Summer is coming and, when it arrives, all Catalans use to go and bath in the Costa Brava –in our opinion, one of the finest landscapes of Catalonia. It may not be the typical exotic coast, but it has the incomparable Mediterranean charm of its cliffs and its plant life. The Costa Brava, which literally means “rugged coast”, is the scenery of our summer childhood memories. The coast follows the Catalan counties (comarques) of La Selva, Baix Empordà and Alt Empordà, all of them within the province of Girona, whose inhabitants have seen how fishing has been replaced by tourism as the main business of the area.
Costa Brava is said to start in the southern town of Blanes, in the mouth of the Tordera river, and ends by the French border. In fact, the mouth of the Tordera river is the natural limit with the Barcelona coast. Thus, from Blanes towards the north you can find a set of nice villages that have fought –with more or less success– to keep their authenticity despite the number of local and foreign tourists that visit them each summer season. One of those villages is Tossa de Mar, the third one that you will find if you begin your travel through the Costa Brava from the south.
Being part of La Selva’s coastline, Tossa de Mar is defined by its castle, built in the XII century at the top of Mount Guardí, and its walled ancient town (Vila Vella). The panoramic view of Tossa de Mar invites you to cross the gates and explore the medieval town, dominated by the lighthouse (far). But we think that the most magical place in Vila Vella is the ruin of the old Gothic church of Sant Vicenç, which was completed in the XV century and destroyed at the beginning of the XIX century when the French stocked explosive there. It had previously been abandoned in the XVIII century, when a new church was built, and after the explosion local people removed the stones to construct or repair their houses. Nevertheless, the skeleton of the temple remains there as a wonderful window to the Mediterranean Sea.
If you love hiking like we do, you will be pleased to know that you can visit the villages and the beaches of the Costa Brava by foot, just following Camí de Ronda, a footpath built along the coast to help the policemen supervise it and stop smuggling. Nowadays, the path allows you to walk from one bay to the other to have the best views of the beaches, the coast and the sea. And to bath and relax during your way if the day is too hot! 130 km is the length of the trails that can be found between Blanes, in the south, and Portbou, in the north. There are routes for every taste!
To reach Tossa de Mar by foot we departed from Cala Giverola, a nice bay found between the villages of Tossa de Mar and Sant Feliu de Guíxols. This bay is located 5 km in the north of Tossa de Mar and is not a private beach, although a great vacation complex is located there, which even has a cable car to carry people from the apartments to the beach (something quite uncommon in Costa Brava!). A camping can also be found there, with direct access to the next bay following our way to the south: Cala Pola. This is a family beach mainly visited by the people staying in the camping, with really clear water that invites you to swim.
Cala Pola and the centre of Tossa de Mar are connected by a tranche of Camí de Ronda which takes around 50 minutes walking. As far as we know certain tourist boats also connect Tossa de Mar, Cala Pola and Cala Giverola by sea. In the footpath towards Tossa de Mar there is another hotspot: Cala Bona, a bay located at the end of an estuary. The landscape there is amazing and even a restaurant is placed in the bay, despite the fact that the beach is quite small and there is no room for a towel there! And if you continue the way to Tossa de Mar you may be a little hungry at the end. Good news: the waterfront and the medieval town of Tossa de Mar are full of restaurants where you can enjoy the local gastronomy (seafood and paella are a must!).
It really looks beautiful with all those cliffs. 🙂
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Thank you! It is a really beautiful coast, we highly recommend it.
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I have not been to Costa Brava yet, it looks beautiful! I love that you can do hiking and the water looks so lovely. Thanks for sharing on #TheWeeklyPostcard.
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Yes, Camí de Ronda is one of the best trails in Catalonia. And you have many beaches to rest 🙂
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Beautiful! Nice hike and delicious paella sound like wonderful day!
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Paella is the typical food for a day next to the sea. Thank you for your comment!
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I wish I had known about Costa Brava before my first visit to Barcelona! I was there for 5 days (at Xmas, so it would have been no good anyways)! I might be going back later this year and if I do, I’m totally going for a least one day!! It’s so beautiful! Thanks for linking up with #TheWeeklyPostcard!
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You should visit Costa Brava sometime! Apart from the beaches and the villages you have some cultural hotspots there such as the Dalí house and the Dalí museum.
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I visited Costa Brave a few years ago, for one of the TBEX meetings. It was absolutely lovely, as you are describing in your post. You reminded me about it. Thank you. #TheWeeklyPostcard
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Glad that you liked Costa Brava in your visit! Hope that you can return someday. Thank you for your comment.
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spent an afternoon here on a high school trip to Spain a long, long time ago:) #wanderfulwednesday
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Great! Hope you enjoyed Tossa de Mar then 🙂
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Mhhhmmmm paella!! Haven’t been to the Costa Brava yet but those views are stunning and I’m totally up for some warmth and sunshine right now 😉
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I can promise that we have enough warm weather to share it with you! I need some cold weather right now! Haha come to Costa Brava and we will show you the best places, some unknown by the crowds 🙂
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So pretty! We’ve got to get back to Spain to see more, since we didn’t get out of Barcelona on our last trip. Thanks for sharing your gorgeous photos on #TheWeeklyPostcard!
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If you want to see the best beaches near to Barcelona, go to the North! 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
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Absolutely gorgeous! We were in Costa Brava in April and I’ve yet to upload my photos… one of the most beautiful areas of Spain/Catalunya for sure!
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Thanks Sarah for your comment. We are glad you liked Costa Brava 🙂 There are many small white villages, small beaches and transparent water for enjoying summer. Looking forward to see your photos!
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Great Punkte insgesamt, können Sie nur einfach a new Leser. Was würden Sie vorschlagen, über Ihrem Beitrag, dass Sie ein paar einige Tage gemacht? Jede positive?
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Sorry for not being able to answer in German 🙂 Although we have some knowledge we don’t feel enough confident.
Our suggestion would be to spend some days around Tossa de Mar. There are fantastic resorts and camping sites. It is perfect for families and we highly recommend to do the same hike that we did on the cliffs between Tossa and Cala Giverola.
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Thank you for commenting on my blog. It has been fun to see what places you have written about. We visited Tossa de Mar not long ago. I agree it is very beautiful and I would like to go again but NOT in August! The beaches were so packed and all the restaurants were so touristy. Not our taste, I’m afraid. We left quickly and drove on to Sant Feliu de Guíxols, but it was not as beautiful. I would like to try your hikes at a quieter time of year.
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Yes! You’re right. In summer the whole region is very crowdy and everything is planned for tourists. It is better to go in a more quiet time of the year. Thank you for reading our blog!
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