The coast that starts at our door, and the roads that lead inland — medieval walls, old fishing harbours, mountain monasteries. Everything on this page is within an hour.
At the end of July, the bay fills with smoke, music, and people. Five nights, pyrotechnic teams from around the world, one of Europe's oldest fireworks competitions, running since the nineteenth century.
The rockets are launched from Sa Palomera, the rock where the Costa Brava begins. Each night, the beaches and terraces fill with people.
Outside that one week, Blanes is a real Mediterranean town — a long promenade, a medieval castle above the bay, and the Marimurtra botanical garden on the cliffs. It is worth visiting in any season.
At the beginning of October, the stretch of coast beside us becomes the finish line of one of Europe's best-known long-distance triathlons — IRONMAN Barcelona.
Athletes from around the world swim into the Mediterranean at sunrise, cycle along the Maresme coast, and finish with a marathon on Calella beach. From a villa a few kilometres away, the whole weekend takes on a quiet energy of its own.
Calella also anchors the Carnaval de l'Alt Maresme in late February and La Minerva in September — a small seaside town with a surprisingly full festive calendar.
A medieval fortress rising straight above the sea — one of the few fortified fishing towns still standing on the Costa Brava. Walk the walls in late afternoon.
In mid-January, one of the town's oldest traditions quietly unfolds — the Pelegrí. One man walks forty kilometres inland to a chapel of Sant Sebastià and returns the next day, fulfilling a vow made against the plague in the fifteenth century. It ends with a torchlit procession along the old walls.
The monastery rises out of a massif of strange, serrated rock — visible from Santa Susanna on a clear day. A day trip worth making for the boys' choir at noon and the cable-car views alone.
One of Catalonia's best-preserved medieval villages, set on a hill above the rice fields. Walk the narrow streets, look for the Gothic arches. At Christmas it hosts one of the finest living nativities in the Empordà.
A small walled town on the way inland, just twenty minutes from our door. Each spring, around Holy Week, its fortress opens for three days of artisans, processions, and falconry — the Fira Medieval, now nearing its thirtieth year.
A stone village cut almost literally out of the rock — its name means "carved stone". Tiny, walkable in an hour, but memorable for much longer.
A walled Empordà village built around the castle of the Rocabertí family, with a fourteenth-century convent and some of Catalonia's oldest wineries.
In July and August, the castle gardens become one of the country's finest music venues — the Festival Castell de Peralada, with opera, classical music, and dance, returning every summer since 1987. During Holy Week, a smaller cycle of chamber concerts is held inside the Church of Carme.
