Hi
We are planning a trip to Barcelona at the end of May. We have already been to Barcelona, and we want to go again for 3 or 4 days. We also want to visit Montserrat and Girona.
We consider the following options:

1/ Stay in Barcelona for a week and make day trips to Montserrat and Girona (a day each), using public transoprtation.
2/ Stay in Barcelona for 3 or 4 nights, then rent a car for 6 aor 7 days and drive around, maybe to the Pyrenees.

And here come my questions:
Is it worthwhile do spend a whole week driving around? Can you suggest a route, interesting places ?

Is it reasonable to use use public transportation from Barcelona to Mintserrat and Girona . What transportation and how long does it take?

I'll appreciate your help, suggestions and advice

MB

Montserrat is one hour's train ride outside of Barcelona. You can take a FGC train (Line R5 headed towards Manresa) from Espanya rail / metro station in Pl.Espanya every hour from 8:36 am. You'll get off the FGC train at Aeri de Montserrat where you'll catch the cable car up to the top of the mountain. The combined ticket of train and cable car will cost you 12 euros for a return journey. You buy the tickets from Espanya train station. Cable car only runs till 19:00. Times could change so check this out on the day you go.

From Barcelona to Girona you can take a RENFE train from Sants Station. The journey time is approximately 1 hr and 10 minutes. Timetable of the train from Barcelona Sants to Girona

I also recommend a day trip down to Sitges, which is about 30 min. south by train. It is a beautiful seaside town w/ great shops and restaurants (also popular among gay people). You can take a train from Sants Station or Passeig de Gracia.

If I remember right, there are two Montserrat FGC stations. The first one is connected to Montserrat by a cable car; the second one by a little train. We mixed them up, our combined ticked was for train+another train and we ended up staying in line and paying for the cable car ticket. So, make sure the combined ticket and the train station match . Of places around Barcelona I liked Montserrat the least.

Girona is great and I would gladly stay there overnight if I had the time. I would also recommend Tarragona for a day trip ~1hour.

Have fun,
--ilya

If you do hire a car it is great in the Boi Valley - up from Pont de Suert - fabulous Romanesque churches combine with the natural splendour to great effect and you can get into the Aiguestortes Park from Boi.

For public transport you can go from Sants to Nuria where a single ticket will cover a rack railway and a cable car. You get a train heading for Puigcerda and it's worth stopping at Ripoll if you can to see the ancient monastery.