Traveling to Spain and so confused!

Hi ya'll!! Well, I'm planning our big trip to Spain.  We are here in London until January or so and I want to take advantage of the warm weather in Spain cause dh wants to snorkel.
My frustration is that there are three places we must go to:  Barcelona (have a friend there), Girona (for the beach), and Soria (my grandfather's last name was Soria). 
I've called Expedia to get some idea of the costs of hotel and flight.  But I know that Ryan Air can be cheaper, however, someone told me that although Ryan Air is cheaper, we have to go from line after line; and considering that we have our little ones w/us (7,6,3,and 3) that does not sound all that good. 
Is there an online something or other, like Expedia, I guess, or whatever you might reccomend, that I could look at that can help me w/this trip?

I would so, so appreciate any help.  Thanks ya'll!!

What do you mean about going to line after line?
We went to Barcelona last summer to see family and flew out of Liverpool on Easy Jet it was so cheap. Then we stayed in a really old hotel in Barcelona just off the Ramblas, cheap and cheerful and in need of renovations, but great free breakfast.
If I remember right we booked with lastminute.com Only booking about 4 days before we went. We went to see family in Castelldefels south of Barcleona (20 or 30 minutes from the airport) where there is a lovely beach. I flew to Girona as a teenager and stayed at the beach at Lloret de Mar and caught the train into Barcelona, it seemed to take forever seeing we only had a few days.

Thank you so much for your reply.  I just feel overwhelmed w/everything that we want to do.  I think I'll have to just a travel agency.  That just might be the way to go.  Thanks!

With 6 of you travelling going through a travel agent may really bump up the cost by a huge amount.

You can fly with Ryan Air to Girona, stay there, then get the train to Barcelona.  It takes 1hr 15 and costs about 7euros for an adult.

Getting to Soria seems more complex.  There is a train, which takes about three hours from Barca, but I often think trains are better than planes for children.  Alternatively, fly to Zaragoza and get the train from there - which may involve too much chopping and changing with little ones.

You can then fly back to the UK from Zaragoza.


Vicky

Zaragoza

Lovely town in its own right; my favourite singer (Eva Amaral) comes from there.

I only know it for the football team!


Vicky

Victoria, thank you sooo much for your advice.  I am clueless as to what transportation to use once there.  Although I will not drive here in the London area, I am wondering if driving in Spain will be less scary.  I keep thinking that driving will be more convinient to get to Soria.  I'm also thinking of flying into Madrid.  I was thinking of using EasyJet but I don't think they fly into Zaragoza- I'll look into that and if they do I'll definitely fly into Zaragoza.  Thanks again !!

This link might be useful. Shows how to compare Ryanair and easyJet prices.

http://gospain.about.com/od/ryanair/qt/Zaragoza_alt.htm

NB the 'J' in easyJet is a big one, but the first 'e' is a small one!

I declare my interest as a train freak!

But....there is a major difference between 6 people crammed in a car (even a big car) with one parent driving in country they don't know, the other calming down the kids, who have to sit still for hours, stop for toilet breaks, get restless etc...

...and six of you on a nice train, where mum and dad and kids can sleep, play games, go to loo when they want they want, get drinks and snacks on board, look at the scenery, and generally chill a lot more, safe in the knowledge that they can't get lost, and know exactly when and when they will arrive. You could even stop off in Zaragoza for a day if you wanted.

Just my opinion, as a childless train traveller.

http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm is one site to look at for travel all over europe.  http://horarios.renfe.es/hir/ingles.html is the site for the Spain train network, and where I looked to replay to your post.  You can book everything in advance, or you can get tickets on the day. 

I am a geek.

Vicky

thanks again ya'll for the responses.  And Victoria, I wanted so much to be a nerd back in middle school that I even bought fake prescription glasses just so that I would look more nerdy.  So being geeky is nothing to be ashamed of  I wish I could say the same thing about myself  THanks again!!

My husband and I found driving in Spain really easy.  The highways were well marked and the town centers were easily navigable.  We drove from Seville to the Cadiz and relied on internet directions and our own common sense to get around to some of the smaller towns around the area.  I do speak Spanish, so I felt comfortable with road signs and asking directions if the need had arisen (it didn't). 

Agree with karin's commentary about driving in Spain...I was the driver in Spain because DH is as scared sh*tless about driving on the right side of the road, as I am about driving on the left.  With me driving and him (the Spanish speaker) to navigate we got along fine. The only trouble I had was going up narrow, winding mountain roads - occasionally with no barrier of any sort to prevent potentially careening off the side of the mountain (around Granada and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada)...upon which my fear of heights kicked in - 'oh my god! we are going to end up plunging off the side of this mountain & crashing hundreds of feet to our deaths in a fiery inferno'.  With some deep breathing & not really looking down on that side, I eventually managed ok.

Agree with karin's commentary about driving in Spain...I was the driver in Spain because DH is as scared sh*tless about driving on the right side of the road, as I am about driving on the left.  With me driving and him (the Spanish speaker) to navigate we got along fine. The only trouble I had was going up narrow, winding mountain roads - occasionally with no barrier of any sort to prevent potentially careening off the side of the mountain (around Granada and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada)...upon which my fear of heights kicked in - 'oh my god! we are going to end up plunging off the side of this mountain & crashing hundreds of feet to our deaths in a fiery inferno'.  With some deep breathing & not really looking down on that side, I eventually managed ok.

I had those same fiery death thoughts and white knuckled my way along a road next to Lake Tahoe, It looked fine on the map, flat! But in real life the winding and steep climb almost had me pulling over to shake. I'm sticking to known roads from now on.

OP I hope you managed to find a way to Spain, the train does sound better with 6 people, cars just don't seem big enough for 6 plus luggage.

Thank you all again for the replies, it really puts into perspective for me all the things I need to consider.  Our plans our in flux since dh's work won't let him take off as long as we want him to and they are also taking their time to let him know which days (only 2 at max) he can take off. 
I'm waiting for a response from our friend from Barcelona to see if she'll come along w/us.  The good thing is that I'm from Mexico so Spanish won't be a problem either way we choose to go.  So, thanks again ya'll!!!

Yeah, if you only have a few days, just keep in mind that Spain is a BIG country!  We took a coach from Barcelona to Madrid (with Zaragoza along the way) and the trip was nearly 9 hours long.    The train would have been only about 5 hours (but we had not pre-booked & there weren't any seats on the train available that day - it was a Sunday).  So of course, plan accordingly because you don't want to spend a major portion of your holiday driving or on a bus/train, etc.