3 week anniversary trip - Barcelona and . . . ?

You could work your way along the Mediterranean coast of Spain to Valencia, Alicante and Malaga and then go a bit inland to Granada, Cordoba and Seville. Finish off with a fast train to Madrid and fly home.

To do Barcelona justice, you really should spend at least 5 nights or more in Barcelona. Then you could rent a car to drive along the Costa Brava which is beautiful with many. lovely small villages on the Mediterranean. One nice place to stay overnight for a couple days is Cadaques, located right on the Mediterranean. There is sightseeing you can do from Cadaques, such as visit Dali’s quirky house in Port Lligat. There is a beautiful natural park you can visit.

Another lovely place to spend several nights is Girona, a medieval walled city with a river that runs through it. And then you can take some beautiful drives through the Lower Pyrenees and visit Besalu, Rupert, Ripoll, etc.

I love Andalusia! It’s a wonderful area with its Moorish heritage. Seville, Granada, and Cordoba are wonderful. But the problem is it will be very, very hot in Andalusia in June. Temps could easily be in the 90’s and hovering around 100. Granada might be a bit cooler since it’s in the mountains.

I think Costa Brava and the Pyrenees will have more comfortable weather.

Another region that I have not visited yet is San Sebastián, Bilbao and that area.

I recommend purchasing some good guidebooks, such as Lonely Planet and Michelin Green Guide.

With many places already mentioned, our last trip to Spain which lasted 3 weeks, started in Madrid and finished in Barcelona. The Madrid portion included a daytrip to Toledo and an overnight in Segovia. We then took a 5 hour train ride to Bilbao and after seeing the Guggenheim Museum and having a great lunch (walkable old town) we picked up our rental car and headed to San Sebastián for several nights (and a 3 Michelin Star special lunch one afternoon at Martin Beresategui - perhaps the best restaurant meal I’ve ever enjoyed.

Working our way towards Barcelona, we stayed in Girona and Cadeques, stopping at Salvador Dali sights along the way. Flew home from Barcelona.

The prior trip to Spain included southern destinations Malaga, Granada, Ronda, Seville, Arcos de la Frontera, and a cheap flight to Portugal with stays in Lisbon, Evora, and Obidos. Spain’s so big that we haven’t tried to combine north and south in a single trip. Happy anniversary, in advance!

Great ideas, all - thanks! Lots to think about and consider!

If driving, one could easily spend 2-3 weeks in the area between Barcelona and Zaragoza and up to the French border. There are plenty of places to take walks. There are some castles & monasteries, and plenty of very small towns and villages tourists never make it to.

An alternative might be to go from Barcelona up into southern France towards Carcassonne then back down.

I was going to suggest the same thing, if you don’t want to stay in Spain it would be easy to spend some time in France. You could take the train to Perpignan and pick up a car there. You could explore the area around Carcassonne and/or go to Provence. If you do choose France, definitely go to Collioure, a wonderful little town on the Mediterranean just north of the Spanish border.

If you haven’t purchased airline tickets yet you should consider a multi city ticket, into Barcelona and out of an airport close to your final location. For example, if you go to France you could fly home from Marseille if you end up in Provence or Nice if you go as far as the Riviera.

Have you decided how long you'll spend in Barcelona? And if it will be two or three weeks? Would you be open to car rental, or do you prefer train/bus only?
I have not been to BCN but I always have several imaginary trips planned--one is the loop kmkwoo mentioned--Costa Brava and Pyrenees.
Late May is a perfect time in the Mediterranean and moving along the riviera would be lovely.
If you are more of a city person, BCN-Zaragoza-Madrid would be a snap, and there are a ton of day trips you can do from Madrid.

First, Congrats!

Forty years of marriage represents the benefits of being in a marathon relationship. Suggest doing the same to maximize enjoyment of this celebration journey. Maximize opportunity to create wonderful memories of travels while minimizing the stress of traveling.
Spain is large and offers the opportunity to visit several different countries (starting with Catalonia). Consider Catalonia, Madrid and Andalusia as potential regions to visit.
Catalonia = Barcelona with a day trip north and a day trip south as potentials = 7 nights
Madrid = Madrid with an overnight visit to Toledo (3 nights + 1 night)
Andalusia = a wonderful challenge for the triangle (Cordoba, Seville and Granada) of available opportunities (2 nights, 4 nights and 2 nights)
Barcelona offers a huge menu of opportunities within the city and also excellent day trip experiences. The Barcelona public transit system is extensive, ez to use and well connected to trains. Take deep dives into researching this destination and strongly recommend spending minimum seven days with two day trips. If you toss a post out along the lines of "What to do with seven days in Barcelona?" I believe you will be delighted with the recommendations.
Madrid offers a smaller old town zone set amidst the third largest city in Europe. If you love art then Madrid offers world class museums. Highly recommend several days in Madrid, but then go to Toledo for an overnight experience. Romance and Toledo go hand in hand after the day tourist have left. Madrid also offers an excellent system of public transport.
Granada offers a superb visit as long as you immediately seek on line purchase of Alhambra tickets.
Seville is a wonderful destination to stroll and absorb.
Cordoba provides another perspective of Spain to balance the visit with Granada.
Use trains for all your travels. Excellent convenient timely method to relax and travel while watching Spain pass by your window.

In March 2022 I Spent 4 nights in Seville, 2 nights in Granada, 2 nights in Cordoba, 5 nights in Madrid but that included a day trip to Toledo. Some travelers spend a night in Toledo. My trip was 14 nights, 1 night on the plan on the way to Madrid, 13 nights on the ground. You could see those 5 cities and add in Barcelona. I skipped Barcelona just because I didn't make time for it and I could only take 10 weekdays off of work. Do you want to put Barcelona at the beginning or at the end of your trip? Do you want to take a third plane flight within Spain to or from Barcelona or do you want to just take ground transportation like buses and/or trains?

If you want a 3rd plane flight, see about flying to Madrid, spend however many nights in Madrid, then Cordoba, then Granada, then Seville, then Plane from Seville to Barcelona, then fly back from Barcelona.

Or Fly to Barcelona, spend however many nights there, plane to Seville, then Granada, Cordoba, Madrid, fly back from Madrid.

Or no third plane flight: Fly to Barcelona, however many nights there, then train or bus to: Madrid, Cordoba, Granada, Seville, fly back from Seville,

If you spend enough nights in Madrid and/or Barcelona or wherever you can take a day trip(s) and add in another location I didn't see, maybe Segovia in Central Spain and/or Nerja in Andalucia. Stick with just Spain. You will not run out of sights to see in 20 or 21 nights in Spain.

Granada is the trickiest of the most popular cities to get to by train due to the infrequency of the rail service. If for reasons of airfares or flight schedules you need to take a roundtrip flight to Barcelona (I really don't think that will be necessary), I'd recommend sticking Granada at the end of the itinerary so it requires just the train trip in; you could loop back to Barcelona by plain, ideally having left Barcelona till the end of the trip. Train services from Barcelona to Madrid to Cordoba to Seville is extraordinarily fast, and trains are very frequent. Note that they do sometimes sell out, so it's not a good idea to plan to buy tickets right before you travel--and that would be more costly, as well. The Madrid-Toledo spur line has fixed fares, but those trains also sometimes sell out.

Barcelona is a must - and so is Madrid. My wife and I celebrated our 40th in Madrid in May 2019. Little did we know that it was during an annual Madrid festival: Fiesta de San Isidro. The whole city was alive with music and street dancing. Plaza Mayor had a stage set up with round the clock music. It was truly an amazing time and never to be forgotten. Plus there are all the other things to do in Madrid - never a dull moment.
Fiesta de San Isidro festival is (I believe) May 6 - 15 this year.

The fiesta sounds fun, dgl! Thanks for that tip. We were on the fence about going to Madrid.
And thanks everyone for the train advice. We would like to avoid renting a car and driving if possible, but might consider it for a short trip. Ya'll are great travel guides!