Advice for exploring Spain’s East coast

Hello, regarding your itinerary, I think a trip down the eastern coast of Spain is a great idea, you'll find the stretch of coastline from Barcelona to Valencia (la Costa Dorada) to be especially interesting. This area has sandy beaches, Templar castles, Roman ruins, posh beach towns, and relatively less tourists as one would find at the Costa del Sol or the French Rivera.

Some places of interest I would recommend, along your route (north to south):

Garraf - laid back beach community just south of Barcelona. Popular with locals and with good seafood restaurants. There is also here a beach house designed by none other than Antoni Gaudí!

Poblet Royal Monastery - a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still active 12th-century Cistercian monastery. It was a fortified medieval royal residence and contains the unique hanging tombs of the old Kings of Aragon.

Tarragona - ancient seaside town with very good Roman ruins, including an amphitheater, intact aqueduct, and Praetorium Tower, was once the capital of Roman Hispania (modern-day Spain). Tarragona's medieval old town is a delight to explore too.

Castillo de Miravet - A large riverside stronghold built by the Knights Templar with commanding views of the countryside. The adjacent medieval village spills down the cliff towards the rivers. A great place to bicycle, kayak, or take a leisurely boat down the Ebro river.

Peñíscola - With its cobbled streets and whitewashed houses, the old town of Peñíscola sits on a big rock that juts out into the sea. The town is dominated by a large Knights Templar castle that looks like something out of the Crusades. Recently, Peñíscola was used as a filming location in the T.V. series Game of Thrones.

Valencia - 3rd largest city in Spain, hometown of the Paella. Known for its futuristic structures of its City of Arts and Sciences. You will find also Modernista architecture, great museums, and long stretches of beaches.

Albarracín - voted the most beautiful village in Spain, picturesque Moorish fortifications surround this medieval pink-hued village. Was once the capital of it's Berber taifa kingdom, currently in the works of becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A good option for a day trip from Valencia.

Palmeral de Elche - one of the largest historic palm groves in the world, dating back to the Moorish times, designated a UNESCO Site. The Palm forest is surrounded by the town of Elche, one of the oldest in Spain, with much Iberian and Hellenistic archaeology.

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Of course, you may not have enough time to see all these places, so you will have to pick and choose depending on your interests. I have not been south of Cartagena, but I know that the coastline of Cabo de Gata National Park is quite impressive.

Regarding Balearic islands, with only two days I'd recommend exploring Menorca, the smaller more laid back cousin to Mallorca, with limited time it will be easier tackle. The capital of Menorca, Mahón, is delightful and has a long and interesting history, this is where mayonnaise was invented!

Wow what an amazing response! I feel like a simple thank you isn’t nearly enough but until I think of something better, THaNK YOU!

Oh no need for any elaborate thank yous, just glad I could help :), you will find this part of Spain is quite underappreciated!

I have nothing specific to contribute but remember jotting down names of a few towns when bussing from Valencia to BCN. Hill fortresses, towns hugging the coast. Seemingly undertouristed. Glad UNESCO has preserved some of those fortresses.
Maybe you'll come back and do a report on the road trip. I would be interested in the lodging options and frequency of english. I expect it to be trilingual with some local dialect of Catalan (Valancian is more Catalan than Castillian), Spanish, and hopefully english.

Maria is quite right, between the Mediterranean and the mountains of this area are many ancient ruins, crumbling castles, and medieval monasteries that dot the landscape. As there is not much English-language info out there, most foreign visitors make the mistake of writing off this area, that's good in a way, because it's definitely not as touristed as the other Costas of Spain.

Desperately want to get to Albarracín! It can be a little complicated to get to via public transportation but with a car shouldn't be so bad. Would love a trip report if you go there. If you are interested in a glimpse of what it looks like watch Aerial Spain available on Amazon, I believe.

Teruel is very interesting as well, and Cuenca.

Of the Balearic Islands I would definitely choose Mallorca (based on considerable research but no personal experience yet), but I would certainly not fly there for just 2 days if I only had 10 to work with. Better to stay on the mainland rather than wasting a major chunk of two days in airports or on ferries.

Do you have 12th to 22nd for just this portion of the trip? If so you could probably add at least another night to your island visit.

There are overnight ferries from Barcelona to the Balearic islands so you could, in theory, travel to Majorca, for example, spend a few days, and then fly back to Valencia or Alacant to start the drive south and west. However, this would miss the places mentioned above between Barcelona and Valencia city. I think it's an either/or choice.

From Elche to Malaga you have, roughly, two options. You can go to Murcia city then head further inland and drive via Lorca, the Baza mountains, Guadix cave town, Granada and down to Malaga. Or after Murcia city go back to the seaside at Mar Menor, then Cartagena and follow the coast round to Almeria city, via San Jose/Cabo de Gata (and also adding the Tabernas desert), before driving onto Malaga. I'd do the former since it includes Granada. But if you're going there separately, I'd do the latter as there's more varied scenery. If time allows there is also the possibility with the first option of adding a loop between Guadix and Granada that takes in Ubeda. Either option would be convenient for a diversion into Sierra Nevada for a day or two.

How about 3 nights in Majorca, 2 in Valencia and 5 between Valencia and Malaga?