Costa Brava Pyrenees of Girona

Visit Girona at any time of year; every season has a wide-ranging offer in culture, food and drink, free time and leisure activities, tourist and business services, etc.
Get to know the main artistic heritage, wandering around the streets of the Barri Vell (Old Quarter) and visiting Girona cathedral, the Arab Baths, the houses over the river Onyar, the city walls, the Call Jueu (Jewish Quarter) and the Rambla de la Llibertat.
You can also enjoy the city´s most important museums like the Museu d´Art, the Museu d´Arqueologia and the Museu del Cinema, as well as a range of events: Girona Flower Time, the Festival of Religious Music and the Easter procession and ´Manaies´ (Roman soldiers).

Figueres is a town that combines heritage and entertainment. In the town centre you can find good examples of ´Modernista´ and Neoclassical architecture such as Casa Cusí or Casa Salleras. But one of the town´s most important icons is that master of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí. A large number of works by him can be seen at the Dalí Museum and Theatre.
Outside the town, set on top of a hill, is the Castell de Sant Ferran, where you can look out on spectacular views of the Alt Empordà.

The Empordà Wetlands Nature Reserve is home to a great variety of ecosystems consisting of water, land and nature, where you can see 329 different bird species including storks, mallard, squacco herons and grey herons.
In this nature reserve you can completely switch off and get away, relax and feel totally free as you enjoy the colours and the light of the landscape.

The Costa Brava has various botanical gardens where you can enjoy strolling in the midst of native plants and trees and plant species from all over the world set out on impressive terraces overlooking the Mediterranean.
The most important gardens are the Jardins de Marimurtra and the Jardins Pinya de Rosa in Blanes, the Jardins de Cap Roig in Calella de Palafrugell and the Jardins de Santa Clotilde in Lloret de Mar.

A visit to the Ruins of Empúries, lying between the towns of L´Escala and Sant Martí d´Empúries, is a must if you want to find out a little more about the historical legacy, as they make up one of the most important archaeological sites in Catalonia. The preserved remains belong to an old port and a Greek city that was later Romanised. You can also visit the museum there, which keeps objects found during the excavations at the ruins. In summer there are dramatised visits staging historical moments from that period.

Banyoles stands out for the range of tourist resources available for your enjoyment, which include a large offer in sport and leisure activities. The lake at Banyoles is the town´s main attraction and a unique site of enormous ecological, cultural and scenic value; but you should also visit the Casc Antic (Old Quarter), which preserves the essence of a medieval town, and the Museu Darder and Archaeological Museum.

The Medes Isles are one of the Mediterranean´s most important marine reserves of flora and fauna and one of the world´s most popular underwater diving sites. A visit is therefore a must, either by boat or from the beach.
The archipelago consists of seven islets characterised by the great wealth of their marine ecosystem which, thanks to the proximity of the coast and the mouth of the river Ter, receive large quantities of organic matter. You can see colonies of seagulls, underwater caves, Mediterranean tapeweed, red coral, groupers, starfish...

Romanesque is a medieval art that is very characteristic of the towns on the Costa Brava and in the Girona Pyrenees. The area preserves a large number of buildings and cloisters and examples of mural painting in churches and museums. If you want to enjoy this style during your stay you can visit the cathedral and the monastery of Sant Pere de Galligans in Girona, the church of Sant Feliu in Beuda, the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes in Port de la Selva and the monastery of Ripoll.

Apart from the Costa Brava, the evidence of centuries of cohabitation with nature´s most rugged aspect can be found in the mountains. The Girona Pyrenees are a defining force, an unavoidable presence whose snow-covered peaks, 6,500 feet above sea level, condition and model the region´s entire landscape. Starting from Castellfollit de la Roca, perched on its basalt cliff, the elegance of Besalú, the natural beauty of Santa Pau, the spectacular GarrotxaVolcanic Field Natural Park... you come to the feet of the Pyrenees, where, as you climb, you find the Vall de Camprodon, the Vall de Núria, La Molina and La Masella, the largest skiable area in the Pyrenees.