The Mediterranean coastline of Gerona
The Costa Brava is the name of the Mediterranean coastline in the province of Gerona to the northeast of Spain. It stretches from the border with France to the north to the little town of Blanes situated approximately sixty kilometers to the north of Barcelona.
The excellent climate, the natural surroundings, the beautiful beaches made this part of Spain an excellent and cheap holiday destinations. Tourism rapidly took over as the main industry in Cataluya and a large number of hotels and holiday apartments where built to cater for tourist from all over Europe, but especially from France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The names of cities like Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar, Rosas o Palamos soon became well known amongst tourists from northern Europe, including the Scandinavian countries. Nowadays the Costa Brava is one of Spain's most important destinations during the busy summer months and travel agents all over Europe have a wealth of information about this popular holiday destination. During the winter, on the contrary, many hotels on the Costa Brava are closed and do generally not open until the Easter holidays, except for the hotels in Barcelona which are open all year round.
The Costa Brava can roughly be divided into the northern part, also known as the Alt Empordà, which borders with France and the Pyrenees. The most important places are Ampuriabrava, Roses, Escala, Estartit, Cadaques and Figueras.
The area known as the Baix Empordà forms the central part of the Costa Brava with towns like Calella de Palafrugell, Palamos and Platja d'Aro.
Tossa de Mar and Lloret de Mar, together with Blanes are the most important beach resorts in the southernmost part of the Mediterranean coastline of Girona, a city which lies inland right in the center of the Costa Brava.
Although most areas of the Costa Brava are developed some little coastal towns like Pals, Calonge, Llafranc, Aigua Blava, Fornells, and Sant Feliu de Guíxols have managed to retain part of the traditions, culture and way of live of Catalunya.
The Costa Brava is not only an excellent holiday destination from sun seekers and beach lovers. Tourist looking for arts, culture, history and architecture can find all of this and more in the nearby city of Barcelona, together with Girona the gateway for most tourists visiting Catalunya.
The nearby Pyrenees are an excellent destinations for sports and nature lovers, both during the summer and the winter months with famous ski resorts like La Molina, Masella and Vall de Nuria just a short drive away from Barcelona or Gerona airport.
