Figueres and Dali

No idea about Sundays (I'm sure the Dali museum in Figueras has a website to check that kind of info), but Cadaqués is most definitely worth the side trip, even for people (like me) without interest in Dalí! Charming seaside village, not too overbuilt.

The website of the theatre-museum will give you the days and hours of operation: https://www.salvador-dali.org/en/. The usual closing day is Monday.

The jewelry collection covered by the same ticket is fabulous. It's in a separate building but very close.

By "Cadaques" do you mean the town itself or the Dali house in nearby Port Lligat? Cadaques is touristy now, but it's a very picturesque, whitewashed former fishing village dripping with bougainvillea. And the latter part of the drive (or bus trip) from Figueres is very scenic, along a curvy road. I haven't been to the Dali house, but many others seem to have enjoyed it.

You need to get tickets for the house (closed only on holidays) well in advance; it does sell out. Individual time slots at the Theatre-Museum in Figueres can also sell out; it gets bus tours. I've seen/read no sign that you need to get the Theatre-Museum ticket very far ahead of time. You just don't want to show up, planning to buy it at the door, lest you be told they're sold out for the next 2 or 3 hours. There's just not much else to do in Figueres. I was told that you can see the jewelry collection before the time shown on your Theatre-Museum ticket.

Will you be driving, or do you need info on trains to Figueres and buses to Cadaques?

Looking at taking the Train.

Side trip to Cadaqués --well worth, but again, I'm biased here :)-- requires, as mentioned, taking a bus from Figueres to Cadaqués: https://compras.moventis.es/online/search/schedules You can also take a taxi (35-50€) which is served by different companies (Servei de Taxi Figueres +34972932251 or Taxi Vilafant +34606732313 for example)

Enric: Might be me, but I am unable to see a bus route on that link.

https://www.moventis.es/es/lineas-horarios/linea-autobus-12-figueres-costa-brava-nord

Thanks. Looks rather long and complicated.
Perhaps the Taxi would be a better option.

Nah, it's merely an hour by bus and it's not complicated cause you don't have to change lines or anything of that sort... but no doubt a taxi is comfier. You won't really save that much time though as it takes some 45", assuming of course there is not much traffic. In summer that road can be quite busy and since it's narrow and windy, it can be slower than normal.

This takes me to mention that if any of you gets easily dizzy, take some medication with you, the road to Cadaqués is very windy. We use over-the-counter Biodramina (=dimenhydrinate) which you can purchase at any pharmacy without a prescription (cost: 5€ for 12 pills).

Good tips!
I suppose I can just inquire about the bus schedule once we arrive in Figueres by train.
I also see options to take a tour from Barcelona + Figueres+Cadaques (Port Lligat) and back to Barcelona. Seems to run about $130 pp with lunch & transportation & tickets.

The potentially confusing part about getting to Cadaques is that the fast trains from Barcelona to Figueres go to the Figueres Vilafant Station. The slower trains go to the main station, simply called "Figueres". The buses to Cadaques depart from the "Figueres" station. The two stations are more than a mile apart, with the Dali Theatre-Museum between them. There's a Figueres city bus that runs between the two stations with a stop just a few blocks from the DTM. Its schedule seems keyed to train arrival times at Figueres Vilafant Station. In my experience, the bus doesn't wait if the train is late, so you have to accept the possible need to walk from Figueres Vilafant to the DTM or hope a taxi will be waiting at the station. The latter is reasonably likely, but don't make a stop to use the toilet in the station if you want either bus or taxi transport.

There's something of a walk from the Cadaques bus station to the Dali house as well. I haven't been to the latter but remember seeing a sign down at the port, indicating a walking time of about 20 minutes. Someone reported on this forum that the walk from the bus station is a bit quicker--about 15 minutes.

There are also small group tours of the Dali Theatre-Museum, his home, and/or Girona. They are very full-day bus rides and include the museum ticket. They are another possibility. Trip Advisor and Air B&B offer them.

I’ve been to both Dali’s house in Port Ligat and his Theatre-Museum in Figueres and if you have to pick go for the latter. I did enjoy his home and spending time in Cadaques but the museum is one of the best artist museum’s I’ve been to.

I feel like if you care enough about Dali to traipse all the way up to Figueres, much less to Port Lligat, you might be dissatisfied with the amount of time a bus tour allows at one or both places. I am not a particular fan of Dali or surrealism. I mainly went to Figueres because friends raved about the jewelry collection. But I found the Theatre/Museum very interesting. I spent at least twice as much time there as a bus tour that arrived considerably after I did and left before me. That was a French-speaking tour group, so I assume it was on some route different from Barcelona-Figueres-Port Lligat-Barcelona, but it highlighted to me the way tours blow through art museums.

I understand that many folks can take only so much time (an hour or two at the most) in an art museum, but how many such folks want to spend a day on a not-cheap bus tour going to the Dali Theatre-Museum and the Dali House? This is different from a quick trip through a museum located in the city where you're staying, with minimum transportation time required.

Thanks for your thoughts Acraven. If we do Figueres, we'll go by train.

I took the slow train from Barcelona to Figueres (2h) that’s closer to the museum than the Vilafant station (1h). If you do what I did follow the crowd when you get off the train because everyone is going to the Dali Theatre-Museum. You definitely need to buy your ticket before leaving home.

Marypat: did you mean the train ticket, or the Dali ticket (before leaving home)?

There would be no reason to buy a ticket ahead of time on the slow train. There are no reserved seats, and the ticket price doesn't change. And I don't think those tickets are sold online, in any case. Those tickets can be purchased from vending machines in train stations; change the language to English and it should be very easy. I had no trouble with acceptance of my chipped credit card.

If you want to take the fast train (AVE, AVLO, AVANT), there's a potential to pay a considerably lower fare if you buy the ticket early enough to get a well-priced ticket. You can check fares on the Renfe website. Don't forget to use "Figueres Vilafant" as the destination for the fast train.

Tickets for the house in Port Lligat (if you decide to go there as well) probably should be purchased ahead of time. Ticket availability is very limited; they allow people in every 10 minutes, but it appears each entry group is capped at 8 people. I wouldn't be surprised if the house entries sell out well in advance, at least on some occasions. You can go to the website I've linked and select a few dates as if you want to buy tickets today. You'll be able to see how many tickets remain available for each time block. It a glance, it seems that the first time blocks are popular, and weekend tickets seem to be more popular than weekday tickets.

I am not sure you necessarily need to buy tickets for the Theatre-Museum in Figueres very far ahead of time, but I cannot not guarantee that buying just a few days ahead of time (I think I bought my ticket 36-48 hours early) would be safe 100% of the time. My trip was in May 2019; it's entirely possible the DT is a lot busier at other times of the year. As with the house in Port Lligat, you can go to the linked website and take a look at the ticket situation for future dates. Note that the T-M is closed on most Sundays. Entries are allowed ever 15 minutes, and there appear to be 95 tickets available for each entry time. Again, early entry times and weekends seem to be the most popular.

If you want to squeeze both Dali sites into a single say trip from Barcelona, you'd probably want an early entry time to one of them, so the popularity of early tickets should be kept in mind. It would probably be easier to get an early ticket time for the D-T in Figueres than for the house in Port Lligat, but it takes longer to get to Port Lligat, and I believe a lot of people do like to start there. I haven't checked to see how early you can reasonably get to Port Lligat by bus.

Keep in mind that if you buy your tickets before you leave home and then are unable to travel, you will probably eat the cost of those tickets. I figure once I'm over in Europe, the chances I won't be able to complete the trip are really slim. However, it could still happen, so I don't buy any tickets a lot earlier than I think is necessary unless (as in the case of tickets for the fast trains) I stand to save a significant amount of money.

If I buy train tickets prior to my affival in Barcelona, I won't have the Tarjeta Dorada for the discount.

How much time should we allow to tour the museum?
Ae here other things to see in Figueres?

Restaurant recommendations?
Thanks!

Marypat: did you mean the train ticket, or the Dali ticket (before leaving home)?

The Dali Theatre-Museum ticket, otherwise, you'll have to wait longer to get in.

It's true that you have a choice between paying whatever the going rate is today for a ticket with zero flexibility, moderate flexibility or 95% refundability or getting the TD discount later, after you're able to buy the card. The latter avenue means you have no money tied up on (possibly non-refundable) train tickets until you get to Spain. But understand that the fare may go up substantially in the meantime, possibly so much that the TD-discount ticket might cost more than buying a ticket now without a discount. In addition to the very cheapest, non-refundable/non-changeable "Basico" tickets, Renfe has a middle-ground ticket category, "Elige", that allows changes and cancellations if you pay the appropriate fees. You can see the rules for each type of ticket by searching for trains and clicking on a price in each column.

Everything I've described above applies only to the fast trains going to the Figueres Vilafant Station. The regional trains stopping at the Figueres station are much cheaper and do not increase in price, so you have everything to gain and nothing to lose by waiting to buy those tickets until you have a TD card. You cannot buy those tickets online anyway; the Renfe website says you must get them at the train station.

Unfortunately, I do not remember how much time I spent at the Dali Theatre-Museum. I'm sure it was over 2 hours, maybe more than 3 hours. I also spent about 30 minutes seeing the jewelry collection, but I was trying (unsuccessfully) to take pictures there. I might mention that if a tour group pours into the museum while you're there, it is likely to slow you down. The crowding was annoying enough to me that I went upstairs (where I didn't see any of the tour folks. By the time I finished with that floor, the tour group had left and I could enjoy the rest of the museum.

I haven't been to the house in Port Lligat.

Usually Googling something like time at Dali Theatre-Museum will produce some links, but people vary greatly in the time they spend in museums. I'm nearly always out at the extreme (long) end of the curve.

Good info!
What's the difference between the Avant train and the Ave train. Sure looks like the same physical train!

Also, what's the best way to get from Figueres Vilifant to the Dali Museum? Walkable? Googlemaps shows it's about 20 min.
Or perhaps the bus (esp if it's raining)

I don't know whether there's any difference in the train carriages. You can take a look at Seat61.com and see whether there's information there. There might be photos. You also might find videos on YouTube.

I've been assuming those trains are basically the same physically, just with fare differences for marketing purposes. I look for a convenient departure time and compare travel times.

I walked from Figueres Vilafant to my hotel, which wasn't a great deal closer than the museum, and I was pulling a rolling bag. It's certainly doable. But if your train is on time, the bus would be quicker. If your train is late, the bus may not be an option; the one I should have been able to take didn't wait for the train. In that case, hot foot it around to the front of the (small) train station if you hope for a taxi. If you are not prepared to walk, do some Googling ahead of time so you have the phone numbers of one or more local taxi companies. There are a couple of companies listed here: https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Figueres/Cadaqu%C3%A9s#r/Taxi/s/0

Just keep in mind the geography in Figueres when you pick an entry time for the Theatre-Museum.

Wonderful info!
Looking at timing for our Sunday adventure:
8:15 train - 9:10 F-V.
10:30 Museum.
1:00-ish: lunch
3:59 train departs F-V

or:
10:50 train - 11:45 F-V.
12:15-ish: lunch
1:30 Museum.
5:55 train departs F-V

Thoughts?
Are we going to have lunch problems on a Sunday and Siesta time?

Spain eats both lunch and dinner late. Lunch is closer to 2-4 PM than to noon-2 PM. That doesn't mean you'll be unable to find food when you want it, but you may not have a lot of choices, and if you are trying to be an efficient sightseer, you won't want to waste a lot of time.

I found a place in Figueres that seemed to be open throughout the day (Google says 9 AM to 5 PM), so it was helpful when I wanted to eat on a non-Spanish schedule. It is neither fancy nor especially good. I see that it has a TripAdvisor rating of only 3.7. I usually avoid places with ratings under 4.0. But it was conveniently located, more or less on the way from Figueres Vilafant to the Dali Theatre-Museum. I'm sure you can do better with a bit of research, but it's there if you need it unless your Figueres day is a Monday, when it is closed:

Cafeteria Astoria
La Rambla 10-12

It's not a cafeteria as we define the word; that term is sometimes used in Europe for a very casual restaurant. At the Astoria you sit at a table and order from a menu. I believe I had roast chicken and French fries there. At least it wasn't American fast food.

I'd want to allow more than 2-1/2 hours at the Theatre-Museum, just in case you find you need the time, but either of your schedules would allow that. You can wander around a bit to burn off excess time. I didn't go to any other sights in Figueres, but you can check on Trip Advisor and Wikipedia to see whether there's something that might interest you. Wikipedia informs me of a castle but notes that Figueres was very heavily bombed during the Spanish Civil War. Indeed, the architecture I observed while wandering around looked quite modern. It's not a very atmospheric place.