Costa Brava

This coast is built around the beach. Between Blanes and Portbou the shore breaks into dozens of coves under pine-covered cliffs, with clear, green water over sand and rock. The best of them are around Begur, at Aiguablava, Sa Riera and Sa Tuna, and in the villages of Calella de Palafrugell, Llafranc and Tamariu. For long, open sand, the Bay of Roses and the dunes at Pals and Sant Pere Pescador have kilometres of it, with shallow water and room to spread out.

The sea is pleasant from late June to late September and reaches about 23°C in August. Early summer is noticeably fresher, and the tramontana wind can churn up the northern beaches for days at a time. In July and August the small coves fill early and parking above them is scarce. Lloret de Mar and Platja d'Aro have broad town beaches that are crowded with package tourists.

Empordà cooking is one of the more distinctive regional cuisines in Spain. It is known for mar i muntanya dishes that put seafood with meat or game, for fishermen's suquet stew, for rice cooked in black cuttlefish ink, for the red prawns landed at Palamós and for the salted anchovies of L'Escala. The fish auctions in Palamós and Roses supply restaurants all along the coast. Inland, the Empordà vineyards produce sturdy reds and whites that local tables pour by default.

At the top, Girona and the countryside around it have a serious fine-dining reputation, and the region has long been a pilgrimage for people who travel to eat. In the old fishing villages, family places serve grilled fish on terraces above the water. In the big resorts, menus are aimed at package tourists and quality drops sharply, so the cooking is best in the smaller villages and inland.

The region's best sights are spread across the province, and two of them stand out. The Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres was designed by the artist himself and is the centre of a Dalí triangle that also includes his house at Portlligat and the castle at Púbol. Girona has a medieval old town with a Gothic cathedral reached by a broad flight of steps, a well-kept Jewish quarter and houses painted in many colours along the river Onyar.

On the coast, Empúries has Greek and Roman ruins right beside the beach, and Tossa de Mar is still enclosed by its medieval walls. The Romanesque monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes looks down over Cap de Creus. Inland, Pals and Peratallada are stone villages that can be seen in an hour each. The heritage is rewarding, but you need a car and several days to see it.

Going out here depends on where you stay. Lloret de Mar is a classic summer party resort, with large clubs, cheap bars and crowds of young visitors until dawn from June to September. Platja d'Aro has the other big cluster of clubs and late bars, and Roses has a smaller scene of its own. Elsewhere, evenings are about long dinners, beach bars at sunset and a drink in the village square. Calella de Palafrugell, Cadaqués and the Begur coves are quiet by around midnight. Outside summer, most of the coast closes early.

The coastline is the main draw. Red and grey cliffs, pine woods and rocky headlands run north to Cap de Creus, a bare, wind-carved peninsula at the eastern tip of the Pyrenees. The old Camí de Ronda smugglers' path follows the shore for long stretches, and the walk between Calella de Palafrugell, Llafranc and Tamariu, or around Begur, is among the best coastal walking in the Mediterranean. Off L'Estartit, the Medes Islands are a protected marine reserve with some of the best diving and snorkelling in Spain, and sea kayaking among the coves is easy.

Inland, the Aiguamolls de l'Empordà wetlands are good for birdwatching, and the extinct volcanoes and beech woods of the Garrotxa are about an hour away. The quiet lanes and hills around Girona attract serious road cyclists all year. The high Pyrenees are about two hours from the coast.

From the southern end of the coast, Barcelona is about an hour and a quarter away, and from Girona it is less than an hour by high-speed train. That puts one of Europe's great cities within a day out. Over the French border, the painters' harbour of Collioure and the old town of Perpignan are about an hour from the northern resorts.

Inland, Besalú has a fortified Romanesque bridge and a medieval Jewish quarter, and Olot and Santa Pau sit among the Garrotxa volcanoes. Vic has a grand arcaded market square. The Empordà wine villages around Peralada and Capmany make an easy afternoon of tastings. Montserrat's mountain monastery can be reached from the south of the coast. A base near Girona or Palafrugell keeps most of these within comfortable reach.

This coast has been a summer destination for families for generations. Many stay at the large campsites and family resorts behind the long, shallow beaches of the Bay of Roses, L'Estartit, Pals and Sant Antoni de Calonge, where children can paddle safely and there is room to spread out. There are water parks near Lloret, Platja d'Aro and Roses. Glass-bottom boats run around the Medes Islands. At the southern end of the coast, the Marimurtra garden in Blanes and the Santa Clotilde gardens in Lloret de Mar have cliff-top paths, terraces and sea views that children enjoy exploring.

Catalan culture welcomes children, with late family dinners and squares full of children playing in the evening. The prettiest coves are reached by long flights of steps and get crowded, so younger children are better off on the wide sandy bays. Avoid Lloret's party strip when choosing a base.

A car makes this coast much easier. The main towns are rarely more than an hour's drive apart on good roads, but buses along the coast are sparse and only connect the larger resorts. Many of the best coves and inland villages can only be reached by car or on foot. In July and August, the narrow roads down to the coves around Begur and Cadaqués get congested and parking fills early.

Girona and Figueres are on the high-speed rail line, but the line runs inland and none of the beach towns has a station. Most villages are compact and easy to walk, and coastal paths link several of them, so once you have parked, you can do much of the area on foot.

This is not a shopping destination, but there are a few things worth seeking out. La Bisbal d'Empordà is a centuries-old pottery town whose main street is lined with ceramics workshops. Every town has its weekly open-air market, with local cheese, sausages, olive oil and wine. Girona's old town and Eixample have the best range of fashion and independent shops. Platja d'Aro's main street is lined with mainstream fashion stores. For serious shopping, people make a day trip to Barcelona.

In summer, which is when almost everyone comes, the coast costs about the same as an average Western European destination. How much you pay depends on where you stay. Begur, Cadaqués, Calella de Palafrugell and S'Agaró are the upmarket end, with boutique hotels and seafront dining at high-season rates. Lloret de Mar and the big campsites around Roses and L'Estartit are much cheaper. Weekday set lunch menus and village restaurants inland are good value. A hire car and coastal parking add to the cost, and in July and August rooms anywhere near the coves need booking well ahead.

Live performance here is concentrated in July and August, when a cluster of established festivals takes over gardens, castles and seafronts. The festival in the castle grounds at Peralada puts on opera, ballet and classical concerts. The cliff-top botanical garden at Cap Roig hosts big-name international acts, and Sant Feliu de Guíxols has the long-running Porta Ferrada festival.

Havaneres, sea songs brought back from Cuba by Catalan sailors, are a tradition along the whole Catalan coast, sung by local groups in harbours and squares through the summer. Their best-known gathering is the Cantada at Calella de Palafrugell, held on one night in early July, when crowds fill the beach and the rocks above it to listen over rum punch. Outside summer, Girona's auditorium and municipal theatre have most of what is on.

Caldes de Malavella, inland near Girona, is a long-established spa town with Roman baths and mineral springs, and its historic spa hotels are the best place to take the waters. Elsewhere, wellness mostly means hotel spas, especially around S'Agaró and Begur. The coast's real restorative appeal is its pace: stone farmhouses in the Baix Empordà, long lunches and quiet coves in June or September. In August it is crowded and the roads are busy, so anyone after rest should come at the start or end of summer.