A Case for the Costa Brava

Beach-to-trail hikes, hidden coves, medieval villages, and where to stay in Cadaqués, an incomparable beach town with a who's-who history of 20th-century artists

A few weeks ago, we dedicated an entire newsletter to the Salvador Dalí House Museum in Portligat. Yep, it’s that good, and if you are traveling in Spain or the south of France this summer, you should do whatever you can to get there. But this area is not merely a staging ground for Dalí’s houses and haunts. Just north of Barcelona, the Costa Brava is a sublime stretch of rugged coast with a vast network of coastline-hugging trails that string together villages, pristine beaches and hidden coves. It has a reputation for being tragically overrun by tourists in the summer months, but when we visited last June, we found a superabundance of quiet corners, lightly traveled trails, and a surprisingly laid-back beach scene with more locals than tourists (read: teenagers playing on the sand and old men sunning themselves on rocks).