Very close to Barcelona, there are hidden villages, towns, routes and landscapes which, once you visit them, you cannot help but think about going back to or recommending them to anyone you know for them to enjoy a great one- or two-day getaway. Which one do you choose?

Which Barcelona do you know? The beaches of Maresme, Montserrat, Montseny or Sitges are some of the jewels you should visit if you come to Barcelona this summer. Set aside a couple of days to discover a unique region with a cultural, natural and culinary heritage that will surprise you.

Strength, balance, courage and common sense, the four key concepts of human tower building, repeated like a mantra by its practitioners. For spectators, the most appropriate words might be thrills, nerves, suspense and joy. Without a doubt, to experience a human tower building event is to navigate a sea of sensations. So it’s no wonder that UNESCO inscribed this Catalan tradition par excellence on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

In this ancient country we're passionate about protecting and celebrating our festivals and traditions. We enjoy our great Mediterranean climate, sea, landscape and traditions with festive, joyful and infectious enthusiasm! Drop everything and join us as we usher in the main festivals of our towns and cities. In addition to paying homage to the local patron saint, you can enjoy plenty of other activities in these popular and inclusive festivals: street parades, gegants and capgrossos (papier mâché giant and "big head" figures), trabucaires (bandits carrying blunderbuss guns), music, dancing, diables (groups of people dressed as devils who set off fireworks) and spectacular human towers.

With over 100 kilometres of blue Mediterranean coastline, it is easy to understand why the municipalities of Costa Barcelona have such a close relationship with the sea. The origins of many villages, towns and cities in Maresme, Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat and Garraf, lie in fishing, maritime trade and shipbuilding – origins that for many of these places are by no means a distant memory. Along this stretch of coastline, fishing remains one of the main industries – a fact that you can see for yourself, if you visit any of the seafood auctions that take place on the region's quaysides every day.

Very close to Barcelona you will find a great many examples of modernista works created between the 19th and 20th centuries. Urban palaces and holiday homes, churches and hospitals, warehouses and gardens, factories and cellars, all with the signature of the great architects of the movement in Catalonia: Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, among others. To commemorate this cultural trend, different towns and cities are organizing festivals and fairs to recover their aesthetic quality. Want to find out more about them?