22 charming villages close to Barcelona for this long weekend

Barcelona city has many places with charm, where you can find reserve a romantic table and escape the hustle and bustle of concrete and asphalt to celebrate a special night. But sometimes, taking your backpack and really getting away from traffic lights, sidewalks and cars is a much better option for our senses. That’s why we propose these 16 getaways close to home.

We know that in Barcelona there are wonderful flower shops where you can buy a detail we suggest you to put your cell phone on silent and smell the flowers of these 16 little villages of Barcelona that seem to be taken from a painting.  

Tavertet the middle earth in Collsacabra

A scenario through which, quite plausibly, Sam, Frodo, Aragorn and company could have scampered. Tavertet is a real madness, so much so that everything in themselves was declared of Cultural Interest: the houses that make up the village were built between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Tavertet is a wonderful choice for a romantic and intimate getaway.

Canet de Mar the palace worthy of Game of Thrones

Canet de Mar is one of the small villages located in the Maresme region. This Zone, has some of the most important the most beautiful beaches near Barcelona if you don’t want to go so far away as to go to Costa Brava.

The special thing about this town is its medieval castle, which was built on the remains of a Roman villa and that merges Gothic and modernism, as it was expanded in the nineteenth century by the Mountaner family.

In addition to having spectacular stained glass windows, the palace of Santa Florentina has been the setting for one of the best known series for its charming locations: Game of Thrones. Specifically, it was chosen as the location for Raven Hill, the home of House Tarly, Samwell’s house. Although this series stands out for its betrayal and love affairs that don’t go too well… We are sure that it can be the ideal location for a date for two in medieval style.

Colonia Güell a getaway to modernist Barcelona

It is described as “Gaudí’s best kept treasure” and it is an architectural work that has not been given as much hype as La Pedrera or Casa Milá. This industrial colony located in Santa Coloma de Cervelló takes you back to the modernist atmosphere of the nineteenth century in no time, as it was used by the architects of the time to vindicate their art.

Montserrat Monastery seen with a glass of cava

Maybe escape to Montserrat on a first date is a bit risky, but I’m sorry to say, the site deserves it. Located on the mountain of Montserrat, it is perfect for marveling at the views it offers and its interior. There you can find “La Moreneta“, our black-faced virgin. Nearby there are some Codorníu cava cellars ideal to provoke “la risa tonta” and break the ice a little on a first date.

Peratallada, the best preserved medieval village in Spain

Despite the short hour and a half drive on the AP-7, you’ll think you’ve taken a Delorean and gone five centuries into the past. Peratallada, in the lower Empordà, is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Spain, which will turn your romantic getaway from Barcelona into a true journey to the time of medieval poets and troubadours. Will you dare to sing a sonnet to your partner?

Calella de Parafruguel a postcard getaway

If you are looking for a beach destination, but without the tourist overcrowding that you can find in other places, Callela is an ideal seaside town. The best part? It is bathed by the sea by six small coves quite intimate, coarse sand and turquoise water, which are so beautiful that not bathing will not give you so much grief.

This village is a postcard in itself, and strolling through its narrow streets of white houses, a perfect romantic plan.

Ax les thermes thermal baths in the middle of the mountain

This small French village is located less than three hours from Barcelona and has more than 60 hot springs. The same spas in barcelona you’ve seen them before and you’re looking for a romantic dip in fresh spring water.

In the center of the village we can find a spa to enjoy a relaxing weekend with therapeutic purposes, since cures for rheumatic and respiratory diseases are offered.

Rupit i Pruït façades of real stone and moss

Rupit, Pruït and Medieval should be called, since it is rare to read or hear about this village and that the term medieval does not accompany the comment. On the border of the province of Barcelona, is this small village composed of sloping streets and stone facades. The best part? The suspension bridge. One like the one Shrek crosses to save Fiona from the dragon.

Alt Penedés, the appellation of origin with the largest production

Don’t miss this getaway from Barcelona to the land where wine has been produced for centuries.  The Alt Penedès region is home to wineries, modernist buildings, and monumental suites to give and take.

The towns of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, considered the capital of cava, and Vilafranca del Penedès, capital of the region, with a museum center specialized in viticulture, are particularly noteworthy.

We recommend you to visit the monumental Suite of Sant Martí Sarroca and the castell d’Olèrdola to enjoy the views offered by this natural vantage point.

Pals, the town that has it all

Another example of a medieval town located on the Catalan coast. With great importance for trade during the Middle Ages, Pals is a village whose first records date back to the 9th century. Wall, main square, museum, viewpoint… Pals has everything (also a good gastronomy) to become a perfect getaway for a couple.

Mura, in the middle of the Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac

The best thing about Mura is everything that surrounds it. This village in the province of Barcelona is in the middle of the Natural Park of Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac. Its streets are beautiful and, despite its small size and sparse population, there are great attractions such as the Hermitage of Sant Antoni, the caves of Mura or the aviary.

Sant Pol de Mar the jewel of the Maresme

A small fishing village between Calella and Canet de Mar, in the Maresme. It all revolves around the Monastery of San Pablo, the most characteristic monument and the typical postcard of a fishing village that with the arrival of the train was discovered by the Catalan bourgeoisie. Today, thanks to her (or in spite of her) the city maintains some residences and houses of modernist style.

Granera, the little big Encanto

It is small, but what it lacks in size it has in Encanto. It is also very curious its distribution, because it is divided into two very marked Zones: one is the one that surrounds the Castle of the X century and the other is erected around the  Parish Church of St. Martin.

Golf de Roses,  a direct getaway to classical Greece

Wild beaches, natural parks and even Roman ruins. In conclusion, one of the most complete getaways. All this is what you can find at Golf de Roses , located on the coast of Alt Empordà north of the Costa Brava.

An ideal place to escape from the brutalism of the city, where you can only hear the birds of the protected parks and the ruins of Empúries will make you travel to classical Greece and the Roman Empire.

Aiguaviva, the red village of Tarragona

In the interior of the province of Tarragona, Aiguaviva (Montmell) is a small town. Its main attraction is the color given to the village by the famous red vineyards: it is a very small place (barely 600 inhabitants) and totally conditioned and photographed by pigmentation. Almost like a small corner of La Rioja in the Lower Penedés.

Hotel of the castle of Cardona, sleep feeling like a medieval prince or princess

Cardona is a fascinating place. A village that, as in the Middle Ages, is crowned by an imposing castle that is pure Catalan history. The castle was the last one that resisted in Catalonia during the War of Succession and when you approach Cardona on the road and see the castle dominating the esplanade and looking intimidating you understand why.

What many people don’t know is that this castle is now a National Parador a luxury hotel where you can spend a night (or two) feeling like a true medieval knight. Its rooms are obviously renovated, but have windows and stately dimensions, and go out for breakfast strolling through a courtyard, or looking out the window to the plain waiting for our prince blue (or sharing breakfast with her or him)

Horta de Sant Joan, picasso’s favorite village

Imagine arriving at a medieval village through a field of flowers, because this is the way that takes you to Horta de Sant Joan, a village in Terra Alta that was considered a Cultural Asset of National Interest in 1997. Among its steeply sloping stone streets we can find Renaissance palaces, a Gothic church and even a museum with more than 200 works of Pablo Picasso, as this town fell in love with the painter from Malaga and made two stays during his life.

Castellfollit de la Roca, a town on the heights

This Garrotxa village is built on a 50-meter cliff. If you have vertigo, we don’t recommend you to go, but if not, it is well worth it. Its old town is of medieval origin and you can stroll through more than a kilometer of houses built on top of this giant rock. It is one of the smallest villages in Spain and the second smallest in Catalonia.

Hostalric

Hostalric is a medieval village located about 65 kilometers from Barcelona, which is located in the region of La Selva. When we visited it, we made a route through the medieval village visiting all its points of interest such as the Torre dels Frares, Plaça dels Bous, its main street and the wall that surrounds the village.

After  stop to recharge your batteries at the bar Parrufu, a place of classic food really good, to finish the visit by visiting the castle that is located in the fortress of Hostalric.

Roses and Cala Montjoi

Maybe Roses doesn’t sound like a great plan at first. One of the tourist capitals of the Empordà is just that, a somewhat overcrowded tourist center. But it has its attractions. From the ticket, its particular position in the gulf of Roses, facing inland, makes it the only point in the country from where one can see the Mediterráneo sea and the Pyrenean mountains in the background.

And beyond that, Roses is an excellent base for visiting the Zone. From the ruins of Empuriabrava, 20 minutes by car, to the Parc Natural del Cap de Creus, to which Roses is the gateway, and from where you can walk along the beautiful road that connects the city with Cala Montjoi or Cala Jóncols, a road that is worthwhile in itself and that is now also crowned by the elBulli museum, once the best restaurant in the world.

Castells de la Segarra, the Castile of Catalonia

The region of La Segarra is an unknown castle in the heart of Catalonia. A flat area where castles rise like mushrooms, reminiscent of the Spanish plateau, due to the imposing appearance of these fortifications that stand alone in the plains, with no other protection than their walls to defend themselves from enemies.

The fortresses, erected in the 11th-12th centuries, were built in this valley to mark the border between the Christian Catalan counties and the Arab Al-Andalus, and once the fighting was over, the castles became manor houses, most of which are still standing today. To get there you only have to go, for example, to Plans de Sió (a long hour’s drive), where the Castell de Ratera is already located. The castles can be visited by car or by walking routes, and all the info is on their website.

Camprodon, cookies and rivers

To arrive at Camprodon is to arrive at the gates of the Pyrenees and begin to peek into the magic of its mountains. From here you decide, you can embark on a mountain crossing or you can stay enjoying the narrow streets of Camprodon, a fairytale village crossed by a small river (crossed by a wonderful Romanesque bridge) that reminds, sometimes, a miniature Girona. In addition, a mythical cookie factory to kill hunger while letting the afternoon pass in this pleasant mountain village.