Along the Catalan Coast - Short Break

I really enjoyed the solitude and scenery. It was so peaceful. Many people don't speak English there, so it's useful to be able to speak some Spanish, Catalan, or French. The architecture in Begur was also interesting, and I was impressed with the information in the notes explaining some of the history of the area.

Superb location and excellent hotels. Everything was organised superbly, from the taxis to the luggage transfer to the hotels. The route maps took us to locations that we would never have known about otherwise. Sa Tuna was a highlight.

We had one issue with the walk from Callela to Begur. Just beyone the lighthouse of  San Sebastian the G92 trail disappeared over the cliff edge even though the signpost was pointing in that direction. It may have been due to erosion, but if the rocks going downwards were indeed the trail, there is no way I was going to follow it. We tried to find another way via the road using Google maps but Google was not accurate enough.  Our fault for not downloading the GPS tracker app that you suggested prior to travelling, we will certainly do that for next time. Anyway the change of plan did not spoil our day as we retraced our steps and got a taxi. 

Will use Inntravel again. 

Overall an exc holiday 

Girona definitely worth a visit 

The walks and resorts were amazing. Places we would otherwise have not chosen. Loved this holiday

Really nice short but varied holiday. The two hotels were different but each quite charming. Walks were beautiful as well.

INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers combined three holidays - the White Towns & Rugged Mountains walk, A Trail of Three Cities journey, and a Taste of the Catalan Coast walk.

First and foremost, please can we thank you for organising such an amazing holiday for us.  This was a special holiday as Charles had just retired and we wanted to celebrate this major event with a special holiday.  This was our ‘retirement honeymoon!’ There was a special surprise waiting for us on our arrival at Al Largo, in Zahara – a particularly nice bottle of wine. 

Right from the beginning you embraced all of our requests. We always travel by train within Europe and your travel team put together the perfect itinerary. 

We actually did 4 holidays back-to-back.  All of the hotels were unique and amazing.  The hoteliers held Inntravel in great respect and had clearly had a long-standing relationship with you. The hotels were all centrally located with regional and historical features.  It’s impossible to single out one individual hotel but we were particularly touched by the view of the Alhambra from our room at the Casa Morisca in Granada; truly a ‘room with a view.’

All of the restaurants that we ate at were brilliant.  The hotel restaurants at Al Largo, Zahara; Molino de Santa, Benaojan and Sant Roc, Calella were wonderful.  We also tried to follow your recommendations wherever possible.  It would be impossible to list every restaurant but here are a few highlights and also some new ones to recommend to future Inntravellers.

Madrid: for great tapas try wandering down the road Calle de Leon, just around the corner from the hotel (Catalonia las Cortes). We would highly recommend ‘Triciclo,’ 28 Calle Santa Maria (www.restaurantetriciclo.com) also a short walk from the hotel, a great fine-dining experience – easy to book online.

Ronda: Carrera Oficial (C. Pedro Romero, www.carreraoficialronda.com ) was wonderful and just around the corner from La Taberna (one of your recommendations and probably some of the best tapas we had but you might need to wait for a table).  The Panoramic bar at the Catalonia Hotel in Ronda overlooks the bullring and has views all the way back El Torreon!  Great for a glass of cava watching the sunset.

Cordoba: The Casa Pepe Tapas bar was better than the Casa Pepe Restaurant in our opinion. We also recommend Taberna No 10 (www.tabernaelnumero10cordoba.com ) just down from the hotel, La Llave de la Juderia. 

Granada: Lunch on the terrace at the Parador in the Alhambra is recommended after the guided tour of the site.  The Huerto de Juan Ranas (one of your recommendations) does not take reservations so you just have to queue. The views over to the Alhambra and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada beyond are stunning but it does get chilly after the sun goes down so it’s worth recommending people bring an extra layer if dining in April. 

Begur: the restaurant at the Sa Tuna Hotel on the beach at Sa Tuna was our last proper meal before heading home and this was probably one of, if not the best meals of the holiday.  We arrived early and booked a table (initially they said they were full but a bit of name dropping by saying we were staying at the Hotel Aiquaclara, and mentioning Suzanne by name, got us a table).  The baked rice with prawns was the specialty of the house (which everyone in the restaurant seemed to be eating) was amazing.  The ceviche starter was probably the best single dish of the whole holiday.

One of the main reasons for choosing these particular holidays was to do walks in the Grazalema National Park, around the historical cities and along unspoilt stretches of the Costa Brava. 

The walks in the Grazalema region were all amazing despite the rain on our first two days.  We got completely soaked doing the Llanos de Ravel walk and the walk from Zahara to Grazalema. What were described as dry stream beds in the walking notes were raging torrents.  At one point along the Arroyo de Gaidovar valley we came across a ford that was completely impassable. Fortunately, I had downloaded all of the GPX files from your website and using the ‘Outdooractive’ app it was easy to retrace our way back to the road and continue along the road to re-join our route. This was not the only time that the GPX files and the Outdooractive app helped.  On the route from Calella to Begur there were changes to the route that didn’t fit with the written notes.  The app gave us the confidence to continue knowing our exact location relative to the route (although the map would also have helped).

It would be impossible to single out any individual walk but we certainly would recommend that people do the linear walk from Grazalema through the Pinsapos reserve to reach Benamahoma even though this necessitates a taxi ride home (easily booked by Andreas at La Mejorana). By doing the linear walk you come out from the reserve to a picnic area with stunning views of El Torreon. We would also recommend the longer walk from Grazalema to Benaojan as this gives stunning views towards Ronda on the final descent. 

Of the recommended city walks, the walk in Granada through the Albaicin to Sacromonte is very special. Starting at the Moorish Baths also gives access to other interesting buildings along the route.  The Casa del Chapiz along the way is worth adding to the notes.  Here there are gardens of orange trees looking across to the Alhambra. 

This brings me to another highlight of the holiday: the smell of orange blossom.  This was truly amazing in the gardens particularly in Cordoba and Granada.  Away from the cities, the wildflowers across the country routes were wonderful.  This is clearly the best time of the year to see such masses of wildflowers.  The wildlife was special with such diverse species from the griffin vultures around Grazalema to bats flying around the trees by the coast at Calella to frogs croaking in the recently filled pools in the meadows by the ‘rock gardens’ to dung beetles rolling balls of dung uphill to braying donkeys in the distance (heard but not seen). 

Culturally, the Alhambra was the highlight.  We had an amazing tour guide (Sabina) who was entertaining as well as informative. Other things that deserve a special mention are the Sorolla museum in Madrid and the Mooring baths in Ronda.  

All in all, this was an amazing holiday that Inntravel had perfectly choregraphed.  All the of travel arrangements were perfect with all trains running on time and all of the tickets spot on.  The walks were amazing through stunning regions.  The hotels were all unique and each one had its own character and charm.  The food at the hotels was always wonderful and the outside restaurants that you recommended were also of excellent quality.  We did find a few outside of your recommendations and are happy to allow you to inform other Inntravellers about our finds.  Thank you for all of your attention to detail that makes your holidays so special: we would never go with any other company for this type of holiday. 

We have been taking Inntravel European walking trips for 10 years and I have to say A Taste of the Catalan Coast was by far our favorite trip. The hikes, the hotels, the scenery were outstanding. Our friends back home could not believe our beautiful pictures from Calella and Begur. For four women walking together, this was the perfect itinerary. Thank you Inntravel for making this another October hiking trip for the record books! 

As a first timer on a walking holiday we found the planning and execution of the holiday a very easy and enjoyable experience. The hotels were a good standard and in excellent positions. The routes were picturesque and of a standard that challenged us just enough. An extra night in Begur was a great idea as we found yet another delightful restaurant and locals bar. Definitely not our last holiday with Inntravel 

Overall a wonderful holiday and we would definitely use Inntravel again.

Swimming was fabulous and I am definitely returning to this area. Walks are always lovely.

2 lovely spots that we wouldn't have known about without going on this holiday

I would thoroughly recommend 'A Taste of the Catalan Coast'. This a beautiful part of Spain with lush, green landscape & wonderful food. Both hotels are set in very different locations, Hotel Sant Roc in Calella de Palafrugell by the sea with a large terrace with wonderful views in contrast to the Hotel Aiguaclara which is set in the town of Begur and is just stunning with lots of character. The staff in both hotels were very helpful & friendly.

The walks are in the main straightforward but can be challenging in places but you are rewarded with seeing some beautiful countryside and lovely seaside coves and beaches. The food in both locations is excellent, plenty of choice if you like local cuisine, tapas and seafood.

I would probably recommend adding a couple of days in Girona as you will not want your holiday to end!   

Really enjoyed our "Taste of the Catalan" trip. Our stay at the Hotel Sant Roc was wonderful and the hotel is situated in a beautiful spot with a restaurant and patio to fully enjoy it. The hike in that area including the Botanical Garden was lovely. The second day's hike toward Begur was longer than we desired with the last portion being all uphill. After already having climbed up to the lighthouse and then the climb up from the rocky cove beach, we opted for a taxi for the last stretch. Begur and the Hotel Classico were both lovely. We chose to tour the town and its historic sites and climbed up to the castle, but did not do the hike down to the beach/water and back up again. Instead we window shopped and enjoyed sampling Tapas. Overall, some wonderful days in a beautiful location.

Despite the disappointing hotel, we were very glad we extended the holiday with 2 nights in Girona. It's a very interesting city, with excellent restaurants. We would particularly recommend Casa Flora, Carrer de les Ballesteries; and El Cul Del Mon, Disseminat de Sant Daniel for lunch in a woodland setting only 15 minutes walk from the Historic. 

The first hotel in Calella was a delightful place to relax in the sun. The setting was idyllic and perfect for us, as I was not very well, and couldn't do the prescribed walking, but here it did not really matter - there were a few gentle alternatives. Everything was lovely - the food and the staff, the view, and we were very lucky with the weather . 

The hotels were good, and our hosts were kind. Calella has a Spar for water, snacks etc in the streets behind Port Bo. The terrace bar and restaurant were relaxing. The second hotel in Begur is a contrast to the first being in the equivalent of a UK listed building and is dark, and has no lift. The church bells stop at midnight till 7 am. The bar nearly opposite, Sabarra, was good, several staff speaking English, but the hotel’s restaurant was marvellous, you need to book. We had to leave early on our last day and the staff made us a breakfast to take with us. The walks on days 2 and 3 were difficult and vertiginous with rough narrow paths, and we feel the holiday is graded wrongly. We have done grade 2 walks with Inntravel and this walk was far more difficult than any of them. If you are elderly, have hidden disabilities or suffer vertigo, we advise you not to do this holiday. We particularly chose a grade 1 walk as we are now in our 70s and although fit expected a leisurely holiday (as is the case with day 1) not an endurance test. We found the holiday very disabling and at the end, not an achievement. There are some errors in the walking notes (eg there are now no concessions for elderly at the Botanical Gardens, the Begur town map (available from the hotel) has a different numbering system so does not match the town walk maps – still worth doing the town walk) but irritations rather than blockers.

Hotel Aiguaclara is amazing. Stylish and quirky with super service.  Would be good to add a longer walk around Begur

This is an easy, calm and leisurely walking trip allowing plenty of time to enjoy the local food so is aptly named. No walk is too hard to carry on after a long lunch with wine and the hotels are wonderful choices. Hotel Aiguaclara is an opportunity to stay in a respectfully restored 'casa indiana' full of character and history. This is an area with a big Hollywood history, you'll be visiting the same coves as Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner, if visiting in early October there is even an international film festival. Combining the Girona add-on gives you a chance to really immerse yourself in a wonderful part of Spain. The weather on early October was great, just a couple of rainy days that didn't stop the walks. The gardens at Cap Roig are fantastic, don't miss.