Barcelona at $779 RT

Midsummer in the Med—do I really have to twist your arm? 

By all means spend a few days enchanted by Barça, stopping only to snap pics of its iconic spires and striking stonework, but after that? Well, the humidity's so thick you'll be bumping sticky elbows with every other tourist sweating their way to Sagrada Familia.

Why not head north to the sparkling shores of the Costa Brava instead? 

Begur is where I (and what seems like the entirety of Reddit) would bunk. Its whitewashed houses perched high atop a hill are as cute as they come. Plus, you're only a short jaunt from Catalan fishing villages, pine forests, and breezy coves. 

That said, with round-trip fares to the Balearic Islands cheaper than a night out in Barcelona, you'd be nuts not to hop on a second flight :-)