Catalonia

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Introduction

Catalonia, Cataluña (in Spanish) or Catalunya in its native Catalan language is noted for many features and rivals Andalusia for attracting visitors. The city of Barcelona is simply wonderful but is by no means alone. There are numerous places that justify a visit.

Geography

The Costa Brava rivals the southern Costa del Sol for attracting beach-loving tourists. The Parque Nacional de Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici is one of Spain's Pyrennean national parks and the much visited Parque Natural de la Montaña de Montserrat, near to Barcelona, is another mountain area.

Cities, towns and villages

Coastal

• Barcelona - see the wiki guide for the city of Barcelona.
• Tarragona - Historical interest from Roman and medieval times - including an excellent Roman aqueduct a short bus ride out and a cathedral dating from the tradition from Romanesque to Gothic architecture.
• Sitges
• Blanes
• Rosas
• Cadaqués
• Salou

9th century monastery, Ripoll

© All Rights Reserved davidx

Inland

• Girona - A fine old town with an old Jewish area as well as a cathedral with the remarkable Creation Tapestry and some interesting churches.
• Figueres - site of the Salvador Dalí museum.
• Vic - museum of high quality for Romanesque church pictures, removed when Napoleonic armies were advancing.
• Poblet - monastery open to public
• Ripoll - 9th century monastery.
• Ribes de Fréser - Start of the rack railway to the mountain manastery of Nuria and cable-car from Nuria to start of mountain walks.
• La Pobla de Segur - good railway journey from Lerida
• El Pont de Suert - start of bus to Boi Valley
• Boi - one of several villages in the Boi Valley with dramatically picturesque Romanesque churches. Minibuses to the Aiguetortes national park.
• Taull - Above Boi and with not one but two Romanesque churches.
• Lérida
• Banyoles
• Besalu - bus ride from Girona - village with significant medieval element and very unusual fortified bridge.

Fortified Bridge, Besalu

© All Rights Reserved davidx

Sights and Activities

Events and Festivals

Weather

Getting There

By Plane

Barcelona Aeroport del Prat (BCN) is the second biggest airport in Spain and the 9th biggest airport in Europe. It handles over 30 million of passengers every year and it is perfectly connected to the other main European airports by direct flights operated by either low cost airlines or normal ones. The airport of Girona is getting more and more popular though, especially as a growing number of lowcost flights now serve this alternative to Barcelona. A third airport can be found near the town of Reus. This airport is also being used by lowcost airlines that have charters to the Costa Brava.

By Train

Getting there from other parts of Spain is quite easy: there are several trains every day between Catalonian cities like Barcelona and Girona and main Spanish cities such as Valencia, Madrid, Zaragoza and Bilbao. Check the RENFE website, Spain's national railway company.

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Barcelona is the main gateway to travel to Catalonia by sea:

Italy

• Grimaldi Ferries between Civitavecchia and Barcelona.
• GNV between Genoa and Barcelona.

Morocco

• GNV operates services from Barcelona to Tanger.

Algeria

• Chan Maghreb Lines (website under construction) has boats between Barcelona and Oran and Algiers.

Acciona Trasmediterránea is the main ferry operator with boats from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands. Other ferry operators include Balearia between Barcelona and the Balearic islands of Menorca, Mallorca and Ibiza. Iscomar offers roughly the same connections as well.

Getting Around

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Eat

Drink

Sleep