01 Montserrat, the Black Madonna and the monastery
25 compared from €49 typically 6h30 4.82 average
A serrated ridge of rock an hour from Plaça Espanya, a Benedictine abbey halfway up it, and a twelfth-century Black Madonna that people queue to touch. From €49 for a half day, €75 typically, and the small-group morning departures rate above 4.9. Go early: the boys' choir sings at one on weekdays and the mountain fills by eleven. The full-day versions add a farmhouse or a cava winery lunch and are worth the extra hours only if you want the wine.
02 Girona, Figueres and the Dalí museum
8 compared from €49 typically 10h 4.63 average
Girona is a walled medieval town with the best-preserved Jewish quarter in Catalonia and a cathedral staircase that the Game of Thrones tours have made famous. Figueres, half an hour further, holds the museum Dalí designed as his own mausoleum. From €49 for Girona alone, around €95 for the pairing. Ten hours, and the trips that combine both towns rate better than either on its own.
03 Costa Brava beaches, kayaking and cliff jumps
6 compared from €57 typically 10h30 4.84 average
The highest-rated group on this page: kayaking into the coves at Sant Feliu, snorkelling, a cliff jump for anyone who wants one, and lunch on the sand. From €57 for a sightseeing run along the coast, around €90 for the active versions that rate 4.97 and above. Runs May to October only, and the boat legs cancel in a swell, which is why free cancellation matters more here than anywhere else in the catalogue.
04 Penedès wine and cava country
5 compared from €94 typically 6h 4.77 average
Forty minutes south of the city, and the only trips here where the destination is a cellar rather than a town. From €94 for a morning at two estates, around €130 for the small-group tours with a vineyard lunch and a 4WD run between the vines. Five to six hours. Torres and the boutique Priorat producers sit at opposite ends of the price range and rate about the same, so book on the format rather than the label.
05 Andorra, the Pyrenees and the medieval villages
7 compared from €76 typically 11h30 4.58 average
Twelve hours, three border crossings on the longest versions, and the lowest ratings of the five kinds. From €76 for the three countries in one day itinerary, €119 typically. Reviews are consistent about why: the mountains are real and the day is mostly the minibus. The medieval villages trips into the Pyrenees foothills cover less ground, take ten hours instead of twelve, and rate a full point higher.
