The 9 Best Day Trips from Barcelona (No Car Required)
By Dorian · Updated October 1, 2026
Barcelona has a secret weapon most visitors never use: its train stations.
In about an hour, you can be standing on a mountain, inside a Roman amphitheater, or on medieval walls above the sea.
No rental car. No tour bus. Just a regular ticket.
1) Montserrat
Distance: 30 miles (48 km)
How to go: About 1 hour by FGC train from Plaça Espanya, plus a 15-minute rack railway or 5-minute cable car up the mountain.
The name says it all. In Catalan, Montserrat means “serrated mountain.”
A Benedictine monastery sits wedged into those jagged peaks, with views that stretch for miles.
Inside the basilica is La Moreneta, the Black Madonna, patron saint of Catalonia.
Getting up is half the fun. The rack railway is gentler and more scenic. The cable car is faster and steeper, with the bigger views on the way up.
Then there’s the choir.
The Escolania is one of Europe’s oldest boys’ choirs, with records going back to the 14th century.
They sing around midday on weekdays and Sundays. Not on Saturdays.
On weekdays, basilica access around that time is reserved for people who booked the choir. If it’s your reason for going, book ahead and check the official schedule, since it follows the school calendar.
Two smaller funiculars climb even higher, to walking trails, quiet chapels, and viewpoints.
Trains run roughly every hour, seven days a week. No need to plan weeks in advance.
2) Girona
Distance: 62 miles (100 km)
How to go: 40 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes by train from Barcelona Sants, depending on the service.
Step inside Girona’s cathedral and look up.
You’re standing under the widest Gothic nave in the world, nearly 75 feet (23 m) across.
Its grand Baroque staircase had a second career, too. It appeared in Game of Thrones.
Just below sits El Call, one of Europe’s best-preserved Jewish quarters. Narrow stone lanes, stairways, and very little traffic.
Then walk down to the Onyar River, where the colorful houses hang right over the water.
For the best view of the rooftops, walk a stretch of the old city walls.
Visiting in May? The Temps de Flors festival fills courtyards and stairways across the old town with elaborate flower displays.
3) Sitges
Distance: 22 miles (35 km)
How to go: 35 to 40 minutes by regional train from Barcelona Sants, no advance booking needed.
The easiest beach escape from the city.
A walkable seafront, calmer water, and a much slower pace than Barcelona’s own beaches.
The landmark is the church of Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla, sitting right on the point above the sea.
It’s one of the most photographed spots on the Catalan coast.
Add a beach walk, a small museum or two, and a long lunch by the water. That’s the whole plan, and it’s a good one.
4) Figueres
Distance: 85 miles (136 km)
How to go: About 55 minutes by high-speed train from Barcelona Sants.
Salvador Dalí was born here in 1904. He died here in 1989.
And he never really left.
The Dalí Theatre-Museum was designed by the artist himself, on the ruins of the town’s old municipal theater. It opened in 1974.
You’ll spot it right away: a glass geodesic dome, and giant eggs lined up along the roof.
Dalí is buried in a crypt beneath the stage.
Inside, look for the Cadillac in the courtyard, where it rains inside the car. Then find the room that turns into Mae West’s face when you see it from the right spot.
Treat this as a focused trip. Morning train, a few hours in the museum, a short walk around town, then back.
5) Tarragona
Distance: 60 miles (99 km)
How to go: About 1 hour by regional train from Barcelona Sants, arriving right in town.
Here’s something most visitors don’t know.
Under the Romans, Tarragona was more important than Barcelona. It was called Tarraco.
Its Roman remains have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2000.
The star is the amphitheater, set right above the Mediterranean. Add the forum and long stretches of the old city walls.
Then take a short city bus 2.5 miles (4 km) north to the Pont del Diable, the Devil’s Bridge.
It’s a two-tier Roman aqueduct in a pine forest, still standing after 2,000 years. Access is free, and you can walk along the top.
One tip: the high-speed train is faster, but it stops at Camp de Tarragona, about 6 miles (10 km) out of town. The regional train drops you minutes from the amphitheater.
6) Sant Sadurní d’Anoia
Distance: 29 miles (47 km)
How to go: About 45 to 50 minutes on the R4 regional train from Barcelona Sants or Plaça de Catalunya.
This small town is the capital of cava, Catalonia’s sparkling wine.
It all started here in 1872, when Josep Raventós made the first 3,000 bottles at the Codorníu estate.
He used the same traditional method as Champagne.
Today, the town has more than 80 cava cellars.
Freixenet sits right across from the train station. Easiest visit possible.
Codorníu is a short walk away and worth it for the building alone. Its cellars were designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, the architect behind Casa Amatller, and they’re a national monument.
Tours take you through cool underground galleries lined with aging bottles. A tasting usually comes at the end.
7) Colònia Güell
Distance: 14 miles (23 km)
How to go: About 20 to 25 minutes by FGC train from Plaça Espanya.
Gaudí’s other UNESCO site. And almost nobody goes.
In the 1890s, Eusebi Güell moved his textile factory out here and built a whole village for his workers.
He asked Gaudí to design their church. Work began in 1908.
In 1914, the money stopped. Only the crypt was ever finished.
That crypt became Gaudí’s testing ground. The tilted columns and catenary arches you see here are ideas he later used at Sagrada Família.
Think of it as the rough draft of his masterpiece.
The station is in fare Zone 1, so a standard ticket covers the trip. Blue footprints painted on the sidewalk guide you to the crypt in about 10 minutes.
Only the crypt interior is ticketed. The rest of the village is free to wander.
8) Tossa de Mar
Distance: 53 miles (85 km)
How to go: About 1 hour 20 minutes by direct bus from Barcelona’s Estació del Nord.
Medieval walls rising straight out of the beach.
The Vila Vella, Tossa’s old town, is the only fortified medieval town still standing on the Catalan coast.
Its 14th-century walls still wrap all the way around it, with seven round towers and three square ones.
Climb the lanes to the lighthouse at the top for the view.
Along the way, you’ll meet a familiar face. A bronze statue of Ava Gardner looks out over the bay.
Hollywood came to Tossa in 1950 to film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, with Gardner in the lead role. The town never forgot it.
Walk the ramparts, then follow the coastal path for one last look before the bus back.
9) Besalú
Distance: 81 miles (130 km)
How to go: About 2 hours by direct bus from Barcelona (only a few run each day), or train to Girona plus a connecting local bus.
You’ll recognize Besalú from its bridge.
A long Romanesque stone bridge with seven arches, bending across the river at an angle.
The tower in the middle had a job. Travelers paid a toll there to enter the town.
Besalú was an independent county, with its own counts, until it was absorbed by Barcelona in 1111.
Now for the surprise underground.
In 1964, a medieval mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, was found by chance beneath the old quarter.
It’s the only Romanesque mikveh in Spain, and a quiet reminder of the Jewish community that once lived here.
This is the slowest stop on the list. Come for an unhurried afternoon, not a packed itinerary.
Where to go next
If Colònia Güell caught your eye, you’ll like knowing it’s not the only spot that draws a fraction of the usual crowds. I’ve rounded up more of them in 14 hidden corners of Barcelona worth seeking out.
And if the Dalí museum is what’s pulling you out of town, don’t overlook what’s waiting back in the city. Barcelona has museums that are just as rewarding and far less crowded, and I’ve gathered my favorites here: the most underrated museums in Barcelona.
