Grand Depart Spectator

We will be meeting at our 4-Star hotel in the city center of Barcelona in the early afternoon. Our hotel is ideally located almost halfway between the start and the finish of Stage 1 in Barcelona. There is a Metro station located just outside of the hotel making it easy to get to anywhere in the city.

This afternoon, our group will have the opportunity to visit Sagrada Familia. This masterpiece was designed by famous architect, Antoni Gaudi and has been under construction for over 100 years. The light streams into the space and creates a unique experience that is difficult to replicate anywhere else in the world. After our tour, we may catch a glimpse of teams as they cycle towards the Team Presentation at Sagrada Familia.

Tonight we’ll enjoy a local and traditional welcome dinner in the hotel restaurant. In addition to meeting our fellow travel guests at dinner, we’ll go over the itinerary for our Grand Depart trip. Each guest will receive a gift from Custom Getaways.

A unique feature of Barcelona is that it’s nestled between the sea and the mountains. Today we are in for a treat as we bus up the mountain to the monastery of Montserrat. The mountain appears serrated, hence the name. Your guides will give the history of Montserrat before letting the group explore. You can choose to visit the Basilica with the famous black Madonna statue or the museum that houses works from famous artists such as Picasso, Degas and Dali. Hiking trails or a funicular ride are also options if you wish to explore the outdoors. You will have time for lunch while we’re at Montserrat.

We will head back to our hotel where you will some time in the late afternoon and evening to explore the city and find a place for dinner with some of your new friends.

Welcome to Stage 1 of the Tour de France 2026! Before heading to today’s VIP, the group will enjoy a classic walking tour of the Gothic Quarter, covering its Roman origins, medieval history and since Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia (region of Spain), we’ll learn more about Catalan history.

After our tour, the group will enter today’s venue, Relais Etape. The venue is located along the course and serves an excellent 4-course meal for lunch. It also offers snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee and water. Once the race finishes, champagne will be served to toast the stage winner. Another nice feature of this venue is that it has TV’s to watch the race until the racers pass right in front of us. This is a team time trial, which is not common and TV’s are a great way to follow the action.

We’ll watch live as the caravan parade passes in front of our venue prior to the racers passing. The caravan pumps up the crowds with colorful floats and the tossing of small prizes. Each Relais Etape guest will receive a gift from le Tour.

You will be on your own for dinner tonight. You may want to consider trying the local paella and sangria at one of the beach restaurants.

You’ll have the morning free to continue to explore the sites of Barcelona. In the afternoon, the group will transfer to the finish line area and meet up with our representative from le Tour. 

Once across the finish line, we’ll tour the official podium and have pictures taken individually and as a group.  Today’s stage viewing will be in the Izoard VIP venue. TV’s are located within the Izoard venue where we will watch what the racers before they pass us before the finish line. This venue is a great way to see the race with snacks, beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, water, TVs and private restrooms. Champagne will be served to toast the stage winner.

Following the race, we’ll head back to our hotel where we’ll enjoy a farewell dinner with local cuisine.

Good morning.  We’ll check out of our hotel and head to today’s start in the town of Granollers, Spain. The bell tower of the church of Saint Esteve is the only remaining part of the old Gothic church, built in the 15th century on a Romanesque structure. This town has been around for awhile!

You will love the energy of the Tour as you’ll have access to the VIP Start Village with coffee, snacks, tour officials and merchandise tents. You will also be able to see the riders interviewed at the sign-in stage before they begin today’s stage towards the Pyrenees mountains.

Another great feature of the start village is that you will have access to the team bus paddock. You can walk around the team busses and cars before the race begins. However, you need to be careful as the racers will ride around you to get to the sign-in stage and to the starting line…a really cool experience!

Once the racers depart, you can grab a quick lunch in town before boarding the bus for an hour drive to the Barcelona airport (BCN). We will drop the group at the airport in the late afternoon. If you wish to extend your stay in Barcelona, please let us know and we can easily add another night at the group hotel.