Chose between daytrip Barcelona and Galicia

I lived in Barcelona for three months during the summer and one of my favorite parts of that experience was taking day trips. I think it will be worth it so stay the extra couple days in Barcelona and use them for day trips. I would think about staggering day trips in order to have a more relaxed day in the city after a slightly longer day. Girona is amazing, and definitely worth a visit. It has so many interesting parts of the city with ancient walls, beautiful scenery and churches. Its a very easy train ride from Barcelona and is a small enough city to have a great time in one day. I also absolutely loved Montserrat, if you enjoy outdoorsy things mixed with culture it should also make it onto your list. I have never seen anything like it, and the church is incredible especially if you consider the effort it takes to get there. I also went to Tarragona and if you like ancient ruins that are basically on the beach that is the place to go.
I have never been to Portugal and I am sure it is worth exploring as well but I think these day trips will be worth it and give you a more rounded point of view of Catalonia.

I'd tend to prefer the extra time for day trips in Catalunya, too, but you can't go wrong on this decision.

I would want 6 nights for Galicia.
One each for Lugo & A Coruna.
Two for Santiago de Compostela.
Two for the Rias Baixas (Pontevedra).

Thanks for those answers !

We have a very hard time to decide what we want to do. Girona/Besalu are very attractive for us but the same goes for Pontevedra/Santiago de Compostela....

Would doing 2 nights in Girona would be a good idea ? It's less expensive than Barcelona and our appartment in Barcelona is only avaible foor the 5 nights we already booked.

We would sleeps 5 nights in Barcelona,2 nights in Girona and catch train on the third day to get to our 17:55 flight to Porto.

Is it a long and hard ride from Girona to BCN airport (I think Ryanair is at T2).

No, on the contrary... there's a high-speed train from Girona (actually there are quite a few during the day!) that reaches Sants station in Barcelona in under 45', then you need to go up to the main hall, and find the track (it's the largest hub in Barcelona) for the train to the airport. Then is under 25' to T2. For schedules here, note the stations you want are "Barcelona-Sants" and "Aeroport". In any case, there's a Customer Information Office in the main hall, in case you can't figure out where to go.

There are several escapades that can be made from Girona by public transportation, not only to Besalú but also for example: Cadaqués, Figueres, Tossa de Mar, Vic... just to name a few, there are quite a few other. In fact, and if you were to rent a car in Girona, the possibilities are literally endless: Rupit, Siurana, Empúries, Sant Pere de Rodes, Calella de Palafrugell, Roses, Vall de Núria, La Fageda d'en Jordà, the (extinct!) volcanoes in La Garrotxa, the Route of the Castles of Sió, etc.

... yes, despite the landscapes in the pictures/videos above seeming to be worlds apart (beach vs high mountains vs dense forests), everything I listed is close to Girona.

Two nights in Girona would be a grand accompaniment to your time in Barcelona. Go for it! And as Enric said, Girona is a more convenient base for several side-trips than Barcelona is, because of proximity. Should you decide to take the bus to Besalu, I will warn you to get back to the bus stop well before the return bus is scheduled to pass through Besalu. My onward bus left at least eight minutes early. The trip to Besalu takes considerably less than a day. Figueres/Cadaques is more like a whole day.

Thanks for those answers !

Enric and Acreaven We think that you just have finish to conviced us that Catalonia is the way to go !

I also think that we are gonna rent a car. We where affraid to drag the kids car seats in the plane between Barcelona and Porto, then drag them to our appartment in porto, but that should not be that bad.

And by having a car, maybe we can fin find nice, and less expensive, lodging near Girona without having the need to be near train or bus station.

Just for extra info, you don't need to drag your kid's seats... you can rent them in Barcelona and you'll be able to do so too in Porto. In Barcelona, for example, http://www.easytravelkids.com or http://www.babytravelling.com, and in Porto: https://www.avis.com.pt/conduza-avis/extras-aluguer-carros/seguranca-infantil-em-carros or https://www.upababy.pt/pt/catalogo/passear-e-viajar/aluguer-de-cadeiras-auto/

and regarding your stay in my homeland, here in Catalonia, check out these downloadables:

• Welcome to Catalonia
• Catalonia Experience
• Routes in Catalonia
• Map of Catalonia

Enric, reading your description of getting the Renfe train to El Prat jogged a few memories of the airport as it was 27 years ago, before the Olympics work, and way before the new terminal. (Cue you reminding me hold old I must be!!)

Enrick, kids seats location could be an option, thaks for the suggestion, but it would cost more than buy brand new seats ! And from what we've read, rental seats are most of the time filthy, broken or without any instruction on how to use it.

Don't always believe what you read... especially on forums... unfortunately, there's no compulsory "Internet license" to surf the net, much like a driving license is compulsory to drive a car... and sometimes any idiot can say anything without having to back it up. Anyhow, I can't vouch for any of these services, of course, but for those two I mentioned in Barcelona I've had friends that visited the city and used them in the past and they seemed quite happy with them.

As per cost... I wouldn't know, sorry... yet a quick look at one of the sites above mentioned I see 49€ per week for a car seat... and a look at one of the major dept stores in Barcelona, El Corte Inglés -which is not necessarily the cheapest- yields seats from 50-something to 300€; so you could even just buy one and then throw it away when you leave (or better, donate it to one of the many foundations in the city -Fanoc, RedMadre, etc-, they'll surely appreciate the gesture). Just sayin'

... or simply drag yours from home :)))