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3 Nights in Girona

Posted by (New York, NY) on

My family will be visiting Girona in a few weeks, staying for 3 nights (Tues Oct 14 – Fri Oct 17). We’ll be traveling with our 3-year-old, so we like to keep a relaxed pace, but now I’m wondering if three nights might be more time than we need in Girona.

We enjoy exploring new places, taking scenic walks, and fitting in playground time. Here’s the itinerary I’ve sketched out so far:

Tuesday: Arrive around 2 PM. Lunch, hotel check-in at 4 PM, then explore the Old Town (Cathedral, Jewish Quarter, Arab Baths).

Wednesday: Walk the city walls in the morning/early afternoon. After lunch, wander the left bank of the river, do some shopping, and spend time in La Devesa Park.

Thursday: Day trip to Besalú.

Friday: Check out of hotel at 11 AM and depart for Barcelona.

Do you think this is enough to keep us busy? How much time do the Old Town and Besalú usually take to explore?

I’m also considering a few extra ideas:

  • A last-minute trip to Figueres on Wednesday (though I realize Dalí Museum tickets might be hard to get last-minute; and is it suitable for a 3-year-old?).

  • A stop in Banyoles on the way back from Besalú (is there much to do there besides walking around the lake?).

We won’t have a car and will be relying on buses and trains. Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome. Thank you!

Posted by
3518 posts

I wouldn’t add a thing to 3 nights in Girona. I would keep the daytrip to Besalu. Girona itself is a fantastic place to spend a solid three days without running out of attractions to enjoy and things to do. Be sure to walk the walls and hike to the top of the town where the Roman tower is located. A daytrip on the bus to Besalu will take the better part of a day.

That will fill your dancing card without adding anything more.

Have a great trip!

Posted by
29390 posts

Girona's historic center is quite large.

I don't think you have too much time planned in Girona, but a trip to Figueres would be possible. I have no children so am not the one to say whether the Dali Theatre-Museum would be interesting to a young child, but it is quirky; it's not just a bunch of paintings hanging on walls. There are both fast and slow trains from Girona to Figueres. The fast trains are likely to be more expensive, and they go to the Figueres-Vilafant Station. The slow trains go to the Figueres Station. Figueres is a bit closer to the Dali Theatre-Museum, but it's a walk from either one. There's a city bus connecting the two stations that passes within a few blocks of the museum; that could be handy if the timing works for you.

You might very well be able to get tickets to the DTM at nearly the last minute. It would certainly be worth checking. The museum gets some bus tours, and one bus tour might suck up most of the tickets for one entry time, but I doubt that an entire day sells out very often. (But I went to Figueres in 2019, so my experience isn't very recent.)

Posted by
24 posts

Thank you both for your replies, and thanks acraven for the Figueres info. I'm feeling better about our itinerary!

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