Best day trips and excursions from Barcelona

In the metropolitan area of Barcelona and in nearby towns you can find authentic jewels to complement your visit in an optimal way. There are many better day trips and excursions that you can do leaving the city in the morning and returning in the afternoon-evening.

Sitges

A city famous for its beaches, nightlife and cultural life, it is only an hour by train from Barcelona and is well worth visiting. You can also rent a car for a day and visit it, but the best option is to go by train and take the opportunity to walk around it, since parking is very difficult due to the number of cars circulating. A good time to visit Sitges is during the month of October, when its famous film festival is held, or in February, when the carnival is celebrated.

Maresme Beaches

The closest beaches to the city of Barcelona are those of the Maresme, covering a total of 16 towns, some of which can be visited with any Metro card, in a trip that counts as if you were in the city. You can travel to the beaches of Montgat in this way, but, passing these, you will have to get a separate train ticket. It is an ideal plan for lovers of nature and quiet beaches, especially in summer, when Barceloneta is full of people. It stands out for the quality of its waters and a wide range of restaurants where you can find very fresh seafood at good prices, in an extension of 52 km of beaches.

Modern and entrepreneurial Hospitalet

The city of Hospitalet is close to Barcelona and has experienced sustained growth in recent years, motivated by the high costs of renting in the Catalan capital. In this way, the historic working-class city has been joined by a middle-class facet and a business district around the Fira de Hospitalet, where the world’s largest cell phone trade fair, the Mobile World Congress, is held every year. Around the Fira there are hotels that are authentic architectural gems, such as the Hotel Porta Fira and its classic cylindrical facade. And a modern and entrepreneurial district is growing to get to know the most enterprising side of the city. You can go with a single subway ticket.

Castelldefels and Garraf Natural Park

Another option to enjoy the tranquility of the beaches and escape the summer noise is the town of Castelldefels, just 30 minutes from Barcelona. This is a place where famous actors and athletes often choose to live. They are perfect beaches to enjoy the most fun water sports and to know the Garraf Natural Park, one of the green lungs of the area and a perfect place for lovers of the outdoors and nature.

A day in Montserrat

The sanctuary of Montserrat is one of the oldest and best preserved in Spain and is located near Barcelona. It is located in a mountainous area ideal for enjoying a day of outdoor hiking in a unique landscape. A perfect day trip to do from Barcelona. Once there, you will have the option to go up and down on foot, by rack railroad (a railroad variant designed to overcome steep slopes and that moves through a system of specific gears), by cable car or by bus; many alternatives for you to choose the one that suits you best. There are different ways to get to Monserrat from Barcelona, but the easiest and most economical is by train, which you can take at the Barcelona-Plaça Espanya station with the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya that depart to Montserrat every hour, starting at 8:26 am.

The wine route in Vilafranca del Penedès

Vilafranca del Penedès is the capital of the Alt Penedès region, the most important wine and cava producing area in Catalonia and one of the most traditional in Spain. The city has a rich historical-artistic heritage, with medieval architecture and modernist style buildings. Around Vilafranca and in the outskirts you can visit wineries of different types, from industrial to family and artisanal, spending a day tasting the finest varietals. To go from Barcelona, the best option is by train from Sants station. The trip takes about one hour.

Spending the day in Girona

Girona is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain, crossed by a river and with a Jewish quarter that still maintains all its medieval charm in many buildings and in its atmosphere. Ideal to escape from Barcelona by train and spend the day getting lost in its narrow streets and enjoying its gastronomy. It is well worth visiting the cathedral and the ancient Arab baths, as well as touring the entire layout of the walls of the fourteenth century. A must-see if you have a day off during your visit to Barcelona.

A day of Roman route in Tarragona

Another highly recommended city trip from Barcelona is to Tarragona, an ancient Roman enclave that at that time was called Tarraco and was the most important city of the empire in this area. It currently has 14 archaeological sites that are World Heritage Sites, including the walls, the aqueduct, the forum, the circus and the Roman temple.

Tarragona is also the capital of the castellers, the famous human towers formed by large groups, one of the most traditional sports in Catalonia. In times of major festivals you can be amazed with this activity, unique in the world.

A day on a beach on the Costa Dorada

The interior of the province of Tarragona has a wide coastline that is called the Costa Dorada: long beaches, with lots of sand and a sea of pure and calm waters. It is a good option to get out of the beaches of the center of Barcelona and there are trains that you can take from the main stations of the city. If you are looking for tranquility, we recommend these three towns on the Costa Dorada, which, in addition to having good beaches, also have a very interesting medieval architecture: Torredembarra, Altafulla and L’Amettla de Mar. But if you are looking for party and movement, Salou is your best option.

Cadaqués with Dalí

Located in the province of Girona, Cadaqués is a very picturesque fishing village and ideal to enjoy with a long walk and eating paella. Very close to this city there are two enclaves related to the painter Salvador Dalí that are worth visiting.

First, there is the Dalí Museum in Figueres, with hundreds of works by the painter arranged in an anarchic way expressly at his own request. And then you can go to Portlligat, a small beach located in a paradisiacal corner and where you can find the house where Dalí lived with his partner, Gala, now converted into a museum.

The jewel of Besalú

Besalú is one of the best preserved medieval villages in Spain. Here you will spend a day discovering authentic architectural gems that do not exist elsewhere or that are not in as good a condition as they are here. For example, the old Jewish quarter, the entrance bridge to the city, the mikvah (a ritual bath used for the purification of men and women in the rituals of Judaism) or the Monastery of Sant Pere. There are no trains to Besalú, so the best option is to go by car or take the daily bus of the company Teisa that connects Barcelona and Besalú from its station at 117 Pau Clarís street (crossing with Consell de Cent).

The viewpoint of the volcanoes in Olot

In the interior of the province of Girona is the city of Olot, which is home to a unique geological wealth in Spain. They are mountain formations of the Catalan pre-Pyrenees that can be covered in different hiking trails and where you can learn about 10 volcanoes of the more than 40 that exist in the Garrotxa Natural Park. If you do this route in summer, you can swim in the crystal clear lakes that are among the mountains.

From Barcelona you can go alone by bus, if you prefer the public transport option, in a trip that takes approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. Therefore, it is best to leave early in the morning to make the most of the day.