We're going to be in Barcelona for 8 nights and 7 full days. We like to spend time in a city and get to know it, but have heard that there are some good day trips from Barcelona. We enjoy old towns with a couple cool things to see. We're really not into museums.

What day trips would you recommend from the following: Montserrat, Girona, Figures and Sitges? Would you recommend staying over night in any of them? Thanks for your help!

try Maribel's guides. I have found them to be priceless!

http://www.maribelsguides.com/#barcelona

Montserrat can be done totally by public transport (I would NOT recommend doing it by organized tour) and like it or not the place actually has, among other things a very interesting art museum..but the location is spectacular.

Sitges can also be done by public transport and is about 30 minutes by rail one way.

Dukey,

Could you give me more details how could I go to Montserrat by public transport?
Thanks

It's a train ride to Monserrat with no changes. Your hotel should be able to tell you or simply go to the tourist info center in the main square.

Montserrat - Monastery and mountain scenery
Girona - Medieval arab/jewish charm
Figures - Dalí
Sitges - best beaches

Since you're not really into museums, Figures might be skippable. None of these requires staying overnight.