Any suggestions on places to see around Barcelona for day trips or for a multi day train excursion (no longer than 2-3 hours)? Any thoughts on flying to Mallorca for a couple of days? (Really want to see Barcelona but not sure there’s enough to do there for ten days.)
Posted by
Washington DC
29676 posts
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.
Posted by
TX
3098 posts
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.