My husband and I are traveling to Spain for our long awaited honeymoon at the end of April. We are spending 6 nights in both Madrid and Barcelona. We want to do some day trips (possibly overnight if needed) if anyone has any suggestions or advice? I'm interested in Segovia and/or Avila out of Madrid and Tarragona out of Barcelona. Our itinerary is pretty open besides going to a Real Madrid game and FC Barcelona game in each city. Thank you!
Posted by
Charleston, SC, USA
922 posts
From Madrid, I would consider Toledo in addition to Segovia. It's an easy 30 minute train ride out of Atocha station in Madrid. You can buy train tickets a couple of days in advance. For Barcelona, another option is Montserrat.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
Lots of options for both. Some highlights.
Madrid:
Segovia is well worth it and makes a great daytrip. The Roman aquaduct is stunning. Great cathedral and Medieval town. The Alcazar is nice to see but a completely modern reconstruction.
Toledo would be a great town to stay overnight in. It is very crowded with tourists during the day but is fun to explore the winding hilly streets in the evening and mornings. Lots of Moorish architecture, including one of the few mosques to survive (it is small and was turned into a church). I love Toledo in part for its incredible layers of history: Roman, Visigoth, Moors, Jewish and Catholic.
El Escorial is another great daytrip to see the royal palace and monastery. It's an easy bus ride.
Barcelona:
Tarragona is a great daytrip that could be an overnight. Lots of Roman history with a dramatic amphitheater along the coastline and a very good Roman archeology museum. Walk along the old Roman walls too. Nearby is Sitges, a quaint beach town.
Figueres and Girona are reached along the high-speed AVE line north of Barcelona. Girona is picturesque along several rivers and Figueres is home to the Dali Museum. Skip Figueres if you aren't interested in Dali.
Montserrat is over-rated in my own opinion, but it is a beautiful setting. If you like hiking, it is well worth it. The monastery is largely 20th century reconstruction but is still pretty.
Posted by
northern CA
2458 posts
I agree with Douglas. All these places really shine when you do them as more than day trips.
Toledo and Tarragona are at the right moment -- accessible and plenty of tourism infrastructure but not over-discovered if you stay long enough to get past the main tourist circuits.
Girona, I feel, has just gone past the tipping point. It takes some effort to get beyond the tourist layer. A day trip or even one night will yield a somewhat tacky highlights exposure, so to get to the good stuff you would need a longer stay.
Simple advice, as always, is that if a restaurant or store or supposed museum has laminated descriptions in several languages with a bunch of flags to attract Germans, Brits, etc., then that is a place you generally do not want to go into. The prime example in Girona is Plaza de Independencia. Almost everyone funnels into it at some point, and your best bet is to flow right back out of it again.