2 Days in Barcelona: The Day-Trip Itinerary

Two days is enough to base yourself in Barcelona and still bag the two best day trips in Catalonia: Montserrat, the mountain monastery an hour out, and Girona plus Figueres, paired into one day on the same rail corridor. Sleep in the city both nights and skip the rental car entirely, everything on this plan runs by train. For the longer version of this same spine, see our 3-day and 7-day plans.

Book these before you go

Day Trip Distance / Train Time
1 Montserrat 1 to 1.5h, FGC + Cremallera from Placa Espanya
2 Girona + Figueres 40 min to Girona, another 30-45 min on to Figueres

Day 1: Montserrat

Morning

Catch the FGC R5 line from Placa Espanya, not Barcelona-Sants, the two stations serve different routes and mixing them up burns your morning. The ride to Monistrol de Montserrat takes about an hour, then either the Cremallera rack railway or the Aeri cable car covers the last steep stretch in 5 to 15 minutes. The combined FGC-plus-Cremallera ticket costs 15.90 EUR one-way or 28.80 EUR return, per current fares on the Cremallera de Montserrat site .

Afternoon

Visit the basilica and the Black Madonna statue, La Moreneta, then pick a marked trail across the jagged massif if the weather is clear, routes run anywhere from 30 minutes to a serious multi-hour hike toward Sant Jeroni. The Museu de Montserrat runs Mon-Fri 10am-5:45pm, weekends 10am-6:45pm, and covers everything from old master paintings to Byzantine icons.

Evening

Ride back down to Monistrol and catch the FGC train into the city. Dinner in Barcelona, tomorrow starts early from a different station.

How Far Is Montserrat From Barcelona, Really?

Closer than it looks on a map: about 1 to 1.5 hours door to door once you count the FGC ride and the rack railway or cable car up the mountain. Same-day ticket purchase is generally fine outside peak summer weekends, so this is one day trip that does not require booking weeks in advance, though buying the combined ticket online still saves a queue at the station. The monastery’s own visitor information lives on montserratvisita.com .

Day 2: Girona and Figueres

Morning

Trains for this leg run from Barcelona-Sants, a different station than yesterday’s Placa Espanya departure. The fast train to Girona takes about 40 minutes; spend the morning in the medieval old town, the cathedral, the walled Jewish quarter known as El Call, and the row of pastel houses along the Onyar river.

Afternoon

Push on another 30 to 45 minutes to Figueres, home to the Dali Theatre-Museum, a building Salvador Dali designed himself as a monument to his own work. Admission runs 18.50 EUR online, more at the door, and noticeably more again in July and August, per the Dali Theatre-Museum’s official site . Budget at least two hours inside; the collection is genuinely strange in the best way.

Evening

Train back to Barcelona-Sants; both Girona and Figueres sit on the same line, so there is no backtracking involved. Combined rail fares for the day land somewhere between 19 and 42 EUR depending on which specific trains you catch.

Should You Pair Girona and Figueres in One Day?

Yes, they sit on the same rail corridor specifically so travelers can do this. Splitting them into two separate day trips means paying for and riding the same stretch of track twice, with no real gain in what you see. Rather skip working out the train changes yourself? A guided Girona and Figueres day tour, linked above, handles both stops in one run.

Screenshot both days’ train times before you leave the hotel. Barcelona has spotty mobile signal in Placa Espanya’s underground platforms, and a missed FGC departure to Montserrat costs you the whole morning.