I will be spending two weeks in the northeast corner (Catalonia) of Spain in July 2011 and would love some suggestions. The last time I was in Barcelona was in the early 80s and I'm sure much has changed. I know that there is a lot in these forums about this region and have been scanning the reports and collecting as much wisdom as I can. My thoughts are to spend the first four to five days in Barcelona and then head out either on day trips or for a day or two to places like Girona, Tarragona and Montserrat (day trip) among others. Any recommendations would be appreciated including car rentals versus train transportation (I have done both), hotels vs apartments. Also I am interested if some would recommend a trip into the southern region of France. You may have noticed that over the last few months I have been torn between Italy, Portugal and Spain. I think I have settled on Spain for this trip. Thanks.

Maybe these will be of help?
http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1394
http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1668
http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=1674

Here's my trip report with links to the photos. We rented a car and drove up to southern France. Very easy to do. Wish we had had more time and warmer weather, but looks like you should have both. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...and-france.cfm

Thanks so much for your links ribeirasacra and your report isabel. They are excellent They really do provide me with the kind of insights and information that I was looking for.

I'd consider visiting Vic, Besalu, and the Costa Brava areas near Begur, Llafranc, Calella de Palafrugell.

svincent, tomorrow we are leaving for our first trip to Barcelona. We will be visiting our daughter for 5 days; then we are renting a car & driving along the Costa Brava & spending our first night in Cadaques. We are staying at Playa Sol. Then we are spending 2 nights in Girona at Hotel Historic. We hope to visit Vic, Besalu, Begur, etc., & other small cities/towns such as Ripoll & Rupit. I will write a trip report when we return.
In Barcelona we are staying at Hotel Granvia.
Have you made any reservations yet for your trip?

Yes I do have a reservation at a hotel in Barcelona (Catelonia Princesa) that was recommended to me by a friend who has been to Barcelona recently but I have also looked at dozens of other options both in Barcelona and surrounding towns. I would love to hear of your trip and any discoveries you make about the area that I could follow up on. Others in this forum have been immensely helpful as have some of the links to reports on other travel sites. I think that my range of interests may be too wide to be satisfied with a two week stint in the region. But then I am one who could spend a week in a small town getting to know the people, enjoying local cuisine, capturing as much of the landscape beauty as possible , checking out little cathedrals, hiking into the mountains etc. So I am not worried that unless I hit the major attractions I won't find the trip satisfying. Have a great trip!

We return on Oct 19 so I will try to write a trip report within a reasonable time (hopefully within a week).