Destination Report: Costa Brava (Spain): What to do, see, eat and avoid

After a break from international travel due to the pandemic (read 9 months Stuck in Taiwan during the pandemic), we resumed our travel in May 2022 and got to explore some amazing locations again. We are now (Dec 2022) settled for a month in Ubud Bali which gives us extra time to catch up on our destination reports and start sharing with you all what we’ve been up to this year.

We started the year 2022 in Taiwan and decided to pick Costa Brava in Spain as our first travel destination. We wanted to go back after having an amazing experience during a short week stay in this region when visiting the town of Begur with friends in 2019. So without further ado, let’s go explore the Costa Brava and unveil in this two-part article what we did, ate, saw, and what we recommend people to avoid.

Overall, we give Costa Brava a 5 out of 5 stars rating (see our rating legend below). Our accommodation was spacious, really functional and affordable. The location was top notch as we had ocean views and were walking distance from the beach. Groceries were fresh and affordable especially at the farmer’s market and the food at restaurants was amazingly good and flavorful. However public transportation was limited so we decided to rent a car for an entire month. No major drawbacks for a month long stay. Though for longer period, it might be about finding a stable community all year round since it seems that this region is extremely visited in the summer and quite empty in the winter.

Our five stars rating system:

• 1 star: We hated this place and definitely do not plan to come back.
• 2 stars: We did not like this place and do not plan to come back.
• 3 stars: We liked this place but do not plan to come back.
• 4 stars: We really liked this place & we might consider coming back.
• 5 stars: We loved this place and are actually considering coming back. This is a place we could call home someday. 

With that being said, let’s look into what we liked the most and what we recommend doing in the Costa Brava! 

Where We Traveled Sa Riera, Costa Brava, Spain

Number of Days 29 days (from May 1, 2022, to May 29, 2022)

Type of Travel Married Couple, Slow Travel/Nomadic, Price Conscious

Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD and were converted from the local currency (EUR or Euro) to USD with the following exchange rate: 1 EUR = 1.052 USD. 

Introduction

Costa Brava is Spain’s wild coast and a true gem that not a lot of Americans know about. It is definitely quite a popular destination in the summer but mostly visited by Europeans. This stunning region is part of Catalonia and goes from the Mediterranean coast to the Pyrenees which form the natural border between Spain and France. The region is known for its gorgeous beaches but also for its historical towns and its Spanish flavors.

We actually love Costa Brava so much that it has made it to our list of places we would like to come back to on a regular basis and potentially make it a home base – that’s how much we love it!

What did we do, see and eat?

Let’s dig into our favorite places to eat, shop, and get entertained. To help you, we’ve included all the places that we call out below in the following Google Map. 

Our Favorite Sights/Activities

We love hiking and I realized that we hiked A LOT during that month. Here are most of the hikes we did with our own overall ratings: 

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Cadaques / Far de Cala Nans – A stunning hike from the lovely town of Cadaques that goes through this beautiful town and then continues along the cost to end on a beautiful area where you could swim and enjoy a lunch break as we did. (2h30 minutes / 12 km / 250 m elevation)

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Paratge de Tudela – A great hike inside this national park with a lot of natural art pieces that you can see on a very well defined walking path. Entrance is free in low season but you will have to pay in high season to enter. Parking available during high season. In low season you might have to park outside of the park. (1h30 / 6 km / 120 m elevation)

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Llafranc to Tamariu beach – This steep loop offers great views with a lunch stop by a gorgeous beach. (3h15 minutes / 14 km / 400m elevation)

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tossa de Mar to Cala Bona via Cala Pola –  A hike on the side of Tossa de Mar that goes through two beautiful cove beaches that make for a great lunch stop with a refreshing swim ( 2h / 7.75km / 260m )
• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Platja d’Aro – Sant Antoni de Calonge – Palamos – Another great day hike that has a couple of beaches along the way for a swim. ( 3h45 / 14km / 215m )
• ⭐️⭐️ Cala d’Aiguafreda to Sa Tuna – This hike starts from Aiguafreda and goes up to the hills to provide great views over the area including Sa Tuna beach. (90 minutes / 6 km / 250 m elevation)
• ⭐️⭐️ Sa Riera to Cala d’Aiguafreda – A nice beach that makes for a really nice walk from Sa Riera (where our Airbnb was). It’s a lovely beach by many standards but there are many other favorites in the area. 3/3 for hiking around it though. 
• ⭐️⭐️ L’Estartit – The town isn’t the most exciting as it is pretty developed, but it take you on an interesting hike that ends up pretty much on your own private beach (1h45 / 7.4km / 200 m)

We also spent time visiting many lovely town in the area:

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tossa de Mar – A lovely medieval town with a great beach and lovely shop to enjoy ice cream. Nice to combine this town with a hike. Usually gets busy as it is a prime touristy location.

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pals – A very cute medieval town that isn’t really busy and has a ton of charm. Our favorite medieval town in the area.

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Peratallada – Declared an historic-artistic monument, most of the buildings are built from stone carved from the fosse or moat which still encircles parts of this small fortified medieval town.

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Girona – We went there for their flower festival and we really enjoyed visiting this city. We had our first tapas over dinner which were great. (see below for our food recommendations)

• ⭐️ Palau Sator – Another town next to Peratallada. Not as nice but if you are in the area it is worth a shortstop. 

Day tour:

Here is a great day tour in the Costa Brava / Girona Province region if you have a car. We made stops to the following places (in the order below): 

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Besalu – Besalu is a lovely medieval town in the Girona province. The town has a beautiful bridge and a very medieval feel downtown. 

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Castellfollit de la Roca – Castellfollit is a small town west of Besaly, Its most striking aspect is that the entire town is constructed on a narrow sliver of a cliff that sticks out  into a valley with the town church at the front of it. Simply amazing. 

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Monestir de Sant Joan de les Abadesses – Another lovely medieval town / monastery worth stopping by. The downtown area is lovely.

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pont Vell (de San Joan de les Abadesses) – We reached the river under this bridge to find a lovely picnic spot, a grassy area by the water. If you don’t pack your food, you will find a bunch of restaurants in the town itself.

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Santa Pau – One more stop on our way. Another lovely village. If you have time this can be a good base for a day as hikes to the nearby volcanic area starts from this town.
• ⭐️⭐️ Banyoles’ Lake –  If you still have time and want a nice walk you can go check out this lake. If you are in a rush it is okay to skip. 
• ⭐️⭐️ Haribo Candy Factory – I grew up with this German brand candy and was super excited to make this stop!

Our Favorite Restaurants

Here are our top recommendations for restaurants in Costa Brava:

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ El Pedro – A great place for a date lunch/dinner if you get to visit Pals. We actually went there on our wedding anniversary (that we coupled with visiting the beautiful town of Pals). There is sitting both inside and outside. We got a table outside and had a lovely meal. We ordered their zucchini pie for appetizer, shoulder lamb and grilled squid for main and lemon sorbet for dessert with a glass of sangria.
  Cost: 74 EUR

• ⭐️⭐️La Tapeta – Our first tapas experience in Girona. Giving it a 2/3 stars as it was pretty good but I can’t tell if this was the best tapas in town and it also seemed a bit pricey. Though the food was good.
  Cost: 35 EUR to share for three tapas shared between the two of us.

• ⭐️ La Cort – While this restaurant is in a lovely location of Peratallada and the menu is really affordable, we did not enjoy our food that much. Still listing it for you guys to keep an eye on as it had decent reviews at the time we came. 
  Cost: 16.50 EUR for the ‘menu del dia’

Our Favorite Sweets Spots

Well it turns out that we did not indulge in many sweets outside of our home since we did a lot of grocery shopping and cooking at home and the store had plenty of sweets for us to enjoy. We did try churros though and you can find them at the market in Palafrugell. Look for Xurreria La Familia in the plaza next to the market on weekends.

Besides that, you will really find plenty of ice cream shops as you visit the towns. One scoop of ice cream should be between 2-3 EUR and 3 scoops should be around 5 EUR. The perfect tweet after a nice long hike in the sun.

Our Favorite Grocery Stores/Markets

Here are our top recommendations to get groceries in Costa Brava:

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mercat de Palafrugell – Our favorite farmers market in the area where we stayed. The market is on weekends and brings a ton of fresh and amazing produce (vegetables, fruits, nuts) and even clothing. The market is near a nice plaza that has many cafes and bakeries where you could pick up extra goodies. This place is in Palafrugell which was a ~20 minutes drive from our Airbnb which was great.  

Our Favorite place to take care of ourselves

Here are our top recommendation to get pampered in Costa Brava:

• ⭐️⭐️⭐️ MAGMA Termal Center – A great place for a few relaxing hours spent between hot pools, cold plunges, saunas and jacuzzis.
  Cost: 30 EUR for a 2 hour pass per person

What to avoid

While it’s great to call out what to check out, we think it is as important to also include what NOT to do. These are things/activities/places we stayed away from. Of course, the taste is personal and so your preference might vary.

• Avoid exploring between 12-2 pm. Like many beach destinations, Spain can get hot during the day, so try to do things early in the morning, find a beach or a place to cool down during midday and resume your activity around 3pm.
• Avoid eating at touristy places. If the menu is in every single language possible, this is a no go for sure. If it is in Spanish / English this is a bit better but still a sign that the cuisine is adapted for tourists and this doesn’t always provide you with the best food experience, especially if such places are in the most convenient area of the town (like the city center). Try to look a bit further and don’t be afraid if the menu is only in Spanish / Catalan. This actually can make for a fun cultural challenge and you might get a really authentic experience.
• Avoid peak high-season. We went during the shoulder season in May and it was perfect for us. The ocean could have been warmer but the cooler temperatures allowed us to enjoy the many hikes that we did. Plus, it was nice to avoid the crowds and have plenty of space to relax on the beaches.

Our Slow Travelers Tips

Slow travel is part of our philosophy. It gives us the opportunity to really connect with a place by not having to experience FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and getting unnecessarily stressed for being on a schedule. With slow travel, we can see all the iconic sights and have time to spare to find the more offbeat spots that most tourists miss. Most of the time, those are the absolute gems. And as this blog post explains, we spend much less by leveraging “local” pricing and being able to get long stay discounts.

Here are some tips to maximize a nice and enjoyable stay in the Costa Brava:

• Cook and enjoy the local produce – If you like to cook, you should definitely take the time to shop at the farmers market and enjoy the fresh and nutrient rich food you will get there. It is also extremely affordable (the USD/EUR conversion rate being really good helped). If cooking is too much work for you, at least grab a bunch of local fruits and enjoy them. Nothing better than the locally sourced produce in Costa Brava.
• Rent a car for a road trip – The first time we came to the Costa Brava, we only had a week so that only gave us just enough time to enjoy the beaches but this region has a lot more to offer. With more time and the flexibility of a car, you can do day trips to the many charming medieval towns in the area that we recommended.
• Attend a festival – We were fortunate to overlap with the flower festival in Girona (Temps de Flors) and it was such a beautiful sight to see the city decorated in flower displays. It made for an interesting and unique visit to this city.

What about the cost? 

Because our destination reports were getting so long, we decided to split them into two parts. Part one (this part) is about what to do/see/eat & avoid. Part two (that we will link at the end of this article) will be about the costs where we will be uncovering all the juicy details about our budget and how much the two of us spent during our stay. If the post isn’t linked yet at the bottom of this post, make sure you sign-up for our newsletter so you will get our cost of living post (and any upcoming ones) as soon as they go live. In the meantime, if you really want some numbers, feel free to check out our past destination reports.

Would you be interested in going to Costa Brava? Does the beautiful destination appeal to you? Maybe you’ve already been? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.