Discover Calella: A Catalan Coast Walking Holiday

As always with InnTravel, great organisation, information and choice of routes and hotels. We would always recommend them for walking holidays.

We travelled by train to this holiday stopping for short breaks in Girona and Zaragoza both of which were very interesting places to stay for a couple of days. 

We really enjoyed the walking holiday. We did the long options for the first few days and wore ourselves out a bit so took Pilar's taxi to shorten the walk to Benimaurell which was fine and still very enjoyable. Our favourite walk was through the gorge from Tollos back to Castell de Castells. All week the flowers were wonderful. After reading previous reports we didn't do the cathedral walk but did enjoy the Barranc de Racons with lovely views into the Gorge de l'Infern .

All the accommodation was good. Juan was particularly friendly and informative. Would recommend taking him up on the offer of earplugs for the church bells through the night. His food was very good indeed. Pilar's place lovely and we liked the terrace. All the food was home-cooked by her - from 8 course tapas menu to paella and was wonderful. We found the staff at Benimaurell were all very friendly and the packed lunch was enough for 2! the dinner menu clearly shows what has an extra charge over the basic rate you have paid and we had lovely meals there. As someone mentioned before, the breakfast machine coffee is very poor here but for a mere €1.80 they will make you a delicious cafe con leche from the espresso machine! Otherwise the breakfast was particularly good. We upgraded to a bungalow which was lovely with a balcony to enjoy the fabulous view and stayed an extra night here. 

This was a wonderful trip with excellent walks and accomodations.  Highly recommend doing in the spring (our trip was early-to mid-April) as there were many wild flowers blooming, including Spanish lavender, rosemary, thyme and many more which we enjoyed identifying. The temps were also ideal for walking, mostly in the 60s and never got above 70. Be sure to bring a fleece or other warm jacket to wear at night--the wind coming off the water is chilly!

Variety of walking and routes chosen were all excellent. Very enjoyable walking "off the beaten track" and in a part of Spain that doesn't have mass tourism! In respect of restaurants see the above comments about Gariguella. We also had a great Sunday lunch in Cantellops at the one restaurant / bar in the village. Highly recommended if future walkers are there at that time!

This is a very good walking holiday with a pleasant mix of inland trails between medieval villages and then coastal walks. The food along the way was a real highlight, especially Hotel Aiguablava which was excellent in every respect. October was a good time to visit, with cooler temperatures and fewer tourists. We also managed to swim every day in hotel pools or the sea.

The final walk from Aiguablava to Llafranc is more of a Grade 2 than a Grade 1 walk as there are a few steep descents and some scrambling, with some steep drops near the path. An easier alternative would be to take a taxi to Llafranc, then walk along the lovely coastal path to Calella and Golfets, which is very pretty and easy. We did this on our extra day in Llafranc.

Overall a very enjoyable holiday.

Even at the end of the season we could find delicious Tapas meals and Cava to enhance the enjoyment of each location. Personally, having downloaded the digital routes into the Osmand app on my phone, I never felt in danger of going badly off the routes mapped out.

I loved the walking around Llafranc, especialy the route to Palafrugell, it was on good tracks, and even an old railway line. Palafrugell, is a nice town, and not touristy. The square there, with its many cafes, is a delight. 

Hotel Terramar, has a great location, and its worth getting a sea view room.

Hotel Ancora, is simple, but there is a lovely bar at nearby La Fosca,for evening drinks, right by the beach.

Hotel Aigua Blava, has good staff. Its location is lovely. There is a very small bar, on the harbour, for lovely drinks before dinner.

We arranged our own taxi from Barcelona to S'Agaro. Inntravels suggestion was to catch 2 trains, and a taxi. This option, was much more expensive than our one taxi journey(booked with hoppa).

Idyllic walking along a beautiful coastline, with excellent hotels.

Overall, this was a fabulous holiday. The walking was quite challenging in parts because some stretches of the route are quite badly eroded, but the scenery is worth it, simply gorgeous. The highlight for me was the botanic gardens at Cap Roig which are beautiful, and there's an amazing collection of modern large sculptures scattered throughout too. All the hotels were very good, and I ate incredibly well. A standout was the restaurant Margarita in Calella - book ahead if you can - fabulous food and wine, right on the seafront. I added on the stay in Girona, which is a fascinating city - if you're interested in architecture, book the tour of the Maso House, modified by a contemporary of Gaudi. The only less-than-good experience was the Hotel Historic in Girona, which is in a great location but in my view offers a 3* experience, not 4* and not good value for money.

Really excellent holiday, beautiful part of Spain combining walking with a swim every day. First days walking is a bit of a slog but after that it was delightful. Our favourite was staying at Hotel Sant Roc, we didn't eat there as so much choice in the town. All those recommended in guide notes were excellent particularly Calau for tapas. Our last days walking from Aiguablava we had a taxi to Begur and then walked the round trip to Sa Tuna. The walk was varied, a bit boring on way down but beautiful return trip through woods and again lovely views and coast line. We travelled by train to Girona, spending a night in París on the outward journey and 2nights in Girona before travelling back in one day. All ran smoothly. 

A particular highlight was the Botanic Gardens visit at Cap Roig. We walked there the day after arrival rather than incorporate in a longer walk and enjoyed a couple of hours there. Stunning views. 
Llafranc was great for swimming in the sea just across from hotel. We loved having sea views from all the coastal hotels. Some of the on line hotel reviews caused us some disquiet  but we had no problem with any of our rooms. The Terramar gave us a kettle for our room which I was thrilled about! Brits love a cup of tea ☺️. 

Overall an exc holiday 

Girona definitely worth a visit 

As a walking holiday, the route from S'Agaro to Aiguablava has many delightful stretches and follows the GR92 long distance route.  Although graded as a Grade 1 walk, this route has some harder sections, including some steep, twisty descents and climbs. A walking pole can provide extra stability, especially on steep, twisty descents.  Walking this route becomes markedly less enjoyable in temperatures over 28 degrees Centigrade or so, therefore April-May and October might be ideal months for this holiday.  Take great care where the path reaches the southern end of Tamariu beach where you may be wading in the sea up to your knees or rock climbing.  

The highlights of our holiday were the Hotel Sant Roc and the charming town of Calella, swimming in the sea at Calella and Aiguablava, and our 3 days add-on in Barcelona.  The taxi and train transfers organised by Inntravel worked faultlessly.  We recommend using a taxi rather than the Metro from Barcelona airport to Barcelona Sants train station, an add-on in Barcelona and taking a bus tour around the city. 

Highlights were the quality of the hotels, their location on the coast & the Dali house in Port Lligat which we would definitely recommend to future customers. The included meal & service at El Pescador at Llanca were exceptionally good. We found a very good, not too expensive restaurant in Girona - L'Escabetx . 

INNTRAVEL NOTE: This customer did our walking holiday 'Collioure to Cadaques' followed by our city add-on in Girona.

An excellent holiday with wonderful medieval villages and towns to explore. The Hotel Aigua Blava was outstanding, with a beautiful balcony for our room, overlooking the cove with the sea lapping on the shore. We added a break in Girona at the end of our Flavours of Catalonia holiday and stayed at the lovely Hotel Historic. Girona was very interesting with its historic streets, fortified walls and the ochre and terracotta town houses by the River Onyar. Altogether, a very enjoyable holiday!

Another great Inntravel holiday. Started with two nights in Girona which was a great way to start the holiday. Would definitely recommend getting a taxi to the Hotel Historic as it is in the Historic Quarter and so is uphill and streets are cobbled. Quite a foodie city. Would recommend the restaurant Dit I Fet which is not far from the hotel.
For the main part of the holiday we enjoyed the contrast between France and Spain. Our favourite locations were Collioure and Cadaques. Both buzzy places and hotels were good in terms of service and location. We had an extra night at the Playa Sol in Cadaques which we would recommend and gave us the opportunity to visit the Dali House. Restaurant recommendations - Casa Leon in Collioure and Es Raco in Cadaques. Would suggest booking both. Walking was good - more Grade 2 than Grade 1 with some challenging sections especially on Day 4 but routes were all easy to follow. Unusually we had two other Inntravel couples on the same itinerary so we all did the Day 5 route down to Cadaques together which was really nice and social. It was also our favourite walk of the week - reasonably long but not too many ups and downs and great views all the way. 

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.