Figueres and Salvador Dalí Museum Day Trips from Barcelona

Catalonia is the birthplace of great artists who have built the cultural heritage of its cities. Fortunately, today we can admire the work of the surrealist artist in the museum that bears his name, the Dalí Museum, in Figueras, just over an hour from Barcelona.

Visiting the Dali Museum is one of the best day trips from Barcelona and an experience you definitely should not miss on your trip, so I tell you the best way to discover the work of the genius Dali.

Although this day trip to the Costa Brava with a visit to the Dalí Museum is designed for people who are passionate about art and in particular Dalí's surrealist painting and sculpture, it is an experience you will love if you feel like leaving the bustle of Barcelona for a day and visiting the fishing villages of the Costa Brava and the medieval village of Pals, with its cobbled streets and the tower which can still be climbed to enjoy the best views of the area.

The excursion will end in Figueras, where you can visit the Dalí Museum on your own and admire his paintings, sculptures and installations in a space entirely dedicated to his art. In addition, you can enjoy the permanent collection "Dalí Jewels", where you can admire the gold jewelry and precious stones that the artist from Figueras designed throughout his career.

You will have about an hour and a half in Figueras to stroll around at your leisure and eat wherever you choose (I will tell you later which restaurants are worth a visit and how to avoid tourist traps), and then you will rejoin your group to head back to Barcelona. By the way, just so you know, this tour has a maximum group size of 50 people, and the total duration of the experience includes the 2 and a half hours of transportation to and from Barcelona.

Recommended: If you are going to be in Barcelona for more than four days or if you are passionate about Dalí's art.
Duration: 11 hours

What you will see

The private tour of the Costa Brava, with a visit to the Dali Museum and Girona has a slightly different route than the group experience. Instead of visiting the fishing villages and the streets of Pals, you will go to Girona where you will discover in a 2-hour tour its medieval heritage and historical buildings, such as the cathedral and the church of Sant Feliu.

In addition, you can visit the Museum of Jewish History, located in the space of the old synagogue of the city, and the rest of Girona's points of interest in the tour detailed below.

Also, if you are a fan of Game of Thrones, you will be interested to know that part of the sixth season was filmed in Girona, and the city was magically transformed into Braavos. Throughout the season you can see several real places used as filming locations, such as the Arab Baths and the Pujada de Sant Domènech. Here you will find the Café Le Bistrot, quite famous for its little terrace at the foot of a staircase and an arch. A romantic corner at night that, if you have the chance, I recommend you not to miss.

Of course, after the visit to Girona you will go to the Dalí Museum to enjoy a 2-hour tour guided by an expert in Art History who will put you in context and explain each work of art you see. Unlike the group excursion, which only offers a self-guided tour of the museum, on this tour you will have the added advantage of a more enriching journey through Dalí's artistic career.

Recommended: If you prefer to visit an emblematic city rather than several towns or if you are a Game of Thrones fan.
Duration: 9 hours

What you will see

Alex's Traveller Tip

If you are a fan of Game of Thrones, you will like to visit Girona. If not, I recommend you to do the excursion to the villages of the Costa Brava.

The Dalí Museum is quite different from other museums dedicated to artists around the world. The artist was very actively involved in its design, its construction, the curation of the exhibits...so much so, that he lived in the museum for a few seasons to make sure that everything was running in line with his vision of what the museum should be.

The museum, right in the center of Figueras, is housed in a former theater (which seems quite fitting considering the scenic grandeur of Dalí as a person) and as you walk through the entrance you come to the famous courtyard where there is a fantastic installation where you can make it rain inside a Cadillac that Dalí himself used as a vehicle during his stay in the United States.

Although many of Dalí's works are in other museums, the Dalí Museum is still very interesting because it is a great artistic installation designed by the artist himself. In addition to showing his early works before establishing himself within the surrealist movement, we can see a part of the artist reserved only for curious people: there are some hidden works of art in the museum that you can only see if you explore corridors that do not seem to belong to the exhibition.

Undoubtedly, the best thing about the museum is its facilities, including the famous 'Mae West Room', taking advantage of the optical effect as you go up the stairs to the next floor. And while you are at the Dalí Museum, you can visit its jewelry collection and discover some really beautiful and imaginative designs, which show that the creative restlessness of the Catalan artist was inexhaustible.

Keep in mind that over a million people visit the museum each year, so there is really no way to avoid running into other tourists inside the exhibition. When visiting the Dali Museum as part of an excursion, you won't be able to choose the time of day to explore it, but if you visit Figueras on your own you can go to the museum at its opening time, 9am, to try to avoid the throng of tourists that visit at midday but you'll still find a good number of people in the queue.

Opening hours and days

If you're interested to know, the Dalí Museum is open daily from 9 am to 8 pm from April to September, with last admission at 7:15 pm. Between March and October, opening hours are from 9:30 am to 6 pm and from November to February from 10:30 am to 6 pm.

Duration of the visit

By the way, you can visit the Dalí Museum completely in 2 hours or less. If the museums end up overwhelming you, you can even skip the Dalí jewelry portion of the exhibition and you'll have a good experience as well, something shorter and more manageable that you'll also want to consider if you make the trip to Figueras with kids.

The Dalí Museum with children

Speaking of doing the excursion with kids, the Dalí Museum is sure to delight them as it's practically like entering a fantastic world to get lost in, interact with the facilities and explore. I would say that the best option is probably the private tour as you have a less rigid itinerary and the duration of the experience is somewhat shorter.

It is a bit difficult to choose a day to visit the Dali Museum, since during the week you can find school trips going to Figueras for the day and on weekends is when most tourists visit the museum. As a general rule, I always try to visit all the tourist attractions during the week as, with luck, you can avoid most of the crowds.

One tip I can give you is the best time to visit the Dali Museum, which is around 14:00 in the afternoon, at which time most of the tourists will leave for lunch. This applies to most of Barcelona's tourist attractions as well.

If you ask any local in Barcelona, they will tell you that the best time to travel to the city is spring or autumn, specifically in the months of May, June, September or October. The reason is that prices are going to go down at these dates compared to the hottest dates when there is a greater agglomeration of tourists.

It is well known that Barcelona is crowded with tourists in summer and this also applies to most excursions from the city, as is also the case for the visit to the Dali Museum. So, if you have the choice, avoid the peak seasons to enjoy a totally different and much more pleasant experience.

As you won't have all the time in the world in Figueras and it's quite a tourist attraction for visitors to Barcelona, it's best to know where to eat so you don't waste a minute and avoid the tourist traps.

Another option is to take food in your backpack from Barcelona, but to be honest, I think you should not miss the outstanding restaurants in Figueras as they are definitely worth it and have nothing to do with the typical tourist restaurant in Barcelona. While you're at it, better to savor the authentic gastronomy of the region, and for that here are my recommendations:

For this excursion your best friends will be comfortable shoes, sunscreen and a hat or cap, as the sun can end up hitting hard and make you not enjoy the experience. Photos can be taken at the Dali Museum, but the reason I would recommend taking a camera is to capture the vibrant colors of the Costa Brava's fishing villages or the beauty of Girona.

My main advice is to make the most of your visit to Figueras, as there are more things to see besides the Dali Museum, such as the Toy Museum and the Fortress of San Ferran.

Between the two possible excursions, it is difficult to choose which one to do since Calella de Palafrugell is one of the most beautiful villages of the Costa Brava (without taking into account Cadaqués, which is a world apart) but the visit to Girona is very interesting and even more if you like Game of Thrones. If this is the case, choose the excursion to Girona, and if not, visit the fishing villages along the coast.

If you are thinking of doing an excursion from Barcelona but the one to the Dalí Museum has not convinced you, or you want to do something else, here you have a guide on Day Trips and Excursions from Barcelona where you can spend a day out of the city and discover other places in Catalonia.

And if for you a mountain plan is a perfect plan, I'm sure you'll want to climb Montserrat. Here you have all the information you need about Montserrat Day Trips from Barcelona so you don't miss this iconic place.