The 10 best tours and places to visit on the Costa Brava from Lloret de Mar

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After 11 seasons hosting guests at our flat in Lloret, we have refined an honest list of the day trips that genuinely justify the journey. No brochure clichés: real distances, the best time of day to visit, and practical tips so you make the most of the Costa Brava without wasting hours in car parks.

1. Tossa de Mar and its medieval Vila Vella

It is the most obvious day trip and yet hardly anyone gets it right. Most people arrive at midday, park far away and trudge into town tired. Our advice: leave Lloret at 9 am, park at the harbour car park (3-4 € a day in low season, 12-15 € in August) and walk up to the Vila Vella before the sun is at its strongest. The 12th-century fortress is one of the very few walled old towns left on the Mediterranean and the early light is well worth the early start.

If you only have one day, combine Tossa with a swim at Cala Pola on the way back. The GI-682 road between Lloret and Tossa is one of the most spectacular in Catalonia but it has tight bends: if you get carsick, take the L80 bus instead (3.30 € one way).

See guided tours to Tossa de Mar

2. Girona, historic centre and Game of Thrones locations

Girona deserves a full day, not half a morning. The cathedral with the longest staircase in Spain (90 steps), the Call jueu (one of the best-preserved medieval Jewish quarters in Europe) and the Arab baths are only the start. If you watched Game of Thrones, you will recognise the cathedral as the Great Sept of Baelor.

We recommend taking the train from Blanes (Renfe R1, 1 h 5 min, 5.90 €) to avoid parking. Girona station is a 10-minute walk from the old town. Eat at Plaça de la Independència or, if your budget allows, book at El Celler de Can Roca (waiting lists run for months, but their Rocambolesc ice-cream shop is accessible and excellent).

Guided tour of Girona and Game of Thrones

3. Cap de Creus and Cadaqués (the Costa Brava of Dalí)

This is the trip that separates the tourist from the traveller. Cadaqués sits at the end of a mountain road that cannot be avoided, and that has kept the village almost intact: white houses, slate coves, fishing boats. The Salvador Dalí house-museum in Portlligat (10 min on foot from Cadaqués) requires booking online in advance, you cannot improvise. Capacity is very limited.

Afterwards, drive up to the Cap de Creus lighthouse, the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula. The short walk to the cape (15 min) crosses eroded rocks that look like Dalí sculptures, and in fact they were: Dalí painted here. Bring water, there is no shade.

Day trips to Cadaqués and Cap de Creus

4. Dalí Museum in Figueres

The Teatre-Museu Dalí is not really a museum: it is a total work of art designed by Salvador Dalí himself on the ruins of his home town theatre. Giant eggs on the roof, a room with a Mae West-lips sofa, the rainy car, the crypt with the artist’s tomb. The general ticket costs 17 € and is best booked online: queues in August can be an hour long in full sun.

It can be combined with the Castle of Púbol (where Gala lived) and the Portlligat house for the full “Dalí trilogy” over two days. If you can only do one, stay with Figueres: it is the most spectacular.

Tickets and tours to the Dalí Museum

5. Hidden coves of the Empordà: Sa Tuna, Aiguablava, Sa Riera

If you come to the Costa Brava looking for the postcard coves, you will not find them in Lloret or Blanes: they are further north, in the Baix Empordà. Sa Tuna (Begur) is a pebble bay with a couple of authentic beach bars. Aiguablava has fine sand and turquoise water that genuinely looks Caribbean. Sa Riera is the largest and most family-friendly of the three.

Access is tricky in August: small car parks fill up by 10 am. Arrive earlier or use the Begur shuttle buses (4 € return, every 30 min in July and August). In low season (May-June, September) you will have them almost to yourselves.

📍 8 km · 15 min by car

6. Marimurtra Botanical Garden (Blanes)

Marimurtra is our quiet favourite and the recommendation that older guests and couples thank us for the most. It is only 8 kilometres from the apartment, in Blanes, and brings together more than 4,000 plant species on cliffs above the Mediterranean. The famous Glorieta Carles Faust staircase with the cove in the background is one of the most photographed spots on the whole Costa Brava.

We have found that the best time to visit is first thing in the morning or the last two hours before closing: fewer people, warmer light, comfortable temperatures even in summer. Tickets cost about 10 € and you can buy them at the gate without trouble, but in July and August we recommend booking online.

Combine the visit with a swim at Cala Sant Francesc (5 minutes by car) or a stroll through the old town of Blanes. It makes a perfect half-day plan.

See activities near Blanes on GetYourGuide

📍 55 km · 50 min by car

7. Pals and Peratallada: medieval villages of the Empordà

If you like stone villages that look frozen in time, Pals and Peratallada are essential. They are about 50 minutes from the apartment, already in the Baix Empordà, and you can comfortably visit both on the same day because they are 10 km apart.

Pals has a walled old town, cobbled lanes and the Tower of the Hours as its icon. Peratallada (literally “carved stone”) is even more intimate: we love getting lost among its arches and small squares in the early afternoon, when the groups have left and the restaurants start putting their tables out in the street.

We recommend lunch at one of the terrace restaurants in Peratallada (book ahead at weekends) and saving Pals for the late afternoon light, when the golden stone lights up. The combination works very well.

📍 60 km · 1 h by car

8. Begur and the Camí de Ronda: the most beautiful coves

For us Begur is the definitive Costa Brava postcard: a white village with a castle on top and, at its feet, a string of turquoise coves connected by the Camí de Ronda. Sa Riera, Aiguablava, Sa Tuna, Fornells… each one has its own character. It is 60 km from Lloret but absolutely worth the drive.

Our advice: park up in Begur, walk up to the castle viewpoint (15 minutes on foot, 360º views), have lunch in the village and then go down to a single cove for the afternoon. Trying to see three coves in a day ends up exhausting and you lose the magic.

Camí de Ronda: the stretch between Sa Tuna and Aigua-Xelida is one of the most spectacular and only takes about 40 minutes on foot. Comfortable shoes and water: there is no shade.

📍 75 km · 1 h 10 min by car

9. Greco-Roman ruins of Empúries (L’Escala)

Empúries is the only archaeological site on the Iberian Peninsula where a Greek and a Roman city sit side by side, and it is literally on the beach. For us it is a must if you travel with older children, teenagers or simply enjoy history: you walk among 1st-century mosaics with the sound of the waves in the background.

Entry costs around 8 €, there is a free downloadable audio guide and you can comfortably tour the site in an hour and a half. We suggest bringing your swimsuit: Sant Martí d’Empúries beach is right next door, with fine sand and crystal-clear water. Combining the ruins with a swim is the perfect plan.

Guided tours to Empúries and the Empordà

📍 75 km · 1 h 15 min by car / 1 h 20 min by direct bus

10. Barcelona: a day trip from Lloret

Although Barcelona is not technically Costa Brava, it is so close to Lloret that it would be silly not to include it. Pujol-Moventis runs direct buses to Estació del Nord in about 1 h 20 min, several times a day from Lloret bus station. If you prefer to drive, parking in the centre is hard: we recommend leaving the car at a park-and-ride (Fòrum, Glòries) and taking the metro in.

In one day you can see the Sagrada Família (book online without fail, tickets sell out weeks in advance), Park Güell, a stroll through the Gòtic and lunch in the Born. If it is your second visit, our favourite plan is Gràcia + Casa Vicens + the Bunkers del Carmel at sunset.

Tip from regular guests: visit Barcelona on a Tuesday or Wednesday, not at the weekend. Fewer queues everywhere and the restaurants look after you better.

Tickets and tours in Barcelona on GetYourGuide