Eixample
Cotton House
A five-star house in the Eixample, the cotton guild's former headquarters, with a library, a rooftop pool and a tailor's workshop.
Itinerary · 10 days
Catalonia Experience
History, art and the sea, from the city to the coves of the Costa Brava.
By Ramin Jafari · Facts checked
A private journey through Catalonia, with your own guides for Gaudí’s Barcelona and the old city, days out to Montserrat and the cava country of the Penedès, and then the medieval villages, the coves and Dalí’s Empordà on the Costa Brava. It suits a first visit to Catalonia, and every part of it can change.
The route
From Barcelona to the Costa Brava
The order of the journey, and how you travel between its places.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Montserrat
Day 4 · a day out
The monastery on its mountain of rock needles.
Penedès
Day 5 · a day out
Cava at Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, and lunch among the vines.
Figueres
Day 8 · a day out
Dalí's Theatre-Museum, then his house at Portlligat.
Two hotels, so you unpack only twice: every day out starts and ends at the hotel, with your own driver, and the drive up the coast between them is a private transfer too.
Highlights
Three moments on the way
Gaudí on the Passeig de Gràcia
Two of Gaudí's houses, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera, on your first afternoon in the city.
Tapas in El Born
Croquetas, jamón and a round of the old city's bars after dark, with a guide.
The coves by boat
Your own boat and skipper for the coves of the Costa Brava.
Days 1–5
Barcelona, Gaudí's city on the sea
Barcelona first: Gaudí’s houses and the Sagrada Família with a guide, the Gothic Quarter and Picasso, tapas in El Born, and two days out, to Montserrat and to the Penedès.
Day 1
Arrival, and Gaudí's houses
A private transfer from Barcelona–El Prat to your hotel. In the afternoon, Gaudí’s two houses on the Passeig de Gràcia with a private guide: at Casa Batlló the main salon’s great window looks over the avenue under a ceiling that undulates like the sea, and La Pedrera’s own small-group visit opens spaces the general visit does not. Dinner at a table we reserve before you arrive.
Day 2
The Sagrada Família and Park Güell
The Sagrada Família, one of our twelve treasures of Spain, with an architectural historian: Gaudí’s basilica, begun in 1882 and still being built, its central tower completed in 2026. It books up weeks ahead, so we reserve it as soon as your dates are fixed. In the afternoon, Park Güell and its mosaic bench over the city, then the streets of Gràcia below it. Dinner at one of the city’s four restaurants with three MICHELIN Stars.
Day 3
The Gothic Quarter, Picasso and El Born
The Gothic Quarter with a historian: Roman Barcino beneath the history museum at the Plaça del Rei, and the lanes around the Cathedral, begun in 1298. Then Santa Maria del Mar, built between 1329 and 1383, the Museu Picasso on Carrer Montcada with one of the museum’s own guides, and a long lunch in El Born. In the evening, tapas through its bars with a guide who knows which ones.
Day 4
Montserrat
By car to Montserrat, a Benedictine monastery founded in 1025 on a mountain of rock needles, and up by rack railway or cable car. In the basilica is La Moreneta, the 12th-century Romanesque Virgin who has been Catalonia’s patron since 1881; the Escolania choir sings there, and we reserve places to hear it. With a guide, a walk of about two and a half hours climbs to Sant Jeroni, the summit, at 1,236 m.
Day 5
Cava in the Penedès
A day in the wine country between Montserrat and the sea, with your driver: Vilafranca, the Penedès’ own town, is 50 km from Barcelona, and Sant Sadurní d’Anoia is known as the capital of cava. A cellar tour and a private tasting at a cava house, then lunch at a wine estate among the vines, and back to the city for the evening.
Where you stay
Barceloneta
Hotel Arts
A Gran luxe tower on the beachfront by the Port Olímpic, with rooms over the sea or the city and two outdoor pools in its gardens.
Days 6–10
The Costa Brava and Dalí's Empordà
Then four nights by the sea at S’Agaró: the medieval villages of the Empordà, Dalí’s castle, museum and house, and the coves by boat. Our Catalonia page has the rest of the coast.
Day 6
North to the Costa Brava
North with your driver to S’Agaró, on the Costa Brava, and an afternoon by the sea: the camí de ronda, S’Agaró’s cliff path, runs two kilometres from beach to beach at the foot of the hotel. In the evening, a cooking class with a local chef that ends at the table: suquet de peix, the coast’s fish soup with potatoes, and crema catalana, scented with lemon and cinnamon.
Day 7
The medieval villages, and Púbol
The villages of the Baix Empordà with a guide: the medieval village of Peratallada, the walled old quarter of Pals under its clock tower, and Begur’s old centre, crowned by its medieval castle. In the afternoon, Púbol: the Gothic castle Dalí bought for Gala in 1969, keeping a promise he made her in the 1930s, and where she is buried, in its crypt.
Day 8
Dalí's Figueres and Portlligat
Figueres, where Dalí was born, and the Theatre-Museum he made in the ruins of the town’s theatre and opened in 1974, seen on the museum’s own guided tour. Then east to Portlligat, the cove beside Cadaqués, where the fisherman’s hut he bought in 1930 grew into his only permanent home, now a house-museum; we reserve the visit. A late lunch in Cadaqués, whose white houses line the bay.
Day 9
The coves by boat, and the Empordà's wine
A morning on the water in a private boat with a skipper: the coves under the cliffs and pines, a picnic lunch on board, and a swim when the sea is warm. In the afternoon, a tasting at a winery of the Empordà, whose garnatxa and carinyena grow in a country swept by the tramuntana, the north wind.
Day 10
A last morning, and home
A last morning at S’Agaró: the beach of Sant Pol, a couple of minutes’ walk down the hill, or the hotel’s spa and its indoor pool. With a later flight, lunch first in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, the town down the coast that grew round a monastery by the sea. Then a private transfer to the airport, Girona’s or Barcelona’s.
Where you stay
S'Agaró
Hostal de La Gavina
A Gran luxe house on the headland at S'Agaró, above the bay of Sant Pol, with a 25-metre pool over the sea, a spa and four restaurants.
What the journey includes
From $13,242 per person
Plan this journeyYour proposal sets out the arrangements included in your trip.
- Planned with you — by Ramin Jafari, who shapes the order, the pace and the days around you; every part can change.
- Nine nights’ accommodation — in the hotels we recommend in Barcelona and on the Costa Brava, shown with each stop.
- Private transport — a private transfer on arrival, a car and driver for every day out and the drive up the coast, and the transfer to the airport at the end.
- Private guides — for Gaudí’s houses and the Sagrada Família, the Gothic Quarter, Montserrat and the villages of the Empordà, with the museums’ own guides at the Museu Picasso and the Dalí Theatre-Museum.
- Tables and tickets — the monuments, the museums and the restaurants on the way, reserved ahead.
- Experiences on request — the tapas evening, the tastings in the Penedès and the Empordà, the cooking class and the boat, each arranged for your dates, subject to availability.
- Support while you travel — if a transfer is delayed or a booking changes, we coordinate with the partners involved and take you through the options.
What travellers say
I just finished a glorious four-day visit to Barcelona, arranged for me by Ramin Jafari and Avelia Travel. What a delight. This guy knows his stuff!
Ginny Welek
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Guides for the route
- Barcelona travel guide
When to go, where to stay, the food, the great buildings and three days in the city.
- Things to do in Barcelona
Gaudí with a guide, the table, the evenings, the sea, and days out beyond the city.
- Barcelona food and cuisine
Barcelona's table, where to eat, and the markets and the wines of Catalonia.
- The best wine regions of Spain
The wine regions worth a journey, from Rioja to the Priorat.
- The most beautiful coastal towns in Spain
Coastal towns from the Costa Brava to Asturias, and the best beach at each.
- Architecture and cultural tours
Spain's great sites for art, architecture and history, with a private guide.
Plan this journey
As it is set out here, or shaped around your dates, your pace and who is travelling. Tell us when you would like to go.
Plan this journeyOur Catalonia page
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