Girona and the Costa Brava: Catalonia's Wild and Beautiful Northeast
- Apr 29
- 14 min read
The Costa Brava does not look like anything else on the Spanish coast. The name means wild coast in Catalan, and it earns it: limestone headlands dropping sheer into the sea, pine forests growing to the cliff edge, narrow calas of water so clear you can see the bottom from ten meters up. If you have been to the Balearic Islands and experienced that kind of coastline, the Costa Brava gives you something similar attached to the Spanish mainland, with medieval villages, an extraordinary agricultural hinterland, and one of the most culturally distinct regions in the country behind it. Stretching from the town of Blanes in the south to the French border in the north, the Costa Brava spans almost the entire coastline of the province of Girona. Understanding it means understanding that it contains multitudes: artist villages and party resorts, medieval stone towns and the largest residential marina in Europe, botanical gardens of extraordinary beauty and an inland agricultural plain that most visitors never find because they never leave the coast. This post is your orientation.
The Calas: What the Photos Don't Tell You
The Costa Brava is famous for its calas: small, enclosed coves of turquoise water surrounded by limestone cliffs and pine forest, the kind of images that circulate endlessly and make people book flights. They are genuinely as beautiful as they look. But there is something the photos do not tell you, and I wish someone had told me before my first visit.
Many of the most photographed calas on the Costa Brava require a hike to reach. Not a stroll. A proper walk along cliff paths, sometimes steep, sometimes rocky, sometimes 45 minutes each way. The first time I came to the Costa Brava, I had a stroller and a one-year-old. I had done my research, I knew which calas I wanted to see, and I had not understood that several of them were simply not reachable without leaving the stroller behind and carrying a baby down a cliff path. We did not get to go. It was nobody's fault but my own lack of understanding, and I include this story because if you are traveling with very young children, a stroller, someone with mobility limitations, or simply an expectation of walking from a parking lot to a beach, you need to research each specific cala individually before you go.
Not all calas require hiking: some are accessible by car, some by short walks, some by boat from nearby towns. But the assumption that all Costa Brava beaches are interchangeable and accessible is incorrect and it costs people their day. The best family-friendly beach I found on the Costa Brava was L'Estartit, and I say that with personal affection because it is also where I met my husband. It has a wide sandy beach, calm shallow water, and is genuinely accessible without hiking. A word of honest context: L'Estartit is a seasonal town. When the wind starts in October, it closes like most small towns on this coast. By late October you are looking at one restaurant open if you are lucky. It is not a year-round destination. Visit in season and it is lovely. The Illes Medes, the rocky islands just offshore, are a protected marine reserve and you cannot land on them: access is restricted to one special weekend per year. They are genuinely beautiful to look at from the beach, and local operators run diving and kayaking trips near them for those who want to get in the water.
The Inland Medieval Villages: The Costa Brava Nobody Talks About
Twenty minutes inland from almost any point on the Costa Brava, the landscape changes completely. The coast disappears, the tourist infrastructure thins out, and you find yourself in a countryside of stone villages, olive groves, and medieval architecture that has been sitting quietly while everyone else stares at the sea.
Pals is the most visited of the inland villages and deservedly so: a compact medieval town of warm golden stone on a hilltop, with a Gothic tower, arcaded streets, and views across the flat rice-growing plain of the Baix Emporda toward the sea. My mother visited seven years ago and she still talks about it. Some places earn that kind of loyalty. Peratallada is smaller and arguably more beautiful: an almost entirely intact medieval village of narrow stone streets, a castle, and a moat carved directly from the rock. The restaurant terraces set in the old walls on summer evenings are among the most atmospheric dining experiences in Catalonia. Monells is the least visited and most serene: a tiny village with one of the finest Romanesque arcaded plazas in the region, almost no tourists, and a quality of silence that feels extraordinary given how close it is to the coast. Ullastret contains the most significant Iberian archaeological site in Catalonia: the ruins of an Iberian settlement dating to the 5th century BC, with walls, streets, and public buildings partially excavated on a hilltop with views across the plain. Almost nobody visits. It is exceptional. Begur is the most complete village in the area: a hillside town with a ruined castle tower, excellent restaurants, a genuinely lively local character, and easy access to some of the finest calas on the central Costa Brava.
The Emporda Countryside: The Flat Land That Surprises Everyone
The Emporda is the agricultural plain that stretches behind the Costa Brava, between the Pyrenees to the north and west and the coast to the east. Most visitors drive through it on the AP-7 without stopping, registering it as flat and unremarkable. That is a mistake. This is some of the most productive and historically rich agricultural land in Catalonia. The rice paddies of the Baix Emporda produce excellent rice. The apple orchards of the Alt Emporda supply much of Catalonia's cider apple production. The olive groves produce oil of serious quality. The DO Emporda wine appellation produces wines that have improved dramatically in recent decades: Garnacha and Carinena reds, white blends, and increasingly interesting natural wines from producers who understand the particular character of this landscape.
The Emporda also produces some of the finest anchovies in Spain. The anchovies of L'Escala, a coastal town at the southern edge of the Gulf of Roses, are cured in salt using traditional methods that have barely changed in centuries. Buy a jar from a reputable producer at the source and they are extraordinary: silky, complex, completely unlike cheap tinned anchovies. A personal note: I once ordered anchovies at a restaurant in L'Escala and they smelled off from the start. I ate them anyway. I should not have. I went home the same weight I arrived despite spending a month trying to drink every glass of Cava I could find. Buy the jar, not the restaurant plate, and trust your nose.
Jardin Botanic de Marimurtra: Go Early, or Go in the Off-Season
I love the Jardin Botanic de Marimurtra in Blanes. I visited in 2019 and it was one of the most beautiful gardens I have seen in Spain: terraced gardens climbing a clifftop above the sea, with extraordinary Mediterranean, African, and tropical plant collections, pergolas draped in flowering climbers, and views from the upper terraces across the bay that are genuinely breathtaking.
Last August I tried to go back. I never made it through the door. After more than 30 minutes driving in circles searching for parking and finding nothing, we gave up and left. The garden is extremely popular in summer and the surrounding area simply cannot handle the volume of visitors. Go in May, June, September, or early October. Go when it opens if you must visit in the warmer months. The garden rewards the visitor who has it mostly to themselves: the scent of the herbs and flowers, the sound of bees and the sea below, the quality of light through the plant canopies. That experience is available, but it requires timing. August is not that timing.
Culture, Language, Food, and the Sound of Drums
The Costa Brava sits in the heart of Catalonia, and Catalonia takes its identity seriously. The language here is Catalan: spoken in shops, restaurants, schools, and homes, present on every street sign and official document. Visitors who make even a small effort with gracies for thank you and bon dia for good morning are received warmly. In the smaller inland villages especially, this matters.
The Sardana is the traditional Catalan circle dance performed in town squares on weekends and festival days: slow, precise, community-minded, and completely unlike the flamenco that most people associate with Spanish dance. If you see one being performed in a plaza, stop and watch. The Castellers are perhaps even more extraordinary. These are the human tower builders: teams of people who construct towers of human bodies sometimes nine or ten stories high, with a small child climbing to the very top to complete the structure. The towers sway, the crowd holds its breath, and when the child at the top raises a fist and the tower descends safely, the roar is unlike anything you will hear anywhere. Here is a piece of practical advice that will serve you well: if you are walking through a town and you hear the sound of drums, follow that sound. That is where the Castellers will be. Follow the drums and you will find one of the most beautiful cultural traditions in Spain happening right in front of you. It is on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list and it deserves every recognition it gets.
The food of the Costa Brava and the broader Girona province is exceptional. Pa amb tomaquet, bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil, is on every table. Suquet de peix, the Catalan fish stew, is the coastal staple. Butifarra sausages, local anchovies, rice from the Emporda, and a wine culture that takes the DO Emporda increasingly seriously. Catalan cuisine is one of the great regional food traditions in Europe. A note on El Celler de Can Roca, the Roca brothers' restaurant in Girona that has held three Michelin stars and been named the world's best restaurant: I went. I had been so excited to go that I had chased a cancellation reservation, which is essentially the only way to get a table without planning nearly a year ahead. The presentation was beautiful. But across a 23-plate tasting menu I found around 15 of the plates genuinely not good. Not bad service, not a bad room: the food simply did not live up to the expectation that comes with that level of reputation. I was more than disappointed. If a serious fine dining experience is on your agenda in Catalonia, I would suggest researching other highly regarded options rather than making El Celler de Can Roca the centerpiece of your trip.
Cadaques: The White Village Worth Every Kilometer of Winding Road
Cadaques sits at the end of a long, tortuous mountain road that winds over a rocky headland before descending to a bay of astonishing beauty: a cluster of white cubic houses rising from the waterfront, a white church above them, the dark blue water of the Cap de Creus bay in front. It is one of the most beautiful villages in Catalonia and one of the most distinctive in all of Spain. Salvador Dali spent much of his life here, in the house at Portlligat just outside the village, and the connection shaped both the man and the place. Cadaques attracted artists, writers, and intellectuals for decades: Picasso, Garcia Lorca, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp all passed through. The Dali House-Museum at Portlligat is labyrinthine, eccentric, and filled with objects and spaces that explain the paintings in a way no gallery ever could. Book tickets far in advance. The village rewards slow exploration: the narrow streets of the old quarter, the waterfront promenade, the terraced restaurants above the bay. The surrounding Cap de Creus Natural Park is wild, rocky, wind-scoured Mediterranean landscape at its most dramatic: the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, where the Pyrenees finally meet the sea. This is a preview rather than a full portrait. The Top 10 Towns of the Costa Brava post goes much deeper on Cadaques. It deserves the space.
Lloret de Mar: Honest About What It Is
Lloret de Mar is a large resort town at the southern end of the Costa Brava with a long beach, extensive hotel infrastructure, a busy nightlife scene, and the kind of high-volume tourism that the coast has attracted since the 1960s. It is a proper town with year-round services: one of the few places on this coast that stays open through winter and maintains full infrastructure when the smaller villages have closed up. A note for families: the beach at Lloret drops off quite sharply and is not ideal for very young children or non-swimmers. In August parking becomes a genuine ordeal. But it is a beautiful place to sit and have a morning coffee on the seafront promenade. Lloret knows what it is and serves its audience well. Just know which Costa Brava you are looking for before you book it as your base.
Empuriabrava: King of the Marinas
Empuriabrava is one of the most geographically unusual places in Spain. Built from scratch in the 1960s and 70s on the wetlands of the Gulf of Roses, it is the largest residential marina in Europe: a grid of canals cutting through a purpose-built town, with private houses lining the waterways and boats moored at the bottom of gardens. Every house has direct water access. The canal network stretches for over 22 kilometers. It is not a historic place or a culturally rich one, but it is genuinely extraordinary as a feat of planning and as a particular way of life. Arriving by boat from the open sea and navigating the canals to a restaurant quay for lunch is an experience that has no equivalent elsewhere on the Spanish coast. The skydiving center above the town is one of the busiest in Europe. The sunsets over the Gulf of Roses from the marina waterfront are spectacular. Empuriabrava does not pretend to be something it is not, and there is something refreshing about that.
Girona: An Honest Conversation
Almost everyone I know who has visited Girona has loved it. The medieval Jewish quarter, the cathedral, the colorful houses reflected in the Onyar river, the well-preserved city walls: on paper it is an extraordinary place. Game of Thrones filmed in the old city. By every objective measure, Girona is a remarkable city. My husband and I have each visited multiple times independently over the years. Not once each: multiple visits, separate trips, different seasons. Neither of us has ever felt the charm that other people seem to find there. The old city is undeniably impressive but it has never clicked for either of us the way other Spanish cities do easily. There is a really beautiful park, the Devesa, a long tree-lined public garden along the river that is genuinely lovely and worth your time. The train station does its job cleanly and without fuss: a fine transit point, not too crowded. As a day trip from Barcelona, your time is spent much better almost anywhere else in Catalonia. And as a destination in its own right, there are many more rewarding options nearby. All of this is personal. Girona is objectively worth a visit and you may love it completely. Come with open expectations rather than the weight of everyone else's enthusiasm, see what you find, and let the Devesa be a pleasant surprise rather than the whole point.
Getting There, Getting Around, and What to Know Before You Go
The honest advice is to rent a car in Barcelona and drive. The AP-7 motorway runs north from the city and gives you access to the entire coast in under two hours from the airport. The freedom a car gives you on the Costa Brava is not a luxury: it is the difference between seeing the region and seeing its postcard version. The most beautiful calas, the inland medieval villages, the agricultural back roads of the Emporda: none of these are reachable by public transport with any practicality.
Before you go, a few practical notes. The AP-7 is a toll road and the costs add up. Most toll booths accept card and tap to pay is by far the quickest option, but not every booth has a card reader, so keep cash available as a backup. The AP-7 also runs speed traps in this area and they are real and enforced. A speeding fine from my first trip to the Costa Brava arrived at my house in the United States nine months after I had left. The cameras are real, the follow-through is real, and it reaches you even in a rental car even that long after the fact. Pay attention to the signs.
There was also a notable increase in scams along this stretch of highway last summer that is worth knowing about before you travel. If anyone approaches you at a petrol station or rest stop holding a large open map or newspaper and asking for directions or help, do not engage and do not let them get close to you. The scam works one of two ways: they set the map or paper down on top of your phone or bag and walk away with it covered underneath, or they distract you at the pump while a second person opens your passenger door and takes whatever is inside. Lock your car every time you step out at a petrol station and do not let anyone approach with something large and open in their hands. GPS works perfectly in this area and nobody is genuinely navigating with a physical map anymore. This area is not known for physical violence: it is distraction theft, and awareness is your best protection.
Parking on the Costa Brava in peak season is a genuine problem. In August the access roads to popular calas fill up before 10am and parking in smaller towns becomes genuinely stressful. In Lloret de Mar in August, finding a spot is a serious ordeal. This is one of many reasons August is not the recommended time to visit.
The train does get you to the main towns: the Renfe line from Barcelona Sants stops at Blanes and continues north to Girona, from which local buses connect to some of the larger coastal towns. If you are basing yourself in one place and exploring on foot, it is possible. But if you want to move freely, especially to the northern section of the coast around Cadaques, a car is not optional.
When to Go: The Window and the Wind
The sweet spot is May through the first week of October. The sea is warm from June onward, the light in late spring and early autumn is extraordinary, and the crowds are manageable outside of July and August. Our own visit ran from mid-September through mid-October and the first three weeks were perfect: not crowded, not dead, and beautiful weather. After the first week of October, things shifted.
August is a different situation entirely. The Costa Brava in August is extremely crowded: the calas fill up by mid-morning, parking becomes a genuine ordeal, restaurants are packed, and the experience of being somewhere wild and beautiful is considerably diluted. If you dislike crowds and do not have young children on a school schedule, avoid August completely.
From around the second week of October, the Tramuntana begins. The Tramuntana is the regional wind that defines life in northern Catalonia: a cold, dry, powerful north wind that descends from the Pyrenees and accelerates through the valleys of the Emporda toward the sea. I am not talking about a casual sea breeze. By our second week of October on the Costa Brava, the wind was blowing sand so hard the beach was not enjoyable anymore and almost everything in the smaller towns had closed for the season.
The Tramuntana continues north across the French border where it is known as the Tramontane, and in French Catalonia it can run strong well into the following year. We spent the first two weeks of May near Perpignan and our children's noses ran instantly and continuously every time we left the house. We essentially kept them indoors. The wind across the border can run all the way through to mid-May in some years and sometimes beyond. That is not a weather anomaly. That is a regional fact of life.
The practical note for anyone considering a late October, winter, or early spring visit: the temperature forecasts will look perfectly reasonable. Mild, even. Do not be misled. Always check wind speed forecasts separately. Days with acceptable temperatures and 60 to 80 kilometer per hour sustained winds are days when you will not be enjoying an outdoor terrace in Cadaques regardless of what the thermometer says. Small towns along the Costa Brava largely close for winter from October onward. Only the main towns maintain full year-round services. Plan accordingly.
This post is part of our Travel-Casa Spain Series: a region-by-region guide to one of the world's most diverse and rewarding countries. Whether you are planning a vacation, a sabbatical, or a permanent move, we go deep on each region so you can find the part of Spain that fits your life. From the green mountains of the north to the sun-baked plains of the south, no two corners of Spain are the same, and that is exactly the point.
Girona is 40 minutes from Barcelona by AVE. Cheapest Day Trips from Barcelona by Train covers fares, times, and what to pair it with — including Figueres on the same line.
The Costa Brava is part of Catalonia — the regional guide covers the broader cultural and geographic context.
The Costa Brava coastline is part of the Mediterranean Coast of Spain — one of the longest and most varied coastlines in Europe.
Driving the Costa Brava's coastal roads is one of the great drives in Spain — and requires some preparation. What to know before you drive in Spain.
Renfe operates the Barcelona–Girona–Figueres AVE and Avant services. Trainline is useful for comparing fares.
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