On a budget, Girona (day-trip) still earns its price.
€€ (~€20–30 AVE return)
Lead with the Call, not the TV hook. Girona has one of Europe's best-preserved Jewish quarters — a dense warren of stone lanes and stairways climbing to the cathedral, with the Bonastruc ça Porta centre telling its story — and the candy-coloured houses stacked along the Onyar river, their reflections glowing at golden hour, are the city's signature image. You can walk the intact medieval walls for the rooftop view, and yes, the cathedral steps featured in Game of Thrones (now a minor footnote, not the reason to come). Compact, walkable, atmospheric. The catch: it's an hour-plus each way, the high-speed AVE is pricier than the regional train, and it's properly hilly underfoot.