Alternatives to Barcelona Worth a Whole Trip

Valencia, the patient alternative

Valencia spent the last 20 years quietly reinventing itself without falling into the Barcelona traps. The old Turia river was diverted after the 1957 flood; the empty riverbed became a 9-kilometre park that loops through the city. The Mercado Central is still a working market. The food scene in Ruzafa has matured into something that locals actually frequent.

Stay near the cathedral for the postcard, in Ruzafa for the food, or near the City of Arts for the architecture. Eat paella at lunch, not dinner, and at least once at a restaurant looking onto the Albufera.

Girona, the small Catalan jewel

Girona is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Catalonia. The Jewish quarter, the Call, is among the most intact in Europe. The cathedral has the widest Gothic nave anywhere. The Onyar houses, painted in faded ochre and red along the river, are the visual signature.

It's also a serious food city for its size: El Celler de Can Roca is the local headline, but a more useful sample is at the small taverns in the old town.

Tarragona, Rome on the Mediterranean

Tarragona was the capital of Roman Hispania, and you can still walk most of the Roman city: the walls, the forum, the amphitheatre that sits on the beach, the circus underneath the modern streets. The old town above is calm and walkable.

Eat calçots in season at a country masia outside town. Swim at Altafulla or Tamarit, both 15 minutes up the coast.

Why not just go to Barcelona

Barcelona is still wonderful. The point isn't to avoid it; the point is to recognise that the city has reached its honest capacity. If you've been once, the three cities above give you Catalan and Valencian culture, food, and architecture at a sustainable pace.