10 days in Barcelona

What time of year do you plan to take this trip? That could affect the desirability of some side trips.

I hope to visit Mallorca the next time I'm in Spain, but I would want more than a couple of days there, because 1) there's a lot to see on the island and 2) the two flights would really annoy me for such a short payoff. YMMV on both scores.

Possible day trips from Barcelona include:

• Montserrat: Religious site in the mountains. Good public-transportation access. I haven't been there. I believe there are hiking possibilities.

• Girona: Lovely medieval center, walkable, wall, small art museum, Jewish-history museum, two significant churches, good restaurants. Worthy of one or more nights. A convenient base for visiting Besalu (bus), Figueres (train) and Cadaques (train+bus),

• Besalu: Small medieval town with fortified bridge. Accessible by bus from Girona (more quickly) and Barcelona (requiring more time).

• Figueres: Dali Theatre-Museum; the city is otherwise not remarkable. This is the transfer point to the bus for Cadaques. The Dali Theatre-Museum needs to be prebooked, though I believe not terribly far in advance. Tickets on the express trains from Barcelona to Girona and on to Figueres may be cheaper if purchased early.

• Cadaques: Picturesque, whitewashed former fishing village, now quite touristy. Dali House just outside town, about a 15-20 minute walk away. Must prebook well in advance because capacity is very limited.

• Sitges: Artsy beach town south of Barcelona, accessible by train.

• Tarragona: Coastal city farther south with some Roman ruins. I haven't been there.

• Reus: Small town just outside Tarragona with some sights of interest to fans of modernista architecture.

• Zaragoza: Interesting, attractive city on express rail line heading toward Madrid. Visitable Mudejar palace. Less touristy that the city might be, given its attractions. Worth one or more nights. Zaragoza can be extremely hot in the summer. Individual trains between Barcelona and Madrid sometimes sell out, so it would be smart at least to monitor availability on the Renfe website. Tickets will be cheaper if bought early; pay attention to changeability/refundability options offered during the purchasing process.

Except for Cadaques, I haven't been to any of the beach towns along the Costa Brava, which is north of Barcelona. There are definitely some earlier threads discussing them. There's no rail service.

If you want to see two or more of the places north of Barcelona, including Girona, I'd recommend spending two or more nights in Girona to avoid a lot of travel back and forth between Barcelona and Girona.

There are many other interesting places in Catalunya, especially heading toward and into the Pyrenees, but I haven't covered that area well since I don't rent cars in Europe.

A couple of years back, I spent four nights in Barcelona pre-cruise.

Really interesting and pretty city. I feel like you could easily spend a week there without getting bored. Always something going on.

I did go to Montserrat and it is wonderful. I would suggest that you spend a whole day there.

There are many day trips outside Barcelona but I was not able to take advantage of them.

Barcelona is a city with a very rich and old history and, like many other major cities, it offers a huge variety of things to see and do. You could easily spend a month here doing different activities every single day without repeating anything.

On top of that, Barcelona is the capital of a small nation over a thousand years old: Catalonia. Its size—roughly comparable to the state of Maryland or Belgium—makes it compact enough to explore thoroughly, yet diverse enough to keep you fascinated. Barcelona is on the fascinating Mediterranean coast, and within just a couple of hours from the city, the Pyrenees mountains, medieval towns, vineyards, and natural parks. It’s the kind of place where you can have breakfast by the sea, lunch in the countryside, and dinner back in the city—all in one day.

You can start your discovery here:

• www.barcelonaturisme.com
• www.catalunya.com/en
• www.timeout.com/barcelona

Enjoy!

Keywords: #whattodo #catalonia #barcelona #infox

I cannot imagine being left with "nothing" to do during ten days in Barcelona.

You could always take the train to Madrid for a few days.
Or the ferry to Palma if you don't want to fly there.

Or Girona.

Ferries from Barcelona to Palma take over 7 hours each way. They seem to run overnight and arrive at hours like 5:30 or 6 AM. I've taken several overnight ferries in Europe (not that one) and have been able to sleep well, but I'd prefer a somewhat longer trip so I'd be in better shape upon arrival and wouldn't have so many hours to kill before sights began to open up.

The new book Home Base Hiking in Europe has a chapter on the Costa Brava. I’ve not been there but if I were planning a 10 day trip to Barcelona I would probably spend 3 nights following the plans in the book. The hikes look pretty fun.

We did a full day tour of Montserrat that included a winery tour that we very much enjoyed. There is a lot of hiking in Montserrat if you take public transportation and have more time there. I think 10 days sounds wonderful. We spent five nights there and only touched the service last week.
It is 2 1/2 hours by fast train to Madrid if you want to go there for an overnight too.

About 15 years ago we spent 6 or 7 nights in Barcelona. Then we rented a car for a trip along the Costa Brava. We spent 1 night in Cadaques and 2 nights in Girona. From Girona, we visited Besalu and a few other towns in the Eastern Catalan Pyrenees, such as Rupit, Vic, and Ripoll, where we saw a 9th century monastery. The scenery was breathtaking! So 10 days would be perfect for this kind of a trip.

Do you plan to rent a car? If not, perhaps you could find a small tour group for this sort of trip.

I agree with SA. A full day in Montserrat is what I would recommend. We did that, and we loved Montserrat.

By the way, we were in Barcelona for 2 weeks, and we left wishing we had spent a month. Maybe we're easily entertained. It depends on what you like to do.

To decide for yourself, watch a few videos or surf around the internet and make a list of things you would like to do in Barcelona. When you say, "not sure there's enough to do there," that's something you can and should figure out before you go.