I will be going to Spain in September, staying for 7 days. We will be flying into Barcelona and plan to spend about 4 days there. Does anyone have suggestions for a second destination that is reachable by train or short flight where we could spend 2 or 3 days? We considered Palma de Mallorca for the relaxing beach. Also, we were thinking about Girona, Montserrat or Sitges. Not really interested in museums; we enjoy culture, sightseeing, adventure, and good food.

Are you flying back out of Barcelona? If so, you'll be a bit restricted depending on what time of the day your return flight leaves and would you want to spend your last night there close to the airport?

Mallorca is really easy from Barcelona and depending on the foregoing, you have one or two nights there. In that case, stay in Palma, where there is a good choice of hotels for most budgets. The easy trip is Sitges, reachable by train in 25 minutes or so, with a nice beach and busy town.

From Barcelona Sants on the Talgo Med seat61.com for info

I have enjoyed Costa Brava and www.sunfrance.com especially

www.carcassonne-tourisme.com not too far away...

mught have a look at that area...

Happy Travels!

You could rent a car & drive along Costa Brava, overnight in Cadaques. Then from there you could go to Girona for 2 nights, spend a day sightseeing in Girona & then explore part of the Pyrenees before returning to Barcelona. We did just that last October; we had 10 days. You can click on my name to read my trip report.

Thanks for the suggestions.

@Lifeman... We are flying to/from the US via London then catching a RyanAir flight to Barcelona; this seems to be the most economical option. So, we do not necessarily need to fly out of Barcelona on our return. We just need to be in a location w/ an airport serviced by RyanAir or EasyJet to get us back to London. We'd really like to avoid renting a car for travel to the 2nd Spanish destination. Looking for train or RyanAir flight options.

Palma de Mallorca seems to have lots of things to do-cave tours, etc. Does Sitges have the same options? Does nayone have hotel suggestions for Sitges or Palma.

I'll do the Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca thing... It will be awesome!!!... and because you are traveling on September, you areavoiding the locals. Spainards use to have their vacations in August and Palma is one of their main attractions... Have fun and enjoy the Barcelona port with is strong smell of ocean. Barcelona is one of my favorite destinations.

Most of the UK low cost airlines fly Mallorca to one of the London airports, so no problem there. I take it that as you only have a 15kg pp Ryanair allowance, you have ensured that you are below this limit even on the US leg, or you have paid extra? Ryanair are hot on weight limits, size of cabin baggage etc.

You'll need internet access to book your flight back to the UK at the best price, as it's cheaper to book online.
The island of Mallorca has lots to offer, with beaches, good architecture in the city of Palma, restaurants, bars etc.

Sitges is a resort with a beach, bars and restaurants. However, as it's on the mainland, you do have the chance to visit Montserrat, wine regions etc. As I said in a previous post, it's only a short train ride down the coast.

My choice would be Mallorca with it's wide choice of hotels, which you can easily find on the web. Google "hotels in Palma de Mallorca". There are chain as well as privately owned hotels.