Costa Brava – The Perfect Day Trip from Barcelona

Disclaimer: Included in this post are links to tours I have personally taken or booked for clients on Viator. If you book these tours thru the links in this post, as a travel agent, I will receive a small commission.

Living in the US, I’ve traveled to many islands in the Caribbean and was always in awe of just how beautiful the Caribbean Sea is and thought there couldn’t possibly be a more beautiful sea. Until eight years ago, when I visited Italy and one look at the Mediterranean had me realizing just how much more beautiful it was compared to the Caribbean Sea.

When I was planning my trip to Spain, I just knew that I needed to plan a day to explore the Mediterranean coast while I was in Barcelona. I came across this great Costa Brava Day Trip with Barcelona Holiday. It was a perfect way to visit a couple of towns in this area with both guided portions of the tour and also ample free time to explore on my own.

In Spanish, Costa Brava translates to rugged coast. This is evident by its rocky cliffs which are part of what makes it such a beautiful location. It’s located along the coast of the Mediterranean from just north of Barcelona all the way north to the French border, within the province of Girona. With its close location to the French border, it attracts many tourists from France, therefore, you may see items such as restaurant menus printed in many different languages including Spanish, Catalan, French and English.

Not only is Costa Brava popular for its beaches, but there is also a lot of history as this area dates back to hundreds of years before the 1950s when Spain started promoting the area as a vacation destination. And its most definitely a beautiful vacation destination!

Costa Brava Day Trip Specifics

The tour that I took to Costa Brava is available on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The tour is available in both Spanish and English. The day I took the tour, they were able to split the group in two with one guide taking the Spanish speakers and one guide taking the English speakers. The tour takes approximately nine hours and follows the below schedule:

• 8:30AM – Bus leaves from Barcelona Nord bus station. Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes early to check in.
• 10:00AM – Arrive in Lloret de Mar, the main tourist village in Costa Brava. Here you will have an hour and a half of free time to explore the town.
• 11:30AM – Board the Dofi Jet Boat for a scenic hour-long ride along the Mediterranean to Tossa de Mar.
• 12:30PM – Arrive in Tossa de Mar where you will have over 3 hours to explore the island. You can spend that entire time on your own or you can start with a 45-minute guided tour of the historical section of the city.
• 3:45PM – Meet your guides for a walk thru Tossa de Mar back to the bus before leaving to head back to Barcelona.
• 5:30PM – Arrive back in Barcelona Nord Bus Station

As you will be on the water, make sure to bring sunscreen and some water to drink with you. With ample free time on this tour, it’s a great day to pack a towel and your swimsuit if you want to get some beach time in. While there is a lot of free time on the tour, make sure to also utilize your tour guides expertise. They were more than helpful with not just answering questions but also giving recommendations on things to see at each stop and where to find good restaurants.

Now on to the details of what you can enjoy on the tour!

Lloret de Mar

As the main tourist village in Costa Brava, Lloret de Mar has a lot to offer. There have been tourist visiting Lloret de Mar dating back to 1918 when the first summer villas were built. As you arrive in Lloret de Mar, you will see just why this Costa Brava village became such a popular vacation spot. Summer is the time that most tourist head to Lloret de Mar due to the beautiful beaches and Mediterranean views.

There are many things to do in Lloret de Mar, including the following:

• Spend some time at a beach – The top reason that people visit Lloret de Mar is definitely to enjoy the beaches. The most popular beach is Playa de Lloret which is a large beach located right in the heart of this tourist village. This beach isn’t just a great beach to relax in the sun or swim in the ocean, but there are also many activities to enjoy on the water like parasailing jet skiing. To the left of Playa de Lloret is Sa Caleta. This small bay includes a small beach and is a popular spot for snorkeling or diving. If you are looking for a quieter beach, if you head right from Playa de Lloret, about a 15-minute walk away is Lloret de Mar’s second largest beach, Fenals Beach. At Fenals Beach, you can rent a stand up paddleboard to enjoy the clear Mediterranean waters.

• Visit the Parish Church of Santa Roma – Located in the historic center of Lloret de Mar is the gothic style Parish Church of Santa Roma. Built in the early 1500s, part of the interior of the church was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, and shortly after they expanded the church with more modern architecture. You can see the original gothic style of the church in the entrance and the modern additions of the colorful domes. The mixture of the two architectural styles really makes this church a must see while visiting Llloret de Mar.

• Admire Castell d’en Plaja – At the end of Playa de Lloret near Sa Caleta is what looks like a medieval castle. While the turrets and walls of this building may have you sure it’s a castle dating back hundreds of years, you may be surprised to learn that this building is actually a private mansion that was just built in the 1930s/40s. As Castell d’en Plaja is a private residence you aren’t able to get a look inside, but there is a path up the hill to get a closer look of the mansion and a stunning view of Lloret de Mar from higher up.

• Explore the Shops and Restaurants – Just steps from Playa de Lloret is the heart of Lloret de Mar and this area is filled with your typical tourist shops and many restaurants to enjoy some tapas or a delicious meal. There are also some restaurants right on the beach if you are looking for something with a little more ambiance and a great view.

• Take a walk along the Mediterranean – No beach visit is complete without a walk along the water. Playa de Lloret features a palm tree lined walkway along the beach. They also have another short walkway across the street with plenty of benches to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. As mentioned above there is a path to the left of Playa de Lloret that goes up to Castell d’en Plaja. If you go to the right of Playa de Lloret there is a beautiful path that goes along the Mediterranean. This path winds up and down hills for beautiful views and heads towards Fenal Beach. I took this walk while I was in Lloret de Mar and highly recommend it as a must do.

Dofi Jet Ferry Ride

After spending an hour and a half exploring Lloret de Mar, we went to the Playa de Lloret where the Dofi Jet Ferry docked right on the beach for our ride to Tossa de Mar. These glass bottom boats stop at numerous beaches and villages in Costa Brava. Our trip from Lloret de Mar to Tossa de Mar stopped at a couple of beaches on the way to Tossa de Mar. The ferry has both indoor and outdoor seating and offers snacks and drinks for sale.

Along with stopping at some beaches along the way, the boat also stopped in a cove so that passengers could go down to the glass bottom viewing area to see the many fishes in the Mediterranean Sea. While the fish aren’t the colorful variety that you may see in other seas like the Caribbean, there were so many fish in the water. If you aren’t up for heading down to the glass bottom viewing, you can still get a glimpse of the huge number of fish from the boat due to how clear the water is.

Tossa de Mar

One of the more well-known villages in Costa Brava is Tossa de Mar and this is where the tour spends a good portion of the day which includes ample free time to enjoy the beach or explore the village on your own.

As we arrived in Tossa de Mar, our tour guide took those who wanted on a 45-minute tour of the historic area, La Vila Vella. As the boat came into Tossa de Mar, we could see the walls of La Vila Vella high up on the hill. It looked beautiful, so I was very excited to get a tour of this area.

We headed up the hill towards La Vila Vella, which was built between the 12th and 14th centuries. It’s surrounded by walls that were built to keep the pirates out of the city at the time. The walls are reminiscent of the walls of a castle, it was a beautiful sight. As we walked up, we stopped at different viewpoints for photos. There were many old cannons that were used against pirates attempting to raid the city.

We walked up along the walls that enclosed the city centuries ago and came to the site of the original Sant Vicenc Church. While this church was rebuilt outside of Vila Vella when the town outgrew the original church in the 1700s, portions of the structure still stand today. Our tour guide mentioned that it’s mostly used for weddings and normally she tells tours this and that’s the end of the story. But the day I was there, a wedding was happening at the site of the original Sant Vicenc Church, even the tour guide was happy to see this joyous occasion happening in front of us. It was definitely nice to see, such a beautiful location for a wedding overlooking the mediterranean.

At the highest point of Vila Vella, 60 meters above sea level, is the Tossa de Mar Lighthouse which was built in 1917. After we spent some time at the top of La Vila Vella, admiring the lighthouse and the views, we took a walk down the narrow streets within the walled historic center of Tossa de Mar. Along these streets are shops and restaurants to explore and enjoy.

One of the more surprising things that we saw on the tour was a statue of American actress, Ava Gardner. In 1950, she filmed the Flying Dutchman in Tossa de Mar and fell in love with the town and the surrounding area of Costa Brava. She often spoke of her love in Tossa de Mar and helped bring attention to the town to the American public. She was beloved in Tossa de Mar, so to show their gratitude to her, the town erected a statue in her honor.

After the tour ended, we had free time to explore Tossa de Mar for the rest of the afternoon. Some other things to see in Tossa de Mar other than La Vila Vella are:

• Spend some time at a beach – There are so many beaches to visit in Tossa de Mar. The most popular beach is Platja Gran. This is the beach that the ferry docks at and is located in the center of town. It is also the largest beach in Tossa de Mar. If you walk past Platja Gran in the opposite direction of La Vila Vella, you will come to Platja Mar Menuda. This is the second largest beach in Tossa de Mar and it features a shallow cove, making it popular for families with small children. Platja Mar Menuda is also a popular diving and snorkeling spot in Tossa de Mar. The beach that I thought was the most beautiful was located just outside of La Vila Vella. Platja es Codolar is surrounded by cliffs and incredibly picturesque. Photos of each beach in order noted above are below.

• Explore the Shops and Restaurants – Along with the shops and restaurants that can be found in La Vila Vella, you can also find plenty of more shops and restaurants in the Fisherman’s Village section of the town as well as many restaurants by Platja Gran with beautiful views of the Mediterranean. The Fisherman’s Village is located near La Vila Vella and was built as the town expanded and more fishermen came to town. The whitewashed buildings created quite the contrast against the older buildings of the walled Vila Vella.

• Take a walk along the Mediterranean – A walk along the Mediterranean is a must when visiting Tossa de Mar. The views from the walk up to La Vila Vella are stunning, from high above the color of the Mediterranean waters really shined. I could not get over just how beautiful it was. Walking in the opposite direction towards Platja Mar Menuda will also provide you with some great views.

We ended our day by meeting the tour guide back in the center of town at Platja Gran. From there we had a bit of a walk thru town to the area where the town allows buses to pick us up. Then it was back to Barcelona. I really enjoyed this tour and was happy that I saved it for the end of my trip, it was like I left the best for last. Being that Costa Brava is located on the Mediterranean, it reminded me a lot of Cinque Terre in Italy. And there are many similarities, one of which is that just like Cinque Terre, you can walk up and down the cliffs between the towns of Costa Brava. I guess I’m going to have to make another visit someday so I can do that.

I highly recommend this day trip if you are visiting Barcelona especially if you love being by the sea like I do. Be sure to also check out my post on the 8 Great Things to Do When Visiting Barcelona.

Beyond The Miles Travel is more than happy to help you plan your future trip to Costa Brava.

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