Barcelona Day Trips

Mount Serrat, and if you like Salvador Dali, the Dali museum in Figures. Both are nice days trips. Each is an hour train ride from Barcelona.

Yes to the Dali Museum in Figures. You only have four days in Barcelona so one day trip should be enough as Barcelona has so much to explore.

If you're not a Dali fan, an alternative is the lovely small city of Girona. You can get there in less than an hour on the fast train. It has a walkable wall, a large historic district, a not-too-large art museum, and two historic churches. Very atmospheric and (though it geta it share of tourists) a nice change from hyper-busy Barcelona.

Note, though, that there is plenty to do in Barcelona itself for five days.

Sorry, but I don't know anything about wine.

We used Spanish Trails for three day trips when we were in Barcelona in October 2017:

Priorat Wine Country - This was a great wine tour. The scenery and wine were fantastic. The included lunch was also great. Priorat wine is available in the US, but usually pretty expensive.

Girona and the Costa Brava - Equally good tour. I realize now that the Costa Brava is what I wanted the Cinque Terre to be. Another great lunch included.

Tarragona - Spanish Trails arranged a private tour to Tarragona with a brief stop in Sitges. We are big fans of Roman Ruins and enjoyed this day very much. Lunch was also included - in a lovely small restaurant with the balcony all to ourselves.

http://spanish-trails.com/home-bcn

SOME IDEAS FOR A DIY EXCURSION OUT OF THE CITY (by train and/or bus)

Welcome to Catalonia, have a peek... :)

• GIRONA
• FIGUERES -note this and Girona are relatively close to each other
• BESALÚ -some will combine this with Girona
• SITGES
• MONTSERRAT
• TARRAGONA
• VIC
• ROSES
• TOSSA DE MAR

or perhaps attending an event or "festa major" somewhere in the region can be another great option to immerse yourself in Catalan culture.

If you prefer more traditional text-based advice, these are some websites of the TI offices of the different regions within Catalonia:

http://catalunya.com/ -Catalonia’s Tourism Agency
http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/ -Barcelona’s Tourism Agency
http://en.costabrava.org/ -Costa Brava Tourism Agency
http://www.baixemporda-costabrava.org/en/
http://www.lleidatur.com/ -Lleida and Pyrenees-Aran Tourism Agency
http://www.visitpirineus.com/ -Pyrenees-Aran Tourism Agency
http://www.turismeamposta.cat/en -Terres de l’Ebre Tourism Agency
http://www.bcn.cat/ -Barcelona City Council
http://www.girona.cat/turisme/eng/index.php -Girona City Council
http://www.tarragonaturisme.cat/ -Tarragona City Council

Enjoy!

Enric provided you with just about everything you need to know (as he always does). We've visited Barcelona several times and made day trips on a few visits. For what it's worth, my wife and I were, well, "disappointed" (that isn't quite the right word but it's close) with the visit to Montserrat. We took the train. The gondola ride up and down the mountain was great, and the interior of the Basilica was spectacular. Access to the Abbey was not available while we were there.

The conditions under which we visited may have colored our opinion. We arrived later in the afternoon and it was very hot. We did not visit the Museum of Montserrat and we didn't visit the audiovisual room (at the time I don't believe we were aware of it). Perhaps our visit would have also been different if we'd taken the Funiculars of Santa Cova and/or of Sant Joan. The queues for these were quite long and taking either funicular may have resulted in our missing the last gondola down to the train station.

You say you're hikers and like "rugged terrain", Montserrat might just be the high point (pardon the pun) of your visit. Go for it.

For what it's worth, on our last visit to Barcelona we had dinner one evening at dusk at a roof-top restaurant in the Las Arenas Mall. The food may not be the creme de la creme of Spanish cuisine, but it was very good and the view was wonderful. We watched the Magic Fountain show after dinner from the roof-top perch and the next evening we visited the Magic Fountain up close.