I’ve been to the area 3x but mostly staying in Begur by the beach. I’ll be in Girona for a short trip…mostly for cycling and wanted to know if any of you folks had any recommendations for food in town or nearby. I’m on the wait list for Cellar Can Roca but expect nothing. I’ve eaten at Nu and Occi on previous visits. I may have a rental car but was planning on keeping things close to Girona.
Any recommendations?
Well, I live like 5km from Begur. So my recommendations would be:
Near Begur:
Casamar. Amazing food and amazing wine list curated by Alex, a friend. Spectacular degustation menu arround 85€
Villa Mas (s’Agaró, 25km from begur). People say they have the best burgundy wine list outside burgundy, and some say, including burgundy.
In Girona:
Plaça del Vi 7, natural wine bar by a champion somm
Simfonia, wine and cheese bar and some other food, nice sherry selecction.
Normal (not sure if you’ll get in, is the El Celler de Can Roca “low cost”)
If you’ve been to the area, you’ll already know Vins i Licors Grau (biggest wine shop in south europe and 5km from begur)
If haven’t arrived already, drop me a line and we’ll open some bottles!
whoa! thank you. i know simfonia as i walked by it countless times in the old part of town.
never heard of ‘normal’…huge thanks for that.
this will be in late july just for a few days. i usually visit in early september and the weather is perfect as you know. would late july be too hot? im planning on cycling 2 of my 4 days in town.
i may just message you in advance!
Yeah, July is a little bit unstable, normally will be a little bit hot, but if you wake up early and avoid high sun hours, I’d say you’ll be fine, but it can be a little bit rainy.
I haven’t been to normal (literally 50mts from simfonia), they call it this name because they wanted to do a normal restaurant, with normal dishes, and normal wines, I’d say book it early too. Another option is Mas Marroch, which it is the banquets and events place from el celler de can roca also in Girona, but because of covid, they didn’t have events so they opened it as a restaurant with signature dishes that got them the first michelin star. Because they do some banquets too, they open the reservations just every week for the next 15 days or so, you can’t book more than 15 days in advance.
Sure! I believe I’ll be arround in July!
back to the beach in late august…this time with wife and 6 year old son.
any updates on places to try? we’ve been to the area 3-4x in the last decade. i think we’ll go to:
sa rascassa (begur)
compartir (cadaques)
toc al mar (by the beach…aiguafreda?)
normal (girona)
platillos (begur)
any scenic places that are must visits?
well, we just got back…figured id share some thoughts.
this was our 4th time in the area in the last decade so we kind of know our way around. this time we stayed at hotel aigua blava since we were traveling with our young son. id recommend it but its a big box resort in what used to be a nice, semi hidden escape. thats no longer the case for this part of costa brava. the hotel was excellent as was the service. my only gripe was the quality of the rooms. the grounds and hotel are 4-5 star. the rooms are 2.5-3 star at best. that being said, this is probably your best bet if you want a big resort in this area.
restaurants were merely okay. we werent able to focus on food as much with our young son. memorable meals were normal in girona and tragamar in Palafrugell. this was my second time at normal and i thought the food was markedly better than in 2022 when they opened. we had a great lobster entree that i loved. the menu changes often, its seasonal and offers way more than most other restaurants in the area. for berserkers, we had a 2019 lias from labet that cost 60 eur…an excellent bottle at a crazy stoopid price. best prices for jura whites by far…and a deep list.
tragamar was new for us and we’d go back. beautiful setting on the boardwalk. slightly more vegetable dishes than most other restaurants in the area. great seafood and a solid time.
we ate at our hotel 2x. once was our first night in town which is sort of our tradition. terrace dining by the sea doesnt suck and the food was fine. the second time was when we changed our plans and bailed on dinner at compartir in cadaques. we’ve eaten there before and didnt want to be home at 1am with our son. i wouldnt recommend going to hotel aigua blava for dining but if you are staying there, the food was fine.
last thought was that the area has exploded since we first went 10 years ago. seems like everyone who’s been to barcelona 4x now does what we do…a week at the beach and then a few nights in barcelona. lots of americans, lots of british. it was a great beach vacation but not the secret gem it once was.
Our trip to the Costa Brava last year was much the same - but it was French tourists everywhere rather than US or English. We were further up the costa, in Roses. Great trip, loved the area. Report here: Barcelona - tour guides? - and trip summary - #13 by Zachary_Ross
we never stopped in roses but drove near when we went to cadaques. cadaques has exploded like never before…which is surprising considering the semi difficult drive to get there. we were last there in 2017 and didnt feel it was nearly as mobbed. i felt like i saw more people from hackney and bushwick there than i expected.
still beautiful but hard to love when its so crowded.
barcelona was better than i expected. with all of the talk of the anti-tourism aura surrounding the city, i was a bit more guarded but if you leave the tourist hot spots, its still a beautiful and perfect city.
we only had 36-48 hours there. we stayed at grand central hotel for the second time and wont stay anywhere else. we love this hotel. it’s central, clean, friendly, and quiet.
dinners were at bar canete which is a sentimental favorite for my wife and i. was nice to bring my son but he wasn’t in a great mood which spoiled our meal a little. food was as delicious as ever but it’s now 99% tourists where it used to be 50%. i would go again but you did feel like cattle.
batea on our final night was a total bust. i loved besta in 2022 and figured batea would deliver since its the same group but man was this a dud. location was very central and thus, 99% americans (i know…so are we). service was a mess, food was merely meh…a disappointing end to a rather enjoyable short stay before flying home. just avoid the tourist areas and it really is the paris of spain.
And even the tourist areas are the tourist areas of Paris of Spain. 
This really can’t be emphasized enough. Plus, it is pretty easy not to bother with Las Ramblas for the worst of it and focus on so many other great parts of the city
We live in downtown nyc. I knew the anti tourist articles from June were overblown but it made me a bit more concerned especially since we’re with a 6 year old. In the end…as you said…the tourist hotspots will always be nightmares.
Only thing I will add is in the case of batea, there are restaurants that are almost exclusively Americans…but same as Paris.
Still, Barcelona is a beautiful city.
Bump–will be there in early June for 4 nights (staying in El Born)
Tapas spots?
Jamón spots?
Vermut spots?
We’ll do the Picasso and Miró museums, plus the obligatory trip to Sagrada Familia.
We’re probably eating at Compartir and maybe Arcano. It’s the tail end of a trip so we’re not doing the big Michelin* restos this time.
Once upon a time my Spanish was pretty good–we’ll see what I can resurrect.
Strongly recommend visiting other Antoni Gaudi sites in addition to the Sagrada. Also check out something, anything at the Palau de la Musica Catalana. I linked a trip report above in this thread and there are lots of recommendations from me and others in it.
I’d recommend bar canete, besta, and some wine and cheese at bar brutal.
After my last visit, I’d highly encourage you to seek out areas that less tourists frequent. Want a good rec? The menu del dia at la pubilla in Gracia is a great lunch spot after park guell.
Not in the way of most tourist destinations, but you can look up:
Bar del Pla in El Born itself
Besta in L’Eixample
Another vote for Besta.