Spain Travel Guide – Costa Brava Beach Roadtrip & Exploring Barcelona

Spain is warmth, vibrant Mediterranean sunshine, and tapas culture. In August, four friends and I rented a Volkswagen van and embarked on a classic 17-hour European road trip down through France to the sunny Costa Brava in Catalonia, basing ourselves in the coastal resort town of Calella.

Costa Brava Beach Life

We stayed in a five-bed hostel room with a balcony just a short walk from Calella’s expansive golden sand beach. Mediterranean summer temperatures hovered around 35°C (95°F) with intense sun, making beach umbrellas, frequent dips in the deep blue sea, and refreshing sangria essential parts of daily life.

Day Trip to Barcelona: Antoni Gaudí’s Masterpieces

Calella is conveniently connected to Barcelona by direct coastal train. We dedicated a full day to exploring Catalonia’s vibrant capital, walking beneath the grand red-brick Arc de Triomf before arriving at Antoni Gaudí’s crowning achievement: the Basílica de la Sagrada Família. The soaring organic towers and stained glass light inside the cathedral are utterly transcendent.

We continued along the Passeig de Gràcia to admire Gaudí’s fantastical residential façades, Casa Batlló and Casa Milà (La Pedrera), before ascending into the whimsical mosaic wonderland of Park Güell with its winding serpentine benches overlooking the city.

Our day also included a tranquil visit to the neoclassical hedge maze of Parc del Laberint d’Horta (where scenes from the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer were filmed) and culminated with sizzling pans of authentic seafood paella at a harbor-side terrace.

Before heading home, we also explored the Barcelona Aquarium at Port Vell, stepping through its famous 80-meter underwater tunnel surrounded by gliding sharks and manta rays. A memorable Mediterranean road trip with lifelong friends!