Northen/Southern Spain travel

We were in Barcelona for six nights in 2016 and stayed in the El Born neighborhood. We very much enjoyed the hotel (Musik Boutique) and neighborhood, to include its restaurants and tapas bars, and found the location convenient for everything else we were doing while in the city, etc.

As BIG Salvador Dalí fans, we also day-tripped to Figueres by train (super easy) to tour the Theatre-Museum. From there, we rented a car and drove to Cadaques, where we overnighted (Hotel Playasol) so we could tour the House-Museum in Port Llgat the next morning ~ we had kept our hotel in Barcelona so we didn't have to deal with our luggage, etc.. Our Dalí "pilgrimage" was one of the highlights of our three weeks in Spain. One of the others was enjoying Gaudi's work in Barcelona, particularly La Sagrada Familia and Casa Batlló.

We also spent a couple of nights in Granada, which was very special as well. The Alhambra, which we toured by both day and night, starting with the night tour, deserves every bit of attention and recognition it gets. Just stunning. We'll never forget the beautiful sunset over Granada from Alhambra ~ we took a bottle of wine and arrived prior to the tour's start time so that we could watch the sun as it set over the city. WoW! So glad we did ~ a photo of it was the wallpaper on my phone for a very long time. :)

Anyway, enjoy your trip! We're off to Spain ourselves in May and can't wait. This time we're only visiting the northern regions along the coast, from Asturias to Basque Country.

I wouldn't consider Carcassonne a practical day trip from Barcelona; it's 180 miles away. I wonder whether you perhaps meant to type "Cadaques". Cadaques is a scenic bus ride (or drive) beyond Figueres. Although it's manageable as a day trip from Barcelona, if you want to go to all three places, I'd recommend some nights in Girona so you don't have to make multiple trips north from Barcelona. Girona is a very nice place to wander around, aside from its specific attractions.