Hi,

I'm gonna have a week and a half free in late July until early August in Barcelona. I'm wondering what are some nice places to visit around Barcelona? I have a round-trip ticket from Barcelona so I have to start and end in Barcelona. I'm looking for about 3 or 4 nice places to visit.

I actually travelled around Spain a couple years ago to the big places (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Santiago de Compostela, San Sebastian). I was also in Bilbao for a day (mostly to see the Guggenheim museum).

I was thinking of visiting Zaragoza, or see some more of Andalucia. I was in Ronda which was amazing, but I don't know if I have time to travel to that area again from Barcelona (I'd want to visit other small towns like Arcos de la Frontera maybe). I've never been to France. Do people have any suggestions for southern France? I don't speak any French. I speak decent Spanish. Another thought is to take a ferry to Corsica or Sardinia. I'd like to visit Italy but I don't think I have time.

Any comments/suggetions on these destinations?

I'm mostly planning to stay in hostels and other cheap accomodations.

Thanks.

There are too many good places to visit in Barcelona to list here, but some tried and trusted favourites are Parc Güell, Sagrada Familia,Montjuic and Parc de la Ciutadella (you may have noticed I like parks!)

Drewsky - are you saying you want to arrive at Barcelona and then explore the area around there?

Andalucia, Corsica and Sardinia are not exactly close...

You could spend your time in Catalonia, cross over the border into SW France for a couple of days too.

Here are a couple of trip reports to get you started:

Spain-Catalunya: Dali and Garrotxa

More Brava than Costa: A stay in the Alt Empordà

If you are into bigger towns and cities, do some research on Sitges and Tarragona.

I posted on the France board about where to go across the French border and got some great tips - check out this thread.

We did a day trip to Tarragona from Barcelona. Its a very easy day trip, but we also wished we had more time there, so you could spend at least a couple of days there. Its gorgeous and has some great historical sites to check out.

Hello
Over the years we've spent about 5 weeks in Barcelona and we still find something new each time we visit.
However, if touring outside of Barcelona is your plan they you may wish to consider:
- visits to Cava bodegas in Sant Saurni. A day trip on the train. Couple this with an overnight in Neighbouring Villafranca de Penedesto visit some of their bodegas (Torres especially recommended)
Tarragona as mentioned in an earlier post is worthwhile if you like Roman ruins.
Figueres for Dali
Girona for it's historical centre.
Sitges if the weather is nice.
Farther afield if you rent a car, the Garrotxa.

Others may disagree but unless you are particularly religious or have a deep interest in roots of Catalan history and nationalism then I would give Monserrat a pass. Maybe if your a walker it would be worth the day out to explore the massif.
Best of luck with your planning.
Dennis

We just came back from spending a week in Reus (near Tarragona) and loved it. Gaudi's home city makes an excellent base for day trips to the beach (I recommend Platja Llarga, which is filled with Spanish families and no tourists), Monestir de Poblet and the wine areas of Montsant and Priorat. Enjoy!

The town of Girona is worth seeing and it is approx 50 mins North.

Sitges and its beaches s very much worth a day and if you go in Carnival time then excellent.

I recommend also heading to the Mountains for a day - excellent views and peaceful.