Discover Catalonia - The Grand Tour

Two weeks round the whole of Catalonia, from Barcelona to the high Pyrenees and down to the Ebro delta. Caminos arrange it as a fly-drive with the hire car included; there is no ferry option on this one, which is fair enough given how far it is from the northern ports.

Barcelona opens it, and two nights is enough for the Sagrada Família, Park Güell, the Gothic quarter and the Boqueria market, with the Montjuïc cable car for the view back over the port. After that the tour spreads out across a region that has more variety in it than most countries.

The Pyrenean half is the reason to take the long version. The Vall de Boí holds nine Romanesque churches with slim stone bell towers, collectively UNESCO-listed and almost a thousand years old. The Val d’Aran beyond it is the one Catalan valley that drains north into France, with its own language. Priorat, in the southern hills, makes some of the most serious wine in Spain on slate terraces that are barely workable. The Ebro delta at the bottom is flat rice country full of flamingos, which is not what anyone expects of Catalonia.

Fourteen nights, circular, back to Barcelona, priced per person for two sharing on a bed and breakfast basis with the car included; flights are extra. Worth settling first: Caminos have published only the first two days of the fourteen, so the regions above come from their highlights rather than a confirmed day plan. Ask them for it. It suits anyone who wants Catalonia whole rather than a week on the coast.