> Now that the travel tax has been reduced to €3 in the budget with added incentives from the DAA will M O'L increase his routes in and out of Ireland from the continent and will we see a decent "sale" from him?


 
Not sure about that. See here


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## delgirl

BristolGiron said:


> The following link may provide some explanation - the local chamber of commerce is not able to support Ryanair's flights to Girona in the future. But apparantly they provide only 6% of the support that Ryanair receives. I have tried e-mailing Stephen Mcnamarra at Ryanair and various Aena e-mails at Girona but of course no reply. I know staff at Girona are getting concerned too.


  That's at least some information BristonGiron, thanks for that.

I have tried to contact them as well and only managed to get their customer service, which I had to pay extra for 1550 number .  I was told that the dates would be loaded last week.

I'm hoping to travel at Easter and as it's a very busy time, I usually book well in advance.  I don't want to book with Aer Lingus to Barcelona and then Ryanair opens the Girona route again.  I just wish they would tell us what the likelyhood is of the route being operational in April.


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## BristolGiron

Further news in the Spanish press. According to this the Generalitat is saying that a deal is imminent, certainly should be before Christmas. As it stands the deal that Ryanair has with the government runs until the end of 2011, but that is presumably being renegotiated??

20minutos.es/noticia/896992/0/

Quite a lot comes up on google.es if you search for "Ryanair Girona Verano 2011"


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## delgirl

That's great info, thanks for that! Looking forward to a bit of sunshine after the cold weather here!


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## Tintagel

delgirl said:


> That's great info, thanks for that! Looking forward to a bit of sunshine after the cold weather here!


 
Where are you going?


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## delgirl

Going to Argeles sur Mer in France.  About 1 hour 15 mins drive north of Girona.  Barcelona would be an extra hour.

Could also fly into Carcasonne, but it's between 1 1/2 - 2 hours away and the car hire is a fair bit more expensive than Spain.


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## oldnick

Wouldnt perpignan be better? though I suppose its just as big a drag to change at stansted or brussels as it is to drive from BCN and your point on car hire is welltaken.
However, it does seem likes there movement on the Ryanair-Catalonia govnt discussions over Girona(i.e. Ryanair will continue to get millions in subsidies)


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## delgirl

Perpignan would be great 1/2 hour from Argeles, but as you say I would have to fly to Stansted and then on.  Did this with Salzburg and it took practically the whole day to get there.

Fingers crossed that Michael will get what he wants and will keep flying to Girona.


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## deli

Go to Argeles sur Mer quite frequently, and to be honest, Carcassonne is only about 15 mins more of a drive than Girona, and i have noticed recently that the difference in the cost of car hire between Spain and France has narrowed, particularly when you add in the cross border insurance required when hiring in Spain. Also flight times to Carcassonne are usually better than the Girona route.


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## Tintagel

Yes, let's hope that they do something about the dreadful flight times to Girona. It is expensive to overnight there after a late arrival.


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## delgirl

deli said:


> Go to Argeles sur Mer quite frequently, and to be honest, Carcassonne is only about 15 mins more of a drive than Girona, and i have noticed recently that the difference in the cost of car hire between Spain and France has narrowed, particularly when you add in the cross border insurance required when hiring in Spain. Also flight times to Carcassonne are usually better than the Girona route.


Can't wait for Girona, have booked to Carcassonne and with moving dates around a bit, have got a reasonable deal.

Great to have something to look forward to amidst all the doom and gloom!


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## Tintagel

See  below.


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## Tintagel

delgirl said:


> Perpignan would be great 1/2 hour from Argeles, but as you say I would have to fly to Stansted and then on. Did this with Salzburg and it took practically the whole day to get there.
> 
> Fingers crossed that Michael will get what he wants and will keep flying to Girona.


 
Forget Girona. Have a look at Aer Lingus's new route. Your trip sorted.

Any suggestion for a nice apartment in Argeles?


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## oldnick

well pointed out, Tintagel !

This is a slap in the face for MoL. Perpignan is great for the northern  Spanish catalonia / Costa Brava and now opens up the French Catalan area .

-plus other new direct routes including Izmir. I'm amazed and delighted that EI are opening new routes.


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## PyritePete

+1 Oldnick. I travel close to Stuttgart several times a year and this new route opening into Stuttgart will make life a lot easier.


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## delgirl

Tintagel said:


> Forget Girona. Have a look at Aer Lingus's new route. Your trip sorted.
> 
> Any suggestion for a nice apartment in Argeles?


Didn't know that Aer Lingus were planning to travel to Perpignan and have already booked with Ryanair to Carcasonne.  The Carcasonne flights are more frequent and are cheaper, but next time I'll try Aer Lingus to Perpignan.

There are loads of apartments in Argeles, depends on what you are looking for and who's going.  If it's a family with kids, you many want a complex with pool or an apartment near the sea.  If it's just adults, you may want something a bit quieter.

If you have a look at the ODV.com website after 21st December, they will have rental listings for 2011.  Once their listings for 2011 are up, I can give you the names of apartment building that have a good location, close to the beach with good views.

You can also view apartments for rent on holidayrentals.co.uk 

Most of the apartements in Argeles are not serviced and don't come with bed linen, towels etc.


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## oldnick

Look, Delgirl, we're all going to stay at your friend's place in Argeles. Tell her/him to get some linen,towels etc


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## Tintagel

Yeah. I have been looking at www.holiday-rentals.co.uk  and www.homelidays.co.uk but there are very few 1 bed roomed apartments in Perpignan or closer to the coast. Not really interested in bringing linen or towels with me either as I am not going to pay to put a suitcase in the hold. The Aer Lingus flight times are also great, unlike the awful flight times that Ryanair had to Girona forcing people to overnight in an overpriced Girona Hotels. I hope Ryanair lose out bigtime on this one.
I see that Ryanair are fighting with the German airports now over their travel tax. These guys can't see the woods for the trees.


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## delgirl

oldnick said:


> Look, Delgirl, we're all going to stay at your friend's place in Argeles. Tell her/him to get some linen,towels etc


I'm going to my own bolthole with a fantastic view of the sea and Les Alberes, but couldn't possibly fit you all in!


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## bargainQueen

I rented an apartment on the beach on Boulevard De la Mer from an Interhome Agency on Avenue Du Tech 187 Centre Plage, we also hired linen and towels for the week.  I needed to get a spare set of keys from them and nothing was a problem.  The lady I dealt with was Ida Orfe.  I have also availed of the new Aer Lingus route to Perpigan for April but was disappointed that they only fly Saturday and Tuesday and are quite expensive for the summer months, was hoping to avail of the Frogbus from Girona this year, will have to do a few sums before I book my summer hols, with any luck Ryanair will resolve the Girona issue


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## oldnick

You're right bargainqueen. Am surprised to see Perp so dear this early at booking stage.
23-30 july is 251 euro return (before bag) - only 29 euro less than booking izmir on same dates.

Ryanair have some very cheap deals to barcelona on many dates in July because they're presently excluding taxes- as little as 115 euro return on most weekdays.

Even if one wanted to book somewhere on the French side its worth booking Barcelona rather than Perp, especially if there 's two or more of you.

However, I still can't believe that ryanair wont fly Girona....


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## Tintagel

As usual, Aer Lingus opens a new route (a bit like Funchal), charges outrageous prices. Flies half full. Then closes it down a year later.  There are lots of us planning holidays. I have already dismissed Perpignan, on price.   So I guess it's Ryanair to Barcelona and then toward Sitges.


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## deli

Tintagel said:


> Forget Girona. Have a look at Aer Lingus's new route. Your trip sorted.
> 
> Any suggestion for a nice apartment in Argeles?


 
As delgirl mentioned. its depends who you travelling with. If you travelling with kids, Argeles has a huge amount of campsites.

try [broken link removed]
full of good info

Great to see a direct dublin perpignan flight - hopefully there prices will get a bit better !!


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## SlurrySlump

oldnick said:


> Am surprised to see Perp so dear this early at booking stage.


 
Much cheaper to fly Nice or Carcassonne with Ryanair.  Don't understand Aer Fungus pricing.  Even Marseille is working out cheaper than Perp.


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## BristolGiron

*Good news*

Lots in the Spanish press today about a deal having been done!  Key bit in bold.


Ryanair operará en el aeropuerto de Girona el próximo verano un total de 64 rutas, de las cuales nueve serán nuevas y enlazarán la capital gerundense con los aeropuertos de Cochstedt (Alemania), Karlstad y Skelleftea (Suecia), Kristianstad (Noruega), Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Rzeszow, Szczecin (Polonia), Tallin (Estonia) y Zadar (Croacia).


Este es uno de los principales compromisos del acuerdo que han alcanzado Ryanair y la Asociación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo de las Comarcas Gerundenses (AGI) --formada por la Generalitat, la Diputación de Girona y la Cámara de Comercio de Girona-- y que deberá ratificarse en las próximas semanas.

En virtud de dicho acuerdo, la aerolínea irlandesa de bajo coste se ha comprometido a mantener cuatro millones de pasajeros anuales en las instalaciones de Vilobí d'Onyar, por lo que el aeropuerto de Girona albergará 10 aviones en verano y 6 durante el invierno. *Asimismo, permanecerá en el aeropuerto gerundense hasta el 2016* con el fin de consolidar su base y contribuir al desarrollo económico y turístico de la provincia.

Por su parte, la AGI también se ha comprometido a aumentar el volumen de publicidad y márqueting de Girona a través de los canales publicitarios de la aerolínea irlandesa con el fin de impulsar la oferta turística de las comarcas gerundenses.


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## SlurrySlump

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryanair-agrees-5-year-extension-of-its-barcelona-girona-base


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## SlugBreath

No low cost flights though.  And will all their huffing and puffing you would have thought that they might have done something about their unfriendly flight times.


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## SlurrySlump

Is there ever any issue with fog problems at Girona airport?  The Ryanair flight lands late in the evening and as a result an overnight stay in Girona is needed before moving on to the coast.  The last thing I want to do is book an overnight in a Girona hotel and end up being diverted to Barcelona or Reus by Ryanair because of fog.


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## oldnick

Slump - not a direct answer re fog, but yes the lateness of arrival in girona is a drag.
Even if you book a hotel in girona, by the time you pick up your car it's difficult to be in your room much before midnight
(unless you stay at the airport hotel )
And getting to a villa/apt along the coast is horrible at that time.

Returning is also bad. Very late ,so one has to leave one's accommodation far too early.

We are planning to go to C.Brava and I note that EI has reduced its Perpignan flight prices. For anyone in Leinster the timings are great and the price is good. For many resorts it means over an extra hours drive compared to girona  -but at a civilised time both going and returning.


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## oldnick

Ryanair's Girona flights back in the news last week after the new Catalonia govnt reneged on a recent deal with the previous govnt.

RayanAir say they  are cancelling several -but evidently not all - routes,  but as of yesterday I coudn't work out which ones are being cancelled. Hopefully not Dublin.

Whilst sad that cheap flights are curtailed or cancelled to anywhere,  part of me is glad that a strong regional authority is standing up to Ryanair, (as is also Pau airport in France).  So-called cheap flights often come at a price -to the town concerned, the region or ,indeed, the EU taxpayer via various subsidies.


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## oldnick

Dub not cnx - full details Ryanair.ie - 16 Feb news announcement.


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## IsleOfMan

Yup! Back in the boxing ring for round 2.

http://www.ryanair.com/ie/news/ryan...ollapses-as-new-government-backtracks-on-deal


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## BOXtheFOX

I see that Ryanair are advertising flights for sale at €9.99 on this route.....but there aren't any!  I thought that if you advertise something for sale that it had to exist?


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## oldnick

Box,Box,Box...come on now .This is Ryanair you're talking about.


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## venice

Has this Route finally being axed?


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