Postcard from Costa Brava
photo by Felipe Gabaldón

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

Understand

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

Other destinations

Getting there

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 Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways and transavia.com (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.

See

The unknown gem of the Costa Brava is Tossa de Mar. This beautiful little fishing village is one of the least developed on the northern Spanish Mediterranean coast. Tossa is still a fishermen's town, with the quaint very-narrow cobblestoned streets, white houses, and beautiful coastline. Tossa also boasts some very well-preserved medieval ruins -- including walls and towers which protected the town between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries.

If you like casinos and more luxurious accommodations, go to Lloret de Mar. However, if you prefer the less developed beaches, and don't mind less ostentatious accommodations, Tossa de Mar is for you.

Also see Girona - old city and Jewish quarter, Cadaques - Dali museum and marine park.

Things to do

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.

Eat

  • Ca la Paquita , 972-758303, 972-758303, c/Major 22, Gualta, Girona, a small town close to Estartit (6 km), . Excelent food created for his chef with the traditional Mediterranean style. Good relation quality-price.

Drink

The Rovers Return - A lovely British pub, serves nice food and a lovely pint. Also recommended for late nights as the hosts are excellent company!

Cities/Resorts

  • Girona - Capital of the Costa Brava, beautiful city divided by a canal

  • Lloret de Mar - Largest resort,

  • Tossa de Mar - A lovely seaside resort

  • Blanes Southernmost resort with two botanical gardens

Traveling 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.

Get out

  • Malgrat de Mar - Railway station by the beach, just south of Blanes

Contact & location

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The photos displayed on this page are the property of one of the following authors:

Felipe Gabaldón, Andrés/Andrew Larsen, Rodrigo Soldon, Jorge Franganillo, www.viajar24h.com, diluvi.com Anna i Adria, Scott McMurren

Some photos courtesy of: . The photos provided by Flickr are under the copyright of their owners.

This travel guide also includes text from Wikitravel articles, all available at WikitravelView full credits

Claus Hansen, Stefan Ertmann, Denis Yurkin, Pascal, Carme Pla, Colin Jensen, David, Stacy Hall, Paddy Briggs and Mark Jaroski, Episteme, Rein N., The Yeti, Jonboy, InterLangBot and Huttite

This travel guide also includes text from Wikipedia articles, all available at WikipediaView full credits

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