Costa Brava - Spanish coastal region in Catalonia

The Costa Brava (Rugged Coast) is a coastal region in Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain. It has rocky cliffs and a mix of pebble beaches and sandy beaches.

Cities

(north to south)

• Llançà
• Cadaqués
• Roses
• Empuriabrava
• L'Escala
• L'Estartit
• Pals
• Begur
• Calella de Palafrugell — scenic fishing town
• Tossa de Mar — a lovely seaside resort
• Lloret de Mar — a beach resort with a reputation for its nightlife
• Blanes — Barcelona's nearest and southernmost resort with two botanical gardens, beaches and modernist buildings

Understand

In the early 2000s many Russians acquired villas around Costa Brava, inflating restaurant prices, and bringing many expensive cars to the region.

Talk

The official language of the region is Catalan and as is the case everywhere in Catalonia, all the citizens are also fluent in Spanish. In this region, English is very widely spoken and quite often French as well. Some people will speak German, but the lingua franca is really English.

Get in

Costa Brava's main airport is Girona-Costa Brava airport. Ryanair operate flights to the airport from several destinations in Europe and Morocco all year. Other airlines include Thomson Airways and Transavia (all seasonal). Alternatively, you can fly into Barcelona-El Prat airport. Airport shuttles operate between Girona-Costa Brava airport and the majority of the resort cities, Barcelona and Girona city centre.

Get around

If you want to explore a lot of the coastal cities then renting a car is your best option. There is regular bus service between the towns but nothing compares driving along and stopping where you like.

See

• Beaches and coves
• Botanical gardens in Blanes.
• The Dali Museum in Figueres.
• Medieval ruins in Tossa, with some very well-preserved medieval ruins -- including walls and towers which protected the town between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.
• Traditional fishing cities like Blanes and Lloret de Mar and towns like Cadaqués, Tossa de Mar and Pals that have become important destinations for internal Spanish tourism.

Do

• Gamble at the casinos in Lloret de Mar
• Scuba dive - There are scuba diving outings to the "Illes Medes" (Medes Islands) National Reserve Park from L'Estartit. Cadaques also has various dive shops to explore the area. Tossa de Mar is also a popular scuba diving spot.

Eat

The Costa Brava region has some renowned restaurants, including Miramar in Llançà with 2 Michelin stars, and la Llar in Empuriabrava and Els Brancs in Roses with one star each.

You can also find plenty of touristic restaurants with seafood and paella and traditional restaurants with Catalan cuisine in all the towns and cities.

Drink

Any coastal town or city in the Costa Brava have almost a bar near the beach to relax and take a drink.

Lloret de Mar is well known because of its discos and nightlife, but you can take a drink quietly on many bars near to the beach.

There is a Denomination of Origin for wine called, DO Empordà that encompasses most of the Costa Brava region and in the last 15-20 years, the wines have increased greatly in quality to the point of being quite recommendable. While you can hire guides, if you have a car, you can also easily make a tour of the cellars using a handy English language book that's available called, Vinologue

Sleep

All the cities and towns in the Costa Brava have camping areas and hotels for tourist accommodation.

One of the biggest areas for those arriving by caravan is between Sant Pere Pescador and L'Escala which during the summer has more Dutch and British license plates than Spanish.

Stay safe

Go next

• Barcelona - Barcelona the capital and largest city of Catalonia.
• Figueres - home to the Dalí museum
• Girona - Nice old town with an impressive Jewish quarter.
• Girona Pyrenees - Monumental mountain towns, ski resorts and la Garrotxa volcanoes.