Best day trips from Barcelona by train

Barcelona sits in the middle of Catalonia's rail network, and that makes day trips easy: a mountain monastery, a medieval city, a beach town, a surrealist museum and a Roman provincial capital are all within an hour or so by train. The short answer: if you only have one day for an excursion, choose Montserrat for the landscape or Girona for the old town. Sitges is the relaxed beach option, Figueres is for Dalí fans and Tarragona for Roman history.

Day trips from Barcelona at a glance

Times are typical direct connections. For Montserrat, the time includes the rack railway up the mountain. Timetables change; check them on the operator's website on the day.

Montserrat: monastery among the rock pinnacles

How to get there: FGC trains on the R5 line (towards Manresa) leave from Plaça d'Espanya every hour. For the rack railway (Cremallera), get off at Monistrol de Montserrat; it climbs up to the monastery in about 15 minutes. One stop earlier, at Montserrat-Aeri, the cable car takes the other way up. From Barcelona to the monastery, count about an hour and a quarter. Combined tickets for train and rack railway or cable car are sold at the station.

What to see: the Basilica with the Black Madonna (La Moreneta), the patron saint of Catalonia; the Museum of Montserrat with works by Caravaggio, Picasso and Dalí; and the two funiculars – the steep Funicular de Sant Joan leads up to hiking trails with views over the rock towers and, on clear days, as far as the Pyrenees. The boys' choir, the Escolania, sings in the basilica at set times, which are listed on the monastery's website.

How long: a full day, especially if you want to walk. With the museum and the basilica only, half a day on the mountain is enough.

Best for: nature and hiking, spiritual places, anyone who needs a break from the city. Bring a jacket: up at the monastery it is noticeably cooler and windier than in Barcelona. A guided tour is not necessary, but it saves you the ticket combinations – day tours to Montserrat^* are on Tiqets.

Girona: medieval old town on the Onyar

How to get there: high-speed trains of Renfe and other operators run from Barcelona Sants to Girona in about 40 minutes. Regional trains (Rodalies R11) are cheaper but take around twice as long.

What to see: from the station, walk to the river Onyar with its colourful houses on the water and the red iron bridge by Gustave Eiffel's company. In the old town, the wide Baroque staircase leads up to the cathedral, whose single Gothic nave is one of the widest in the world. Nearby are the Banys Àrabs, medieval baths, the narrow lanes of the old Jewish quarter, the Call, and the walk along the city walls, with views over the roofs to the Pyrenees.

How long: a full day at a relaxed pace; the essentials fit into five hours.

Best for: first-time visitors who like old towns, couples, fans of film locations – parts of a famous fantasy series were filmed here.

Sitges: beach town south of the city

How to get there: the Rodalies R2 Sud line runs from Sants and Passeig de Gràcia along the coast to Sitges. The ride takes about 40 minutes, and the trains run frequently, roughly every 20 to 30 minutes.

What to see: the white church of Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla on a rock above the sea, the seafront promenade with a string of town beaches, the old town lanes and the Cau Ferrat museum in the house of the painter Santiago Rusiñol. Sitges is known for its carnival and its film festival in October, both of which fill the town.

How long: half a day for the town, a full day with the beach.

Best for: a beach day with cleaner, calmer beaches than in the city, families, LGBTQ+ travellers – Sitges has long been one of the most welcoming towns on the Mediterranean.

Figueres: the Dalí Theatre-Museum

How to get there: high-speed trains from Sants reach Figueres Vilafant, on the edge of town, in under an hour; from there it is a walk of about 20 minutes or a short taxi ride to the centre. Regional trains take longer but stop at the central station.

What to see: the Dalí Theatre-Museum, which Salvador Dalí designed himself in the former municipal theatre of his home town – recognisable by the giant eggs on the roof. Inside, the Mae West room, the Rainy Taxi and Dalí's crypt. The ticket also covers the jewellery collection next door. Tickets are sold for time slots, and on busy days it is worth booking ahead on the museum's website.

How long: half a day. Combined with Girona (both are on the same line), it makes a full and rewarding day.

Best for: art lovers and anyone with a taste for the strange.

Tarragona: the Roman capital by the sea

How to get there: regional trains run along the coast from Sants to Tarragona station, below the old town, in about an hour. Faster high-speed trains stop at Camp de Tarragona, which is outside the city and needs a bus or taxi – for a day trip, the regional train to the centre is usually more practical.

What to see: Tarragona was Tarraco, the capital of a Roman province, and its Roman remains are a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the amphitheatre right above the beach, the circus vaults, parts of the Roman walls and the archaeological walk along them. In the old town, the cathedral and the Balcó del Mediterrani, a viewpoint on the sea. A few kilometres outside lies the Roman aqueduct, the Pont del Diable.

How long: a full day.

Best for: history lovers, travellers who want a city by the sea without the crowds of Barcelona.

Train, bus or guided tour?

All five trips are easy by train, and that is the way we recommend. Train tickets for high-speed connections^* can be compared on Omio; Rodalies and FGC tickets are bought at the station machine or with a contactless card where accepted.

A guided tour makes sense in two cases: if you want Montserrat with a guide who explains the monastery and its history, often combined with a wine tasting in the Penedès region, or if you want to see Girona and Figueres in one day without thinking about connections. Small-group tours from Barcelona^* can be compared on Viator. For your own pace with explanations, WeGoTrip has audio guides for Barcelona^*.

How many day trips fit into a Barcelona trip?

With three days in Barcelona, the city itself is full: the Sagrada Família, the Gothic Quarter, Park Güell and the beach. From four days, one trip fits; from five days, two. Our article how many days in Barcelona shows how to divide the time, and our 5-day Barcelona plan already includes the excursions.

Remember that some museums in Barcelona close on Mondays, and Montserrat is busiest on Sundays and holidays, when locals go up too. A weekday is the better day for the mountain.

How YesTrip helps you plan

YesTrip has a ready-made Barcelona plan with times, walks and a map for each day, and a five-day version with day trips. With one tap you copy it into the app, swap Montserrat for Sitges if the weather is fine, and add your hotel. The app shows the weather for each day of your trip, which helps you decide when to go up the mountain, and with the offline package you have the maps without a connection. YesTrip is free.

Barcelona trip planDay by day, with map and tips

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