We went to Barcelona, Montserrat and Costa Brava during the Christmas week of 2012 over a period of 7 days. On a couple of days, the weather was cold especially in the night but still comfortable with a jacket. The trip covered the north east part of Spain and was filled with variety. Enjoyed the beautiful beaches of Costa Brava, then the mountainous Montserrat and of course beautiful city of Barcelona.
Our trip:
…..home – Girona – Costa Brava – Barcelona – Montserrat – Girona – home
Variation possible:
…..To do only Barcelona, take a bus from Girona airport to Barcelona.
Stay:
…..Costa Brava – Holiday inn express in city of Salt; v.nice, in a shopping complex,
…..Barcelona – we stayed in this apartment close to the Sagrada Familia attraction point. Also close to the metro, city bus stop, grocery stores and restaurants.
Key tip when renting a car in Spain or Portugal is that, people have had very bad experiences of “Gold Car” rental company. So I avoid them even if they are the cheapest.
Day 1: We rented a car at the Girona airport about 5 minutes walk from the terminal. Since it was already evening, plan was to stay in a hotel nearby. We checked into the Holiday inn express hotel in the city of Salt.
Day 2: Costa Brava
Day 3: Costa Brava reaching Barcelona
Day 4: We walked from our apartment to the Sagrada Familia, bought a 2 day Barcelona card (unlimited travel in city transport + discount at key attractions) got the tickets standing in the queue. Sagrada Familia is a church that has been under construction for over 100 years. It has been built to resemble a forest architecture supporting the roof. I felt the engineering was amazing. It took overall about 4hours to visit this place.
After this we went by metro to La Pedrera, another of Gaudi’s master piece to be seen at the roof of the building. As it was getting dark, we reached Placa de Catalunya and walked along La Rambla the buzzling shopping street of Barcelona.
Day 5: The first half of the day went for the famous Barcelona zoo because my son was excited to see some wild animals. From there we went to Poble Espanyol – a village like setup with Spanish varieties. From there at night fall, we walked to the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc to see the fountain show (for show times, click here). We had our dinner at the Placa de Espanya circle and then returned to the hotel.
Day 6: First half was spent for a stroll on the Port Vell along the beach. We then went to the Aquarium for my son and then went to Park Güell which was a long walk with ups and downs over a hill. This was also one of Gaudi’s creations….there are many buildings of his style – pretty nice.
Day 7: We checked out early morning, drove to Montserrat and spent half the day there. Early afternoon, we headed back to Girona for our flight back home.
