Barcelona for 18 days, where else to visit from there?

You also have a new fast train service to and from Paris from Barcelona--6 1/2 hrs.

There's a steep fee to drop off a rental car in a different country. If picking up and returning a rental car in Spain, then you probably want to travel a tighter circle, such as northwest around Carcassonne, the Dordogne, Basque country, then back through northern Spain. If you want to drive along the French Riviera, then pick up the car on the French side of the border, such as at Perpignan and drop it at Nice. A budget flight is the easiest way to return from Nice, Pisa, or other Italian cities to Barcelona; see www.skyscanner.com.

The city of Genoa is not high on our list to visit; smaller towns south of there, around Santa Margherita Ligure or the five towns of the Cinque Terre are more recommended. See Rick's favorite destinations for each region described at http://www.ricksteves.com/europe. This is a good summary of the regions covered in his guidebooks (but not an exact table of contents). The more reading that you do, the more destinations will call to you, but that's the best way to start identifying and prioritizing your choices.

is there an airport near Cinque Terre? easy transportation to the towns? it is my understanding you hike from town to town.....could I fly in from Spain, see the five towns, maybe stay overnight and fly back? or even do it all in a long day? If this can be done, maybe I would do a 3 leg flight and stop in Nice for a day and night then back to Spain? I have seen the show on Cinque Terre, and I really would like to visit there. any advise on all my thoughts?

Hi gannsean,

Artticket is a must only if you are into art: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/UfEVJ as it only includes art museums but not, for example, Casa Batlló or Casa Milà just to name a couple of popular attractions.

T-10 is indeed the cheapest way to move around: http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k7479842-Transport-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#58496475

In case it interests you, Catalonia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia) is full of little gems worth exploring beside its capital Barcelona, some can be day escapades from Barcelona itself (thus you don't have to keep packing and unpacking all the time) while others can be stop overs on your way beyond Catalonia's borders.

Among my preferred day escapades -most of which can be done by train, thus avoiding having to rent a car, pay the many toll roads in the region, finding parking in the small villages which is often impossible, etc.

GIRONA : http://infocatalonia.eu/w/aj5on
FIGUERES : http://infocatalonia.eu/w/gLjZv -note this and Girona are very close
SITGES : http://infocatalonia.eu/w/ibDWG
MONTSERRAT : http://infocatalonia.eu/w/lOODr
BESALÚ: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/2MR8p
TARRAGONA : http://infocatalonia.eu/w/IltXs
VIC : http://infocatalonia.eu/w/qtmGR
ROSES: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/P10rx
TOSSA DE MAR: http://infocatalonia.eu/w/AMRJo
...
or perhaps attending an event ( http://www.infocatalonia.eu/w/category/events/ ) or "festa major" ( http://www.infocatalonia.eu/w/2013/12/17/what-is-a-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:
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

Here you have a map of Catalonia so you can get your bearings: http://www.infocatalonia.eu/w/map-of-catalonia/

Enjoy.

I would rent a car for a sojourn into Provence, France.
I think distance is too great to look any further towards Nice and into Italy.
The following is a nice routing if you are looking at about a one week round trip from Barcelona.
Cadaques
Montpellier
Avignon
Aix-en-Provence
Marseille
Nimes via Arles
Carcassonne
Figueres

OK, i hope someone can help me understand this EUrail pass. Nowhere can i see an answer to the question: does the eurail pass work on all rail systems (in barcelona- or in all of spain) (does it work on local metro trains too????) I see RENFE rail passes and other local metro T10 pass books, so i dont understand if the eurail pass is a good fit for me.

here is my situation: there are two of us, we would like to:
1) be able to hop on and off local metro in Barcelona
(from my slight understanding, the eurail pass will not do this)

2) get on a train and go to towns along the coast of spain, up to 2 hours (train ride) north and south of Barcelona
(from what i think i know, the RENFE train is the coastal train out of Barcelona and nowhere can i see that the EUrail pass will work on this system)

3) consider getting on a train (perhaps high speed) and get to Andorra or maybe as far as Nice France.
(I do understand the eurail pass 2 or 3 countries could be a part of this, but it seems i may have to pay more for a high speed train or get forced into a first class ticket purchase for one reason or another(-- i think multiple country passes require first class purchase per eurail web site).

please help!
thanks

First of all, I question why you think you want to go to Andorra. It's mostly a destination for outlet shopping. There are few places in the U.S. where you can't get to outlets; and going all the way to Spain for that seems an egregious waste of time and money. That being said, however, there are many attractive small towns in the Pyrenees worth visiting. The same is true of the Costa Brava. Colliure and Perpignan in coastal France and the towns of the French Pyrenees are also good destinations; i.e., close enough and appealing. Genoa is a long way, and not a top level attraction.

to answer, a trip to Andorra is for hiking and sight seeing, but if there are better local towns for this, i do not know of them, can you tell me of them? Andorra would be a stop (2-4 hrs) in rout to other sight seeing areas in France, Carcassonne etc..

it seems too problematic to try and arrange a flight into Italy or Nice, France, and probably too difficult to do by car, so i am looking more at the trains and local sight seeing just outside of Barcelona, along the coast, and just a little (maybe) into France..

this is all new to me so all opinions are greatly appreciated.

thanks

I wonder if there is a scenic road along the coast? Often main roads are not right on the coast and are not scenic.

Have you considered seeing more of Spain (the north) and perhaps Portugal?

Chani, i have taught of going to the rioja area, for wine tours etc.... this is a possibility... portugal would be nice but 12-14 hrs by train and about as long by car, if i did this, it would have to be by plane..

I suggest a trip to Zaragoza - often rated as Spain's most livable city. The train there only takes about 90 minutes. While it can be done as a day trip from Barcelona, I recommend spending at least one night there. Among the major sights are El Pillar, the La Seo Cathedral, various Roman ruins sites, and a thoroughly walkable city center. For nightlife, the Los Tubos bar district is a pure joy.

If you are driving into France, the coastal road either side of the border is stunning - N-260 in Spain and D914 in France.
Leave the motorway at Figueres, climb over the mountains on the windy road to Cadaques, then north to Port de la Selva, Port Bou, Cerbere and down towards Perpignan. Narrow windy roads cling to the coast with precipitous drops to the sea below. The Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes is well worth a stop too.

Hi gannsean

Firstly to mention I'm not familiar anymore with the EUrail pass (long time since I last used one of those!) so I can't really help on that. However, for the rest here it goes my two cents:

1.) I'm pretty sure for metro/bus/tramway in Barcelona you can't use EUrail, you're better off with a T-10 (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187497-i44-k7479842-Transport-Barcelona_Catalonia.html#58496475) yet note that the city is dense in sites to see meaning you're bound to walk a lot and only take the metro/bus sparsely.

2.) Two hours north or south of Barcelona you're still in Catalonia. For reference, two hours south you're reaching Tortosa, at the Ebre river delta where the famous Parc Natural del Delta de l'Ebre is located (http://infocatalonia.eu/w/tIvor). To the north note the train line goes as far as Blanes, about 90',(beginning of Costa Brava) then the train line goes inland (ps: costa brava = rough coast, hence the reason!) and continues inland until the top of Catalonia (in Port Bou), then it crosses into France. For info on regional trains: http://rodalies.gencat.cat/en/index.html To reach a specific COASTAL town in Costa Brava you need to take a regular bus line --most of which can be boarded from Barcelona too.

3.) No high speed train (or any other kind) to Andorra, sorry. Bus lines are available though: http://www.alsa.es/compra-y-horarios/regionales/cataluna/?searchType=short&zone=7 and also http://www.andorradirectbus.es/en/

I can understand you want to get the most out of your EUrail pass, but you have plenty of stuff to do and see in Barcelona (and its region Catalonia) to spend a month, why would you waste precious time travelling on trains every day?

Enjoy!

Enric, thank you for the info. I did not realize Barcelona spanned that far north, west and east, and I did not realize there is enough locally to keep me occupied for my trip duration!... as I learn more and more, I can see I will be spending 10-13 days in Barcelona, 2 days in stiges, and I will travel beyond this only 3-4 days, either to Rojia area or into France...(either a day trip or one overnight and 2 full days. Thanks for your help.

I can't see if Enric mentioned the Monastery of Poblet, UNESCO inscribed and stunning. Must do if you are planning 'Catalonia in depth'.

Well, it does not really... the whole area is called Catalonia (http://bit.ly/1KLQ4j2) which we Catalans divide in "comarques"(sort of counties (http://bit.ly/CATcounties), however, the Spanish prefer to use a different administrative division (provinces) and their maps look like this: http://bit.ly/1KLQsy2

And yes, djp_syd I didn't mention Poblet (among many other places) for two reasons: (1) albeit you 'could' reach it by bus, you really need a car for a day trip as bus schedules are not really convenient, and (2) for a first timer I think there's quite enough between Barcelona, Tarragona and Girona (which are all easily reachable by train) and a few other towns which I tend to mention often (which are also reachable by train/bus). In any case, since you mentioned it, http://infocatalonia.eu/w/tvPGY