Tossa de Mar: The Town a Stranger's Story Sent Me To
- Jul 10
- 4 min read
In 2019, I was a real estate agent in Texas, in the middle of negotiating a contract, telling the seller's agent I was trying to get everything signed before I left on vacation. He asked where I was going. When I said Costa Brava, he lost it, in the best way.
Decades earlier, as a young man stationed in Italy, he and the woman who'd later become his wife of over 20 years rented a convertible and drove the Costa Brava coast. He talked about Tossa de Mar like it had never left him, and then he asked, completely sincerely, if I'd go there and send him a photo so he could see how it had changed and show his wife. I could hear the stars in his eyes over the phone. I said yes.
So that's how Tossa de Mar became the first stop on my trip. And he was right.
Why It's My Favorite Town on the Whole Costa Brava
That's saying something, because I've seen a lot of this coast. But Tossa de Mar earned it: a beach cove with a castle rising on the cliff to one side, and on the other, a mountainside lined with restaurants topped by terraced apartments, flowers spilling down from the balconies above. Live guitar drifting across the water. Gelato in hand, walking the seafront under the castle's old cannons. It's the kind of place that lives up to a stranger's decades-old memory of it, which is not a small thing.
The Castle Walk
The walk up to the castle is genuinely steep. My kids made it fine even as little ones, but my mom doesn't get around well, so we put her on the town's little tourist train at the bottom, let it carry her up, and she walked back down at her own pace. It worked out perfectly, and it's worth knowing that option exists if steep walks aren't for everyone in your group.
About halfway up, there's a restaurant with a spectacular view and a terrace covered in grape vines, where live guitar music was playing when we stopped. My son was so enchanted by it that he asked for a guitar for Christmas that year, and got one. That's the kind of town this is.
August vs. September
I've been twice, both times with my mom, and I'm going back again to bring my husband. September was more magical than August, quieter, softer light, less of a fight to enjoy it. But here's the thing: Tossa de Mar is one of the rare places where I'd say face the crowds anyway. In August we sat in traffic and hunted for parking for a good 30 minutes. I'm not someone who loves crowds. It still didn't matter. It's worth it.
Two Ways We Did It
The first time, it was a half-day trip, split with the botanical garden in Blanes. They're not right next to each other, but it worked fine since we were already based in northern Costa Brava.
The second time, we stayed two nights on our way back to Barcelona from the Pyrenees. I made the mistake of booking a rental just by searching "Tossa" without actually zooming in on the map to see exactly where it was. We ended up in an urbanización (a residential neighborhood) about 15 minutes outside town, still beautiful, peaceful, and we genuinely loved the house, but it meant driving in and finding parking every time rather than walking. Booking something actually in town would solve that, but I'd expect it to book up early and cost more. What we had was a house with a yard rather than an apartment, which our kids loved regardless.
If you want to see what's actually available to book, in town versus just outside it, here's a live look at places in Tossa de Mar right now:
Affiliate disclosure: this map contains affiliate links. If you book through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Bottom Line
There's no wrong way to visit Tossa de Mar. Day trip, overnight, in town or just outside it, August or September, just go however you can make it work. If you're continuing on from here into French Catalonia, it's the same Catalan spirit on the other side of the border.
Written by Sherri: an American who spent years traveling solo, including time living in Peru, before settling into a full-time digital nomad life with her husband and young kids for over four years. She's now been in Europe for 3.5 years, most of it in the Valencia area of Spain. Everything on Travel-Casa is written from firsthand experience or knowledge picked up along the way.
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