Trip to Barcelona and ......????
 

My husband I are planning a one week trip to Spain in late June / early July. We are set on 4 days in Barcelona. We just can't seem to figure out the last two days. Our flight connects in Madrid and we can have 2 nights in Madrid on the way home. Should we take advantage of the connection in Madrid, or skip Madrid and add on Costa Brava. We have never been to Spain, but we LOVE traveling to Europe.( Loved Florence, Rome, Paris, South of France) We enjoy wandering city streets, soaking up the flavor of the city, and we love great food / wine/ accomodations etc.
I know Madrid will be hot in early July...... will it be too hot to enjoy the city? If we are not "beach people" is there enough to do or see in Costa Brava? Thanks!!

Pyrenees.
If you drive, then about 2 hours north-west are the towns of Puigcerda, La Seu d'Urgell, Llivia, and a host of other hill and valley towns each in a beautiful setting.

I would suggest either seeing some of Madrid or just staying in Barcelona. There is plenty to see and do in Barcelona and you could easily add day trips - maybe to Girona, Figueras, Monserrat (the monastery, not sure about this name) Also you could do a beach day in that area - Stiges - and there is a town down the coast with Roman ruins (can't remeber the name right now). We spent 5 nites in Barcelona last spring but felt we could have easily added several more days to our itinerary there. Madrid has great museums but it as not really as interesting of city as Barcelona. SueC1

Look into spending a few days in Girona. It isn't too far out of the way, but gets you out of the cities. It is a wonderful glimpse into Spanish life and good for a few quiet days, visiting shops, sipping coffee at outdoor tables. Many of the Tour de France riders have their European homes in Girona and rave about the life in Girona.

Best Regards,
Julia

Julia: Do you know the area around Girona well? We're looking to use the city as the base for our side-trip from Barcelona. Our twin objectives are to: (a) dive somewhere on the Costa Brava; but (b) stay somewhere more characterful than the Costa Brava resorts. Would the drive back and forth from Girona for a couple of days be too long? Girona sounds very interesting and we wouldn't mind having to drive for 45-60 minutes to get to the dive sites.

Oh, sorry, I should have added for rcsc11's benefit that Madrid in July is likely to be incredibly hot. I was there in the 3rd week of June a few years ago and it was 33-35C. Thankfully, it wasn't humid. Nevertheless, I found it very difficult to sightsee on foot, since Madrid seems to have a lot of wide, exposed avenues (with the sun beating down rather relentlessly). The evenings were comfortable enough, though (provided you have air conditioning).