Day trips from Barcelona: half an hour and it's another world

Barcelona's secret advantage is its backyard: within an hour by train there's a holy mountain, a surrealist museum, cava vineyards, white coves and a Roman city. And almost all of it works on your own, with commuter trains and a combined ticket.

This guide orders the escapes by distance and character, with the practical how: which train, from which station and what it costs in time. Leave the city for a day and come back delighted with it.

• Montserrat, the holy mountain

  The serrated ridge and the monastery: the classic excursion, one hour by train.

• Sitges, the charming sea

  The white seaside town forty minutes up the coast.

• Girona, the complete medieval

  Jewish call, walls and the river of colors: about an hour by train.

• Figueres and the Dalí museum

  The theater-museum of surrealism: Catalonia's most unhinged building.

• The Penedès, cava country

  Vineyards and cellars one hour away: Sant Sadurní is the capital of toasting.

• The Costa Brava

  White coves and postcard villages: the pretty sea starts up north.

• Collserola, the home mountain

  The city's natural park: no long train ticket needed, and dawns included.

• Tarragona, Catalan Rome

  An amphitheater by the sea and a Roman core under world-heritage protection.