1 more city to visit in Spain
 

My husband and I (28 years old, active) are traveling to Barcelona at the end of March. We are staying there for 5 days and want to choose another city to visit for the rest of our visit. We would be at the second city/town from Tuesday-Friday and would love for it to be easy to get to (train, bus, car...etc) from Barcelona so we're not loosing so much time on travel. If there are any smaller and culturally rich/fun cities that would be great! We are open to coming back to Barcelona to fly out of if that's the easiest accessible international airport (besides Madrid). Any suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

Obviously, Madrid. Fly into Barcelona, take the train to Madrid, and fly out of there. Madrid is a wonderful city. Lots of fun and much more culturally rich than BCN.

Madrid. You can take the high speed train from city and city and not lose time at an airport.

Madrid has far superior museums and is an excellent hub to visit the many worthwhile towns that are nearby, but Barcelona is a unique cultural and historical city. Infinitely more interesting than Madrid for exploring.

Hi LoriBehr,

How about Girona & Costa Brava? You'll get there in about an hour and a half, and you can always take day trips or half-day trips to the surrounding villages, which are quite charming.

You could try taking a short trip to Andorra too, especially if you're into shopping.

I would also suggest looking into going to Valencia, San Sebastián or Bilbao. My favorite of those three is San Sebastián. Great food, stunning coast!

Overnight train to Granada - go for the culture, food, Alhambra Palace and a totally different experience than Barcelona. I also second Madrid.

I like Unsoundly's suggestion to visit Girona and the Costa Brava. You could also add in Tarragona. IMO, these are very worthy destinations, easily do-able in your time frame, and they take advantage of the fact that you are already in the area.

Much as I love Madrid, I would save it for when you have time for Toledo, Segovia, and other nearby destinations. And I would save anywhere in Andalusia (including Granada) for a trip when you have time for Sevilla and Cordoba and Granada and .... Again, JMO.

But it really depends on what you want to see and experience. If you haven't already done so, check out some guidebooks (always a worthy investment, IME, but you can also go to a library). For inspiration, I find the National Geographic Traveler, Insight Guides, and Eyewitness Guides particularly helpful.

I've never been to Spain but would like to. Our waitress at the Spanish restaurant we go to often is from Madrid but her father was from San Sebastian where her family spent summers. She couldn't say enough good things about it. She said the food in San Sebastian is to die for. (Well maybe that is a little extreme).

The food is San Sebastian/Donostia is the best in Sapin.

"The food is San Sebastian/Donostia is the best in Sapin."

And the food ANYWHERE is Spain is, so far as I can tell, extraordinary!

Spanish breads (except in Galicia), pastries and desserts, and beef are still way behind the standards of their fish, pork, general selection of tapas, and advanced food techniques.