You arrive off the winding GI-682 road to the smell of pine resin and grilling sardines. Tossa de Mar is built around the Vila Vella, a twelfth-century fortified promontory of golden stone towers holding court over the Mediterranean. Down below, wooden dinghies rest on the coarse sand of Platja Gran while cooks reduce garlic and fish stock for cim i tomba. It is an unhurried Catalan working seaside town that manages to take its history and lunch equally seriously.
Last updated 22 Aug 2026






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Life here centres on the curve between the medieval fortress of Vila Vella and the working fishing bay. Mornings are for quiet cove swims and cafe con leche along Carrer de la Guàrdia, while afternoons turn into slow, garlic-heavy seafood lunches. It suits independent travellers who prefer historic stone streets, crisp sea air, and walking trails over noisy resort strips, offering a steady, rewarding rhythm for three or four relaxed days.
Start early at Platja d'es Codolar before the sun heats the stone ramparts of the Vila Vella. Walk up to Far de Tossa for broad sea views, then take a table at Restaurant Bahía for monkfish cim i tomba. Finish with an evening stroll through Sa Roqueta as shopkeepers lower their awnings. Select 1 Day above to see it.
Dedicate your morning to the Roman mosaics at Els Ametllers, followed by a coastal walk along the Camí de Ronda to Cala Pola. Pack water and fruit from the municipal market on Rambla Pau Casals. In the evening, share glasses of Empordà Garnatxa and grilled prawns in the old quarter. Choose 2 Days to expand the plan.
Head inland into the Massís de les Cadiretes to see cork forests and the hermitage of Sant Grau. Drive the dramatic coastal corniche road to Sant Feliu de Guíxols, stopping at roadside viewpoints. End the day lingering over vermouth and anchovies on a shaded bench by Platja Gran.
Order cim i tomba, the classic fisherman stew of monkfish, potatoes, and thick alioli, simmered in cast iron alongside salted anchovies from nearby l'Escala.
Walk the twelfth-century stone battlements of the Vila Vella, past the cylindrical towers of Codolar and Joanàs, watching waves crash below the ramparts.
Follow the Camí de Ronda north toward Cala Pola and Cala Giverola, stepping through red pine needles on clifftops fifty metres above turquoise water.
Drink crisp DO Empordà whites made from Garnatxa Blanca and Macabeu, or robust Carinyena reds produced in the granite soils of the nearby hills.
Claim a towel spot on the gravel of Platja d'es Codolar beneath the castle walls, or swim out to the rocky islets around sheltered Platja Mar Menuda.
Inspect the third-century mosaics and preserved heating hypocausts of the Roman villa of Els Ametllers, an easy five-minute walk from the town centre.
Climb the summit road to Far de Tossa, built on the former castle keep in 1917, housing a maritime museum with panoramic views across the bay.
Pick up sweet, crunchy carquinyolis almond biscuits or a slab of anise-scented coca de recapte at Pastisseria Tomàs along Carrer dels Socors.
Plunge into the posidonia seagrass meadows at Mar Menuda to spot octopuses, groupers, and sea bream navigating the calm underwater channels.
Visit the Museu Municipal within the governor palace to see Marc Chagall paintings from his 1934 stay, alongside Iberian pottery and Roman coins.
Wander Sa Roqueta, the eighteenth-century fishermen quarter, where whitewashed houses, potted geraniums, and quiet taverns flank narrow cobbled alleys.
Hike inland into the Massís de les Cadiretes nature reserve, passing cork oak woods, granite megaliths, and the ruined hermitage of Sant Grau.