Time needed for Montjuic and other Barcelona questions
 

Trying to work out the details for a return trip to Barcelona in late October with a friend. This is a do-over for our short circuited trip in March 2020. We'll have a full three days in Barcelona together - friend will have 1.5 days to herself before I arrive. I'll be joining her after a month in Switzerland.

Looks like Montjuic could fill a whole day, seems very spread out, but not sure we want to spend the whole day up there. Wondering what others have done on their trips. What are the highlights, and how long to see those? Wondering if we can combine Montjuic with the Recinte Mondernista da Sant Pau in order to free up a full day for Girona...also wondering if Girona is a worthwhile side trip, or if we should just spend that day in Barcelona.

We plan to dedicate most of a day to Montserrat, weather gods willing.

We managed to visit Segrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Batilo and Casa Mila in 2020 before we had to leave due to COVID and Spain declaring a State of Alarm.

Seems there's still a lot to see and we're trying to efficiently and logistically plan our limited time.

Maybe hire a tour guide to get you to places faster? That's a lot of ground to cover in 3 days. A tour guide would get you from place to place fast and have tickets all lined up for you.
Somebody told us we needed to book Monserrat tours in advance (Covid thing now).
We spent a whole day at Monjuic doing the museums, etc.

Thanks halfapair.

After spending the morning researching Montjuic, I think we've decided to give it a pass. Friend wants to visit the Gothic Quarter and I definitely want to see Recinte Mondernista da Sant Pau, which we missed last time, thanks to the lockdown.

Looks like a full day in Monserrat, a full day in Griona and a day split between the Gothic Quarter and Recinte Mondernista da Sant Pau.

She has time to fit in a few museums before I get there too, so win-win.

We plan to self-tour Monserrat - I hadn't read anything about needing to book, although we plan to purchase all inclusive transport tickets a day or so in advance. Have you heard otherwise?

We really enjoyed our guided tour of Palau de Musica, a magnificent theater! Exquisite with chandeliers, stained glass and mosaics.

Also enjoyed exploring the neighborhoods of Sarria and Gracia, where families live and children attend school, and play in the squares. Not touristy and quieter than the tourist areas.

oh, I would've stayed in Barcelona myself instead of going to Girona. I've never been there, just seems a lot of trouble when you have so much you could do in Barcelona, but of course, if that's your special interest, makes sense.

I don't think you need to full day for Montjuic, but at least a half or more. I think you could combine it with that hospital but then wouldn't have time for more. I didn't even see everything up there, though, I mainly went for the Catalonian art museum which was really great, and I stopped in the Miro one, also, as I like him. I don't remember even going to that castle.

I took the Bus Turistic up there. I really enjoyed that in Barcelona as it is so spread out and the weather is usually great when I'm there, so I like the excurions and city overview. It has a red route that goes up to Montjuic (I think I finally stopped using the bus as it isn't so effective in the center with dense traffic after I got off near the archeological museum near the old port). I got on near pl Catalunya as I was staying near there. They have another route that goes up to that St Pau place, also.

"Looks like Montjuic could fill a whole day, seems very spread out, but not sure we want to spend the whole day up there. Wondering what others have done on their trips."

We actually visited Montserrate in the morning and Montjuic in the afternoon. We loved the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (touristic photo below of idiot with a camera around his neck). As for the Fundació Joan Miró, we are not modern art lovers. To show how much we are not into it, when Tracy saw the "Sortido sign," she said, “Finally…there’s the best piece of modern art I have ever seen.” I guess it all depends on what you want to see. To us, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya was worth the trip in itself. We had lunch nearby on the Plaça España at Las Arenas Barcelona, a former bullfighting ring.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/cha...rrat-montjuic/

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2a43f4e69a.jpg

Hi @Melnq8

As you might know, the city of Barcelona has a lot to offer and previous visitors return again and again to discover new things. Beyond the more "touristy" (SagFam, Batlló, La Pedrera, etc) there are plenty of nooks and crannies worth visiting... comes to mind Monastir de Pedralbes, Torre Bellesguard, The MoCo Museum, the Museum of History of Catalonia, the Roman remains of MUHBA, or simpler things like having a tea&cake at Caelum, a drink at Mirablau overlooking the city from the Collserola ridge, etc. Have a look at barcelonaturisme(dot)com/wv3/en/ and also at timeout(dot)com/barcelona for ideas.

Do not forget also to check whether your visit coincides with one of the many traditional festivals of the city... attending a correfoc or seeing castellers among many other activities can be the highlight of your trip.

For escapades, Girona is indeed a good choice as it's a great small city -arguably considered the second capital city of Catalonia- with plenty of historical sites to discover: El Call, the Jewish medieval neighbourhood -one of the better preserved in Europe-, the Wall, the gardens on top of Montjuïc (yes, Girona also has a hill named like that)... and obviously, a meal at Celler de Can Roca -one of the top restaurants in the World- if you can splurge yourself. When 'doing' Girona, I always advise leaving Barcelona on the 9:30am bus from www.teisa-bus(dot)com to Besalú (arriv 11:15am), an impressive medieval fortress-town and visit it for a couple of hours or so. Then take the 1pm or 2pm bus to Girona, have a late lunch there and see the city until the evening, then take the 9pm fast-train to Barcelona (arr 9:45pm). Double check the schedules, I talk from memory.

Monserrat in October is a blessing because the climate is far more moderate and having a walk on the trails around the monastery -a must!- turns into an enjoyable hike with splendid views.

Some other ideas to explore: Tossa de Mar, Vic -especially on a Sat morning during the open-air market day-, Sitges, Tarragona...

Maybe if you are more specific on tastes and preferences I can suggest something in particular.

Enjoy!

Appreciate the insight, thank you all.

And especially you EnricM - an impressive first post! Thank you so much for those excellent ideas - as with all trips, there's never enough time, but I will definitely look into your suggestions!

Karen - forgot to mention, we attended a concert at Palau de Musica in 2020 - what a beautiful place!

We went to the Museo Miró on Montjuic which is fabulous. Don’t miss the roof top exhibits.
We also saw some of the Barcelona Olympics venues.
Wonderful views from Montjuic of the whole city.

There is a festival in Girona starting October 28 and there will be Castellers (human towers) on the 29th at 6pm and 30th at 12pm if you want to see them. They will have the correfoc too.
https://en.costabrava.org/events/eve...r-and-festival
if it fits in your schedule it would be well worth it.

Ah yes, indeed, thanks @rialtogrl for pointing it out.@Melnq8, if you can make it to Girona on or after the 28th, it's well worth to visit Girona as they celebrate their biggest annual folk festival, the "Fires de Sant Narcís" -- it's the equivalent to Barcelona's La Mercè in Sept or Tarragona's Santa Tecla festivals.

More info: amexessentials(dot)com/tips-girona-fires-de-sant-narcis/

Arrrgh...we leave Barcelona on the 26th!

I’m tagging along here; thinking about a northern Spain trip for the spring with a return to Barcelona, too. So many places we missed the first time around - all these ideas are very intriguing!

To @Melnq8 and those "tagging along"... if you state your preferences and expectations I maybe can suggest more specific sites/activities :)

@EnricM your response was helpful. I posted about Girona vs. Baix Emporda loop as we will most likely try to do both on the same day. If we only have dinner/evening in Girona, what would your recommendations be?

Ah @magsrose, I've just replied in your latest post... check there! :)