Interesting note: I just did a search on a well know airfare website for flights from Manchester (or Liverpool) to Mulhouse, it came up with only three flights costing around £600 involving 2 connections. I then did the same search for Basel and got 1,214 flights starting as low as £143?!?!? (For those that don't know Basel and Mulhouse are the same airport.)
That tells me there are no flights direct from UK to Mulhouse (but there are to Basel which is the same airport.)
What is does is harms my belief in price comparison websites if the results you get depend on what you call it. Surely they should recognise that it is one location with two names.
If somebody doesn't know the airport has two names and uses the French one they are going to be ripped off and have their time in-necessarily wasted changing planes (twice!) on route. The strange thing is you get the proper results using the Swiss name despite the airport being located within France...
Another weekend double I've found is Barcelona zoo and Barcelona aquarium. As I need some warm weather, and a seaside location would be a nice bonus, this is probably the first trip I will do. The flight schedules on EasyJet fit in with my plan, there are two Travelodges in Barcelona (I've stayed in about 15 travelodges in Wales and England over the last few years) and Barcelona metro, trams and buses are all wheelchair accessible. I could be travelling as soon as a week on Friday (27th April) but more likely to be a Friday before the end of next month.
I’m interested in Barcelona Zoo, too. It’s a city I’ve never visited before, yet that I’ve heard such great things about. And it’s so convenient both with regards to the availability and price of direct flights. The mix of zoo, culture and beach activities is quite attractive.
I haven't been to Spain before, never mind Barcelona. All my previous travels have been to northern or eastern Europe or further afield to Asia.
I hadn’t either, until I visited Madrid Zoo in December 2016. It is the same here - most of my time was spent in either Asia or Eastern Europe.
Nice idea, but I must ask, are you only going to Barcelona the Zoo and Aquarium? Barcelona has some great non-zoo things such as the famous Gaudi cathedral, Gotchic quarter and a lot more. In regards to the zoos, I've visited the Barcelona aquarium and it's pretty good, not in the upper echelon of aquariums but worth a visit. Great location though. I didn't go to the zoo, but it sounds like a decent one so I bet you'll enjoy your visit.
The zoo and aquarium are the only planned things for the trip, anything else will be things decided on the spot once I'm actually there. I find the best made plans are ones done on the go.
Don't even think of going to Barcelona without going inside the Sagrada Familia. Go late in the afternoon.