Barcelona day trips

Remember that the RS books endorse only a handful of the available companies. The books leave out a lot of good businesses. Viator is a third party booking service. You are much better off booking directly with the company.

In 2017, we used Spanish Trails for day trips to Tarragona, Priorat Wine Country, and Girona/Costa Brava. I highly recommend them.

https://spanish-trails.com/

You don’t need to join a tour to visit Cadaques or Figueres. I’ve been to both places and did it on my own using Rick Steves guidebook as a reference.

MaryPat is giving you good advice about Figueres (frequent train service) and Cadaques (very scenic bus ride from Figueres). I don't know what Cadaques (former fishing village turned into coastal tourist spot) will be like in the winter, and I don't know about the bus frequency at that time of year, but the Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres would be a fine winter option. If you are a fan of Dali you might also want to see the Dali house in Port Lligat, which is right outside Cadaques; I saw a sign indicating about a 20-minute walk from the port in Cadaques.

There's both fast- and regional-train service to Figueres. The fast trains go to the Figueres-Vilafont Station, which is a bit farther from the museum. There's local-bus service from that station to the center of town, relatively near the Dali Theatre-Museum, but if your train is significantly late you'll miss the bus and will need to walk or hope there's a taxi waiting (don't dally on the platform). The fast trains cost more, though there's a potential for saving money if you buy a ticket (which may be non-changeable/non-refundable) early enough. The fare on the slower trains is lower and doesn't vary with the date of ticket purchase. Those regional trains go to the "Figueres" station, which is a bit closer to the Dali Museum. The buses for Cadaques leave from the Figueres station.

My favorite side-trip from Barcelona, though, is Girona, a very old city with a large, walled historic district and several worthwhile sights. There's enough to see in Girona (art museum, Jewish museum, a couple of historic churches) to fill a day--or longer if the weather's decent and you enjoy wandering all over the historic center. The trains to Figueres go through Girona, so Girona is a fine place to spend a few nights to enjoy an environment that (though not non-touristy) is a lot less hectic than Barcelona and save the time you'd otherwise spend repeating the train trip north to see Girona, Figueres and Cadaques.

All of the above are easily managed by public transportation with the caveat that I haven't checked the winter bus schedule from Figueres to Cadaques.

Another poster on the forum has recommended a bus tour I'm sorry I didn't know about at the time of my 2016 trip. It's to the Medieval Villages of Catalunya. I believe the tour is offered by the company "Explore Catalunya". One of the villages included in that tour is Besalu, which I have seen (via public bus from Girona, but it may also be bus-accessible from Barcelona). Besalu has a small but very atmospheric medieval center and a neat fortified bridge. An interest in Besalu would be a further reason to spend some nights in Girona, but note that the bus tour departs from Barcelona.

I have not been to Montserrat and am not sure how well the outdoor aspects of that trip would work in the winter. The elevation extends over 4000 feet, but I don't know at what level the monastery is located. Montserrat can be easily visited by public transportation, I believe.

Zaragoza, on the rail line between Barcelona and Madrid, is a fine city with very interesting architecture, including a restored Moorish palace.

Madrid has perhaps Europe's best set of side-trips, but that area is chillier than Catalunya in the winter. All of these places are easy by train, but they are each worth a 1- or 2-night stay.

• Toledo: Large, stunning medieval center with many indoor sights, some with mudejar architecture.
• Segovia: The aqueduct and interesting architecture
• Cuenca: Town with atmospheric hilltop medieval old town and two small modern-art museums. AVE tickets expensive if not bought early; regional trains are too slow.
• Salamanca: Old university town with expansive historic district.
• Alcala de Henares: Another very attractive historic university town.

I've used Viator a number of times in cities around the world and I found it was a great way to browse and hire local guides, I've had no issues so far, just need to do a little research and check the reviews on the site, they are usually reliable.

For scheduled tours (as opposed to private guides), you may save money by cutting Viator, the middle man, out of the equation. On the Viator page for a guided tour, click on "Additional info" to find the name of the company actually operating the tour.

Viator takes a substantial cut when a traveler books a tour through its website. Someone pays for that--either the traveler or the company running the tour. With conditions as unsettled as they are right now and may still be for some time, I'd rather book directly when I can, because it might reduce the risk of issues if I needed to cancel. YMMV.

Have you used the official tourist website? Click on the "tickets" link to see everything they offer - doesn't look like there's much, though, probably due to very low tourism generally. Their Barcelona walking tours are generally very good to excellent.

I've used Viator more than once, but I usually check the tour operator's site first. Sometimes the Viator price is significantly cheaper.

I've taken day trips to Tarragona, Girona, and Figueres on my own. All were easy to plan.

BARCELONA DAY ESCAPADES

Without demeriting the work and the professionalism of tour guides, the fact is that you do not need a guided tour to visit most of Catalonia. You can DIY -most visitors do- as it's no different than making day trips back at home. You don't need either to speak Catalan (or Spanish) to navigate around --albeit basic greetings are a plus!-- you'll always find locals that speak English or French, and that can help you. DYing allows you to visit at your own pace and modify your trip on the fly. If anything, a guidebook can be useful to get some background on what you see.

These are some destinations you can go to by public transportation, either train or bus (which is cheap, clean, safe and efficient and used by many locals):

• GIRONA
• BESALÚ -this one I always advice to combine with Girona
• FIGUERES -note this and Girona are very close as well
• SITGES
• MONTSERRAT
• TARRAGONA
• VIC
• ROSES
• TOSSA DE MAR

again, more text-based info here:

• http://catalunya.com/ -Catalonia’s Tourism Agency
• http://en.costabrava.org/ -Costa Brava Tourism Agency
• http://www.girona.cat/turisme/eng/index.php -Girona City Council
• http://www.tarragonaturisme.cat/ -Tarragona City Council

Search keywords: enric$escapades enric$catalonia

Thanks to everyone, I really appreciate this breadth of guidance! I will dig into these options.

And thanks for the encouragement to branch out from RS guidebook; I can get a little fixated on Rick as The Oracle, wisdom incarnate. :)