Barcelona Tours/Day-Trips

Yes, I took a day trip to Figueres to see the Dali Museum. It was excellent and highly recommended. And there are plenty of eateries nearby in a pleasant town.

There is both a slow train and fast train running on separate lines to Figueres from Barcelona. I took the fast train up and the slow train back. Make sure you're on the right track.

I did not make it to the Dali home in nearby Cadaques, unfortunately. A friend told me a visit to it was worth it. Cadaques is 25 miles from Figueres. Rick's guide says there is a bus between the two.

Yes, I have a recommendation! We took the free walking tour of the Gothic Quarter in 2017 with Runner Bean Tours.https://runnerbeantours.com/

I have taken other free and paid walking tours in Geneva, Paris, London, Edinburgh and Washington, DC and nothing compares to that tour our family took. We LOVED our guide, Lowri!

We also took a bike tour in Barcelona and really liked it but I don't recall the group we used.

Last, we went to Sitges by train for a day. The weather was fair, our college-aged kids liked the beach, we had lunch at a touristy restaurant. I think it is a small, charming pedestrian town that could've been great. I did not do my homework.

I took three walking tours organized by the tourist office--Barri Gotic, Picasso (included the mobbed Picasso Museum) and Modernism (included 15 minutes in the privately-run modernism museum). They were capacity controlled. The "free" tour groups can be much larger. I liked all the tours but think the Barri Gotic one is most appropriate for the typical visitor.

I haven't been to Montserrat. I enjoyed Sitges but would rank it behind Girona unless you really, really want a coastal destination. Girona has a lot to see; it's my favorite easy side trip from Barcelona. There are fast and slow trains on that right. The fare as well as the travel time differs.

The Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres was a lot more interesting to me (not a lover of surrealism at all) than I expected. The fast and slow trains to Figueres use different train stations (Figueres Vilafant and Figueres respectively). For last-minute ticket purchase the slow train is likely to save a good bit of money, but it takes quite a bit longer; Figueres is beyond Girona. There is indeed a (scenic) bus ride from Figueres on to Cadaques, then you'd have a 15- to 20-minute walk to the Dali house in Port Lligat. The bus departs from the Figueres Station used by the slow trains. There's a bus connecting the two train stations, but I had the impression it didn't run very often. There are also taxis in Figueres, of course.

Highly recommend Girona’s Old Town which looks like a medieval movie set and, in fact, episodes of “Game of Thrones” were filmed here.
If you’re a Salvador Dali enthusiast, the Dali Theatre-Museum in Figueres is worthwhile. However, two days ago when we were there it was absolutely thronged, and there’s little else to recommend in Figueres.

I suspect bus tours have a lot to do with what crowding occurs at the Dali Theatre-Museum. I was staying in Figueres (solely because its hotels are a lot cheaper than the ones in Girona), and I had either the first or second entry time. No problem at all for 30-60 minutes, then a French tour bus arrived and the place felt packed. There's a second floor, so I went up there until the tour group left.

I agree with Kenko that Figueres isn't otherwise a particularly interesting destination.

We did the Montseratt day trip on our own using public transportation and found it very easy. Rick features Montseratt in his Barcelona and Cataluny show: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/barcelona-and-catalunya

The day before our day trip to Montseratt, we bought a “TransMontserrat” from the TI in Barcelona. Be sure to specify if you want the cable car (Aeri) like Rick takes in his video or the rack train (Cremallera) up to the monastery. I had originally bought a ticket for the rack train, but once I saw the cable car I wanted to change my plans. Luckily, I was able to switch my ticket at the Aeri ticket booth for a small price increase. So glad I did...the Aeri ride is beautiful!

https://bcnshop.barcelonaturisme.com/shopv3/en/product/616/trans-montserrat.html

Is this the Barri Gotic site to book a walking tour? https://www.barcelona.de/en/barcelona-tour-gothic-quarter.html

Anyone know the price?

Molly

Back in 2016 I took a very good walking tour of the Barri Gotic arrange through the Barcelona tourist office. I think I paid about 15 euros. They limited the number of participants so the group wasn't terribly large. The "free" tours operating in the same area seemed to be considerably larger.

Here's the tourist office's website: https://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/page/4105/guided-walking-tours.html The cost is now about 24 euros.

We have used Barcelona Day Tours and they were excellent.
We did a tour of the city that include all the Gaudi sites as well as other key sites.
You can do Monserrat on your own, take the early train.

Girona is nice.

I will be in Barcelona next October and was looking for suggestions for a day trip to Montserratt.

I got many recommendations for Viator, some for Tour Guy and others for Spain Day Tours and Barcelona Day Tours. Also Visit Barcelona (the tourist office) offers a few, one that I really like and was not offered on other sites.

How easy it is to take public transportation from Barcelona to Montseratt? Also Is cable car or Rack rail better? Any way to experience both one way each?

Viator doesn't run any tours itself. It's just a booking agency.

As I understand it, the transportation tickets to Montserrat send you out and back on the same form of transportation. If you want to experience both options, you can just buy an extra one-way ticket on the second one. I have no idea whether there might be a line waiting to use one or both methods.

@acraven-Thanks for your reply.

We have done the Fat Tire bike company in Paris & London. Lots of fun. We did not try in Barcelona as it is a wonderful walking city and the metro is easy (& clean).

We did the paella class on Sunday... great experience and met people from all over the world! Came home and have made paella 2x.

One of our favorite local experiences was watching the spontaneous dance in front of the cathedral at 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and noon on Sunday. An absolute joy to watch and we did attempt to participate!

Montseratt was our last day. Took cab to train station. Told cab driver our plan so that he would drop us at the correct entrance (its a big station). Took the train thru the countryside. Bought the ticket to Montseratt when we got off the train. Took the cable car (even though I am very afraid of heights). So worth the experience. The cathedral at top was dreary. The trails around the mountain were great. Upon return down the cable car, give yourself time as the trains do get crowded at the end of the day. We had an hour to spare... and to our delight... down a path and up a bit of a hill from the train platform was a family's outdoor cafe! Vermouth and wine and snacks in a "grotto!"