Our 4 Night Girona & Costa Brava, Spain Itinerary

The Crafted Atlas
Nov 11, 2025
8 min read

New unexpected foodie region unlocked! For those of you who've never heard of Costa Brava, you're not alone. It's a relatively unknown region in the north east portion of Spain just 1.5 hours by car from Barcelona. And we'll admit, we didn't really have Girona or the Costa Brava region on our radar. This may be an unpopular opinion, but we've been to Barcelona and didn't love it, so we pretty much wrote off the rest of that area of Spain since then. Well turns out, that was a big mistake on our side because we absolutely LOVED this trip!

Costa Brava is a perfect long weekend escape that mixes beautiful Mediterranean beach towns with medieval inland villages, and the food here is incredible (it rivals our favorite foodie destinations in Italy, and that's saying a lot!!!!). There's several famous chefs from this area with fancy restaurants that require reservations months in advance, but we actually found the tiny hole-in-the-wall spots more memorable. To top it all off, the main city of Girona is picture-perfect (it was one of the major filing locations for Game of Thrones), filled with adorable little squares that are just asking for you to have a glass of wine and some tapas.

We highly recommend renting a car for this trip - the driving is very straight forward and all the towns we visited had easily accessible parking lots.

Top 3 Must-Do’s for a Girona & Costa Brava Itinerary:

Day trip to the coastal town of Cadaqués
Walk along the city walls in Girona at sunset
Enjoy a multi-course tapas dinner at Masia Can Pou

Duration: 4 nights

Best Time to Go: May to October

Itinerary at a Glance

Just the Facts

Map

Detailed Itinerary

Girona & Costa Brava: Itinerary at a Glance

Day	Activities
Day 1	Arrive at the Barcelona Airport and drive 2 hours to Masia Can Pou, a beautiful farmstay outside Girona. Stop in Tossa de Mar for lunch on the way if you have time.
Day 2	Day trip to the coastal town of Cadaqués. Evening at your farmstay outside Girona.
Day 3	Checkout the medieval village of Besalú, then stop in Banyoles for lunch. Drive to Girona in the late afternoon, walk along the city walls, and explore Old Town for the night.
Day 4	Check out the inland villages of Pals and Peratallada. Explore more of Girona at night.
Day 5	Head off to your next adventure! If you want to extend your trip, we recommend taking a quick flight from Barcelona to the island of Mallorca!

Just the Facts

Stay

We split our 4-night trip in half with 2 nights in the countryside and 2 nights in downtown Girona. If you have a car, we highly recommend you do this as it gives a nice change of scenery (and the food at the countryside hotel we stayed at was incredible!):

Masia Can Pou: This restored farmhouse hotel in the countryside outside Girona is an absolute must if you're going to Costa Brava. We would go as far as to say, only go to Costa Brava if you can get a room here! Eirene, Donatello and Jazz (the sweetest dog) are fantastic hosts and the overall ambience of the hotel is so peaceful. Every night, Donatello cooks a multi-course tapas dinner that will remain in our dreams forever - it's some of the best food we've ever had while traveling!
For Girona, there are plenty of Airbnb's and hotels available. We won't recommend one specifically, but as long as you're within the Old Town area of Girona (east side of the river), you're good to go! Girona is a very small city that is easily walkable. You'll also find a large free parking lot here, just outside the main pedestrian area.

Eat: Best Restaurants in Girona & Costa Brava

Restaurant Mas Pou (near Peratallada): Traditional Catalonian restaurant with large outdoor space. Order their appetizer sampler for two and grilled pork.
Talla Restaurant (Cadaqués): Seaside restaurant with incredible seafood! Get the gazpacho and spider crab au gratin
17820 Pasta Artesana (Banyoles): Adorable Italian restaurant with a prix-fixe lunch menu. All homemade Italian dishes and super friendly couple who runs everything.
Txalaka Girona (Girona): Basque restaurant in Girona with tons of high quality pintxos.
El Carrito Barri Vell Girona (Girona): Very casual and traditional spot with bar seating. Order the choripan sandwich with chimichurri.
Bar Don Juan (Tossa de Mar): Very casual tapas bar with all your typical tapas and vermouth. Cute vibes inside with legs of jamon hanging from the ceiling.

Drink: Best Bars in Girona

La Garrina: Natural wine bar in our favorite little square in Old Town. The vibes are very casual here with both indoor and outdoor seating available.
Vermuteria Lola: In the same square as La Garrina (literally next door). Come here for a more traditional spanish experience (vermouth, house wines, olives, cheese)
El Cafè: More casual bar atmosphere, great for vermouth and pintxos

Girona & Costa Brava Itinerary Map

Detailed Girona & Costa Brava Itinerary

Day 1: Drive from Barcelona to Girona area

Arrive at the Barcelona Airport (BCN) in the morning or early afternoon, pickup your rental car, and drive 2 hours to your farmstay in the hills outside Girona. If you happen to be driving around lunchtime, we recommend stopping in the small coastal town of Tossa de Mar. Park your car here, walk along the boardwalk, and head up to the lookout point by the castle. For lunch you have a few options:

Bar Don Juan: very casual tapas bar with all your typical tapas and vermouth. Cute vibes inside with legs of jamon hanging from the ceiling.
Bar La Lluna: Another tapas spot, close to the castle, with outdoor seating.
Restaurant Santa Marta grup el xiringuito: Traditional Spanish style sit-down restaurant known for seafood & paella. Order to fideuà (similar to paella but with pasta instead of rice)

After lunch, drive to Masia Can Pou, the most adorable renovated farmhouse hotel in the hills outside Girona. Everything about this hotel was perfect - spend the late afternoon relaxing by the pool, or have a glass of wine in their massive courtyard overlooking the rolling hills. Be sure to book dinner here as well - Donatello's multi-course tapas feast was one of the highlights of our trip (and one of the best meals we've ever had!).

Day 2: Cadaqués

After enjoying an incredible breakfast at the hotel (seriously, all the food here is so good!), drive 1.5 hours to the beautiful coastal town of Cadaqués. We've had Cadaqués on our wishlist of places to visit for quite a while, and we're happy to report it exceeded all our expectations!

Park your car here, then wander around through the tiny streets. Keep and eye out for the painted electrical coverings throughout the town, they're super cute! Once you reach the water, walk along the road towards Platja Ses Oliveres - no need to actually go to this beach, it's just a pretty walk overlooking the harbor.

For lunch, head to Talla Restaurant (be sure to make a reservation and ask for a table on the front row by the water). The food here was another highlight of our trip - order the gazpacho and the spider crab au gratin.

After lunch, continue walking along the water towards Platja des Sortell. There's a little island here that you can walk to with a nice view back into town.

Head back to Masia Can Pou in the late afternoon and enjoy another incredible dinner cooked by Donatello!

Day 3: Besalú & Girona

Before heading to Girona, we recommend spending your morning in the tiny medieval village of Besalú. It's an easy 45 minute drive and there's a large free parking lot right outside the village. We'll admit, it's a bit of a tourist attraction, but we still think it's worth a quick visit (you can see the whole village in about 30 minutes).

If you happen to be visiting between July and September, you're in for a beautiful surprise! There is a massive sunflower field just off the highway on the drive to Besalú - take a quick detour and snap a few photos.

For lunch today, we recommend taking a break from Catalonian cuisine, and opting for Italian (yes, you read the right!). 17820 Pasta Artesana is a super cute little Italian spot in Banyoles that serves up a set menu lunch every day. It's owned by a Sicilian guy and his wife who are the most welcoming hosts and serve incredibly good home cooked Italian food! Be sure to make a reservation ahead of time.

After lunch, make your way into Girona. If you're staying in Old Town (we recommend you do!), then you can park your car in this free lot, just 5 minutes walking from the start of Old Town.

Girona is a beautiful (very walkable) medieval city that recently became popular as a major filing location for Game of Thrones. If you're a fan of the show, you'll easily recognize many of the attractions. Due to this popularity, Girona is absolutely swarmed with tourists during the day who are visiting from Barcelona. But by about 5pm, the tourists leave and you're left with a perfectly picturesque and neighborhood-like Old Town that's the ideal place to chill with a glass of wine and some tapas for the evening.

If you're feeling up for it around 6 or 7pm (when the sun is lower and the crowds have dispersed), we recommend taking a walk along the city walls for some great views of the city. Most travel guides will tell you to start the walk behind the Cathedral, but we have a better tip! We recommend starting the walk from the end point and walking back towards the Cathedral - this will give you better views of the entire city (instead of having those views at your back). Start the walk here, and walk up the steep set of stairs to reach the top of the wall. Follow the wall back into town - it should take about 45 minutes in total, but there's plenty of spots to exit the walls along the way.

Day 4: Pals & Peratallada

For your final full day in Costa Brava, we recommend getting out of Girona (to avoid the daytime crowds) and heading to the two adorable inland villages of Pals and Peratallada. Both have very similar vibes with tiny pedestrian streets to wander through and plenty of cafes and shops to stop in. We recommend going to Pals before lunch and Peratallada after lunch, but really either order will do.

For lunch, make a reservation at Restaurant Mas Pou. This spot was recommended to us by the hosts at Masia Can Pou, and as expected, the food was amazing! Restaurant Mas Pou serves traditional Catalonian food and they have a huge outdoor patio. Be sure to make a reservation and order the appetizer sampler and grilled pork (although all their grilled meats looked delicious). After lunch, you can walk around the tiny village next to the restaurant and even climb up the tower for a nice view.

In the late afternoon, head back to Girona and enjoy your last evening in the city!