Hello all,

Thanks in advance for your advice and input. My girlfirend and I are heading to Barcelona for two weeks at the beginning of June. Have flights, but haven't booked rooms yet which I know we should do soon. We want to see sights and do stuff, but the main goal of this trip is a relaxing holiday and not constantly on the go.

The idea right now is to spend 1 week in Barcelona. 4 years ago I was there for 2 days and have been craving to go back. Do you think it'll be pretty easy to fill a week in Barcelona without getting bored?

Then we have another week not sure what to do with. We are flying out of Barcelona. We are thinking about spending a week in a small town on the coast around barcelona or maybe heading down to Valencia or up to San Sebastian. Can anyone please offer their input and recommendations or if there is a nice town along the coast where oen can relax away for a week.

Thanks!

This is a trip report of a week I spent in Barcelona without getting bored:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

The week before christmas we spent 6 full days in barcelona. we also wanted a relaxing trip and to get to know the city vs 3 days here 2 days there. we got into a vacation mode....going for tapas at 10pm.....walking back to the hotel...stopping for a drink along the way and getting to bed late...getting up late and stopping to feel the neighborhoods. walked everywhere. go to the picasso museum and of course all the other famous must see places ....but do them on your time. we walked and walked from the passea de gracia to the segrada familia along different streets each way..... ...stopped for coffee and a pastry..and on the way back stopped for a beer in a local bar ..went shopping...sat in the plaza catalyuna and watched the people.....never felt rushed and began to walk around the city without a map....got lost in the old city and kept going back and back as there are so many small streets there ..... go there and enjoy!

I think a week is easy to fill in Barcelona ( you may wish to go to Sitges or Girona for a day).
San Sebastian and Bilbao could be a possibility for second week.

Nikki,

Thanks a lot for the link to the apartments. I'm planning on flying to Madrid, June 15th, and then going to San Sebastian and Barcelona. Great places to rent!

Thank you for the input and Nikki your travel report is great help. I'm glad we're planning on doing 1 week in barcelona.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for the week after? Anyone know of any nice small towns we could relax in? Or for San Sebastian, is it better to train/bus/fly as our returning flight is out of barcelona as well. Thanks so much in advance. Cheers.

You can fly Vueling to Bilbao for 30 euros (one way) , see the town, take a bus to SS ( about an hour or so).

http://www.vueling.com

I just found tickets from Barcelona to Rome for 40 euros. I can't believe how affordable and easy is to find transportation between cities and countries in Europe.

Thanks again for the input. I talked to a friend today who spent a several weeks in Spain last summer and I think he just convinced us to not got o san sebastian and instead spend the time going down to valencia and alicante. He said we can find great culture and architecture there and for June teh beach and water will be perfect. Any thoughts?

Greetings,
I am a native Bostonian now living in Barcelona (a few blocks from the port). I moved here in 1999, from Cape Cod Massachusetts. In 2008 HarperCollins published my memoir, Bringing Home the Birkin, which went on to became a bestseller and is now published in 9 languages. Anyhow, I am now writing my 2nd book, Barcelona Native: The Spanish Seasoning of an American Expat, which will be published in 2011. Should you require any information about Barcelona feel free to drop me a line as I sit at my computer writing all day and will be able to provide you with a fairly rapid, and informative response. michael~
www.BarcelonaNative.com

My DH really enjoyed Tarragona and the Roman sites near there (spectacular aquaduct somewhere near--don't have specifics near at hand)