Heading north takes you to Girona, Figueres, the stone villages of the Empordà and, further on, Empúries by the sea. Put several stops together for a full day, or choose just one and leave the rest for next time.
A cathedral city on the River Onyar, with coloured houses reflected in the water. The Jewish Quarter is one of the best preserved in Europe. You can walk the Roman walls from above, and that walk gives you the whole city at once.
Late afternoon is the best time — the light settles into ochre on the stone, and the city grows quieter after lunch.
The city of Dalí, and of the theatre-museum he designed as his final work. Give it a whole morning.
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.
Empúries is one of those places where history is inseparable from the landscape. The remains of ancient Greek and Roman towns lie beside the Mediterranean, and the horizon keeps reappearing beyond streets, public spaces and mosaics.
It becomes easy to imagine not an abstract idea of “antiquity”, but ordinary life: homes, markets, roads and people who once looked out over the same sea.
After visiting the archaeological site, continue to Sant Martí d’Empúries. Its old walls, handful of streets and restaurants near the shore bring the day to a natural close — without a sudden jump from the ancient world back into the present.
