Day Trip to Blanes from Barcelona!

On our last full weekend in Barcelona, my friends and I decided to do a day trip to Costa Brava. We initially had hoped to get on a bus to Tossa de Mar, but when we checked Omio for tickets the night before, we discovered they were sold out (this brings me to my first tip for anyone planning this trip: buy your tickets in advance). Not ready to give up just yet, I convinced my friends to still meet at the bus station the next morning to see what we could figure out. It was my last weekend in Barcelona and I hadn’t yet been to Costa Brava, though it was one of the things I had set out to do during my summer abroad. I was determined to make it happen and reasoned that I would rather make a sincere effort and risk being unsuccessful than just accept defeat now. Thankfully, my friends agreed, and we set a time to meet the next morning. 

I woke up early that Saturday morning to be at Estacio del Nord at 10 am. I lived in the same apartment building as one of the girls who was also going, so we grabbed pastries from the bakery in front of the Metro before hopping on the L4. We transferred at Urquinaona to ride the L1 for one stop to Arc de Trimof, and then had a short five-minute walk to Estacio del Nord. By the time we arrived, our other two friends were already there waiting. 

            We walked around the bus stop and spoke to a few people before realizing that we would not be able to get on a bus to Tossa de Mar. Luckily, one worker told us we might be able to get train tickets to Blanes, another town whose coast is on Costa Brava. He pointed us in the direction of the train station, and we were able to get Renfe tickets for the next train to Blanes. 

            The train was packed, which brings me to my second tip: get on the earlier trains if you can. Not only were we unable to get seats, there wasn’t even comfortable standing room at first — we were absolutely squished against everyone else, and it was really hot on the train. I was really glad to be in good company, as my friends and I cracked jokes and made the best of it until the train emptied out a bit and we were finally able to get seats. 

            After about two hours of traveling, we were finally in Blanes! We decided to walk 30 minutes to the town center instead of taking the bus and did research while we rested to figure out where to go (since we hadn’t originally planned to go to Blanes, we weren’t sure what to do). We started to get hungry, and one of my friends found a restaurant on TikTok, so we decided to go there (tip #3: check TikTok! TikTok helped me plan every single trip I ever did during my time abroad). 

            The restaurant, S’Aixeta (tip #4: go here!!), was super cute and located right on the beach. We ordered tapas to share and Tinto de Verano, and had such a good time talking, eating, and drinking together. One of my friends had a UNO deck, so we played as we waited for more tapas to come out. As we wrapped up our meal, we decided to relax at the beach in front of the restaurant instead of walking to a new place. The beach was absolutely lovely, with incredible views and a nice breeze, and we all took a mini nap on the beach before waking up and going for a swim. We spent the afternoon like this, reading and napping and swimming and laughing. It was one of the loveliest days from my time abroad. 

            As the sun started its descent and the temperature began to drop, my friends and I looked online for a place to grab dinner before catching the last train to Barcelona at 9 pm. We found one, but as we started to leave the beach and head left on the coast, as the map was telling us, we realized that there was a carnival on the beach to the right of us — how had we missed that?! We all wanted to explore the carnival, so we agreed to head right and just find a different restaurant along the way. This ended up being such a good decision; the carnival was so cute, we passed by a band playing for a group of abuelitas dancing in a circle (still not sure what that was but it was so beautiful to see), and we stumbled upon the best Italian restaurant I went to that entire summer. We scarfed down pasta and tiramisu and called an Uber to make it back to the train station before the last train left (tip #5: get to the station early! The last train from Blanes to Barcelona was supposed to depart at 9 pm, but it left the station a few minutes early). 

            Our day trip to Costa Brava could not have been further from what we had planned out — in the best way possible. I got so many things out of it: great food, amazing sights, beautiful memories with friends, and affirmation that sometimes the best things in life are the things you don’t expect.