Barcelona and where Else?

I vote Madrid. I have been to both and they are so different. You are correct. 12 days would be waaaaay too long in Barcelona. There are several day trips to take from Madrid too. Have fun!!

I disagree, but again, it all depends on what you consider "visiting a place" means. Would 12 days be 'enough' to visit NY?... some people would say yes, more than enough: MoMA, Central Park, Ellis Island... and a few more and that's it. But my New York friends would say you'd be missing a lot of what New York really is... and I totally agree. One needs to look beyond the typical landmarks to discover and enjoy the place you visit: the unassuming neighbourhoods, the little cafes and shops, the hole-in-the-wall landmarks... And one also needs to go beyond, how else would you discover Letchworth State Park or the George Eastman House for example?

This is the old question about whether you simply want to look the touristy sites and tick the 'seen' boxes or really want to experience a region. Note that much like NY is not only the about the city, the same happens here: Barcelona is just the cherry of the cake, but you have plenty of things worth doing/seeing in Catalonia, the region where Barcelona is capital of and with more than 1000 years of existence. Lot has happened here. About the size of Maryland, it has beaches, monuments, historical sites, picturesque little towns, great cities, breathtaking scenic views, sacred places, high peaks and mountain ranges, ski resorts, old ruins, diverse and unique flora and fauna, beautiful natural parks, one of the world's best gastronomy, wonderful and warm people, and plenty of sun... Some 25% of the visitors -12 million each year!- do repeat again, 14% a third time and 10% four or more (not my saying, but official stats). I guess that says something, doesn't it? ;)

But of course, everybody has his travel style...

You don't have to move to a place to see it well. I think 10 days split between Barcelona and Madrid would be perfect. But you could also spend the 10 days in Catalonia, especially if you were interested in a beach town along the Costa Brava. Girona is worth a visit. The Dali Museum in Figueres is worth a visit. Tarragona is the oldest Roman settlement in Iberia and has a day's worth of ruins to see. With a car you could drive up into the Pyrenees for a day or two.

If you are headed to Madrid... great place and much of the historic town can be thoroughly seen in 3 full days. One day trip outside and close by train is Segovia, highlight of my brief visit to Madrid last year. But there are truly 4 or 5 other day trips to take centered from Madrid, all by train.

Steven

Thanks All especially Enric! I hope I did not come across as Barcelona would be boring. On the contrary I have been researching it and find it fascinating and can't wait to visit. I was there in 1984 for a few days and from what I vaguely remember it is a beautiful city with a distinct culture. What are some of your recommendations for must see sites as well as day trips out of the city. Do you recommend Montserrat? Any other places nearby to see rural, beautiful Catalonia? Maybe a trip up the coast? I appreciate your analogy of NYC. So true..I have been there hundreds of times and still thrill to see the famous sites but love discovering an unknown neighborhood, park or something that I have never seen before. I appreciate your feedback and welcome any suggestions. Maybe you can give us a little tour when we visit. Thanks for all the info!

@ Steven..what other day trips from Madrid are worth seeing? Researching Segovia now.

Hi Steve,

What I was trying to say is that if you were to choose to stay in Barcelona for a month (AND explore its region too) you wouldn't probably be able to see 'everything' there's to see anyway. Knowing thought that most visitors don't have the luxury of spending this much time and knowing as well that we all tend to try to pack as much as we can when we plan our itineraries --after all is human nature!-- I always recommend to allocate at least 5-7 days for Barcelona -including a couple of day escapades to other interesting nearby places (ie. Montserrat, Girona, Tarragona, Sitges, Besalú...)

"Do I recommend Montserrat?" is difficult to say without knowing you better. In order to be able to recommend something concrete, you should first tell a bit more about your interests: what do you like?, what you don't? what are your expectations? The more precise the better my answer can be. In any case note I'm not working in the travel industry, I'm just passionate about my city and my little country: Catalonia.

Perhaps you could browse www.catalunya.com , www.timeout.cat and/or www.infocatalonia.eu as a starting point. There are many other websites of course but I find these to be the most eye-opener, one being the official Catalonia's Tourist Board, the second a sort of magazine aimed mainly to locals but also to expats and visitors and the third a not-for-profit volunteer-based site compiling videos (an image is worth a thousand words, isn't it?) These sites are run locally -not by someone sitting 10000 miles away, if you catch my drift ;)- and none is trying to sell you any specific commercial service either. This is why I find easier to recommend them.

If it were my trip. I'd plan four days (five nights) in Barcelona (not inlcuding Monserrat and spend the rest seeing the Costa Brava and inland areas north of Barcelona. August 1st will be beach weather.

If you really want to stray far from Barcelona. San Sebastian should be perfect in August.

Thanks Brad!!

Hi Enric,
I appreciate you taking the time to go into such detail and all the helpful advice you have provided. As for my likes, just about anything. I love architecture, old churches, walking through cobbled streets and plazas, people watching, beaches, mountains, beautiful countrysides, adventure sports like jetskis, bicycling, playing tennis etc. I am not a big museum person.
My brother is a huge FC Barcelona fan so we want to tour Camp Nou like we toured Roland Garros several weeks ago. Also, as I don't follow football that much I am wondering if they play in August and what are the chances of getting tickets to a match.
What can I expect the weather to be like in August? We were in Alicante last September and it was hot but the sea made it tolerable.
Thanks for any advice especially FC Barcelona matches.

Hi Steve,

I'm not a "footie" myself so I am not an expert of football issues but I can tell you there are no games in August. From late May/June to the third/fourth week of August there are no competitions going on -other than 'summer tournaments', but these are normally played outside Europe so FCB and others travel to the US, Japan, etc. instead. The http://www.fcbarcelona.com/camp-nou/camp-nou-experience however remains open so you can experience it all summer long. JFI, this is the calendar of the different competitions: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/calendar

Weather in August is hot (and humid), temps are around 30-33ºC, that's quite reasonable, but when humidity -which is normally 50-65%- goes above 75% the comfort temperature gets, well, uncomfortable! (sticky and sweaty). Both Alacant and Barcelona have a very similar climate, after all they're barely 300 miles from each other and both are coastal cities.

The Monastery of Montserrat ((http://infocatalonia.eu/w/lOODr) is one of the most famous monasteries in the Catholic world, as well as a centre for pilgrims. Whether you are religious or not, for many tourists a trip to Montserrat is the highlight of their visit. Montserrat is a spectacularly beautiful Benedictine monk mountain retreat about one hour North West from Barcelona by train. Another highlight of the visit to the monastery is to listen to the famous choir boy performances of Gregorian chants and other genres of religious choral music. The performances can be heard free of charge in the Basilica at 13:00 (check schedules as they vary). Sample: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/YC0qE Don't forget to visit the monument (http://bit.ly/monumentRamonLlull) to the poet and mystic Ramon Llull, a key figure in Catalan literature from the 11th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramon_Llull), located at the end of the road -at about 300 metres only- by the extensive parking lots, near which is a large outlook terrace. The eight stages of the monument, in the form of a spiral, represent the eight stages of awareness (stone, flame, plant, animal, man, heaven, angel, God). Look out for the monument sign on the right hand edge of this map: http://bit.ly/mapmontserrat

But Montserrat is much more. For me, not being religious, Montserrat is a great landmark for hiking. Its name, "Mont-Serrat" is in fact, the name of a very distinct multi-peaked mountain that literally means "saw (serrated, like the common handsaw) mountain" in Catalan. It describes its peculiar aspect with multitude of rock formations which are visible from a great distance. The mountain is composed of strikingly pink conglomerate, a form of sedimentary rock. Montserrat is a National Park and one of the reasons to visit is indeed to hike in one of its many trails (http://bit.ly/walksMontserrat) and experience nature at its best, some are short and easy for everyone old and young alike to participate while others are geared towards more avid hikers. Picture: http://bit.ly/1h6iW6m These are some of the scenery routes you should check: http://www.cremallerademontserrat.com/website_cremallera/eng/itineraris_rutes.asp and many are easy enough for people all ages.

Full 360º view: http://bit.ly/360montserrat

The trip to Montserrat is an important part of the visit. While it's possible to reach Montserrat by bus, it's best experienced by 'traditional' means which include train + cable (http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/7966557.jpg) car or train + rack train (http://bit.ly/1fIW0cR). Once in the mountain, there are funiculars (http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/33908144.jpg) to visit the different coves. There is a combined ticket (labelled "TransMontserrat") that can be bought at the departure station in Barcelona, located in Plaça Espanya, and includes all the necessary tickets. It can be also purchased online at the official Tourism Information Board: http://bit.ly/RASY5c at the same price. Note that the decision to ride up the mountain to the monastery either by cable car or by rack train has to be made when purchasing the ticket as the transfer points are at different stations.

http://www.cremallerademontserrat.com/website_cremallera/eng/index.asp -how to get there, what to do/see
http://www.montserratvisita.com/ -the official website of the monastery
http://www.escolania.cat/index.php -the official website of the choir boys: Escolania de Montserrat

Hi Enric,
Thanks for the football info. And thank you for all the information on Montserrat. It sounds beautiful and we would definately plan some hikes in addition to seeing the monastery and the boys choir. I am still processing all your information. I appreciate all the links you have provided and am going through them. It is good to have a local to give advice and I am sure I will still have many more questions for you as I think of them.
Thanks again!
-Steve

Hi Steve,
I stayed more than one week in Barcelona. Managed to see Figueres, Cadaques, Sitges, Montserrat, Penedes winery tour, getting lost in Barcelona. I walked around Gracia the neighborhood I liked. Catalan people are simpatico. Barcelona's architecture is unparalleled. I wanted to see more towns in Catalunya and could not. Perhaps sometime in near future. You will have plenty to do in 10 days. Have fun!
Blessings,
Peter