Tossa de Mar

Province: Gerona
Autonomous Region: Catalonia
Tourist Office: Avenida del Pelegrí, 25 - 17320 Tossa (Gerona)
Tel: +34 972340108
Fax: +34 972340712

Cliffs, pinewoods, coves and beaches make up the coastal profile of the country of La Selva, the setting for Tossa de Mar. The most southerly sector of the Costa Brava offers tourists an incredible range of history, art and leisure on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. This town in the province of Girona makes available to travellers a wide and varied range of accommodation made to measure for all tastes. The cuisine, another of the cultural riches of this area, will convince the most refined palates.

The broken relief of the Costa Brava extends from Portbou to Blanes in the Catalan province of Girona. Cliffs of up to 100 metres fall away to the clear waters of the Mediterranean, hiding tiny beaches and coves. The southern county of La Selva offers us a landscape of contrasts between the sea and the mountains, where there are many defensive constructions.

Tossa de Mar, the first coastal town in La Selva, has a huge beach of white sand defended by a splendid walled town. Raised up on a little promontory sticking out into the sea, you can make out the Vila Vella. Seven circular towers guard the remains of an old church and the governor's palace, which dates from the 14th century. A tour of these medieval streets transports you back to the greatest period of Catalan history. From this point you can also get beautiful views of the bay of Tossa and the outline of the nearby coast. Near this enclosed area you will find the archaeological remains of what was a Roman villa in the 4th century.

To Tossa de Mar's history and art is joined the traditional flavour of a seaside place. This can be seen in the Vila Nova, beside the beach, where there are many hotels and apartments. A great deal of the leisure offer, both by day and at night, is concentrated on this promenade. The gentle temperatures of the Costa Brava and its rich landscape provide many open-air activities in contact with nature. The transparency of the water and the rich life on the seabed make possible more than one kind of diving and any water sport. At night, restaurants and terraces take charge of making a traveller's stay an unforgettable experience. It is a lively atmosphere continuing in any of the coastal towns, which bring together an unbeatable range of hotels and leisure activities. The coves and beaches of Salions, Giverola, Pola, Llevador, Llorel and Morisca are some of these tourist centres.

And the area's cuisine adds products from the Mediterranean Sea to those from inland, elaborating traditional and innovative recipes. Broad beans and peas from the fields appear together with "esqueixadas" (cod salad) "escalivadas" (cold roast aubergine, onion and peppers) and chicken or rabbit stews with seafood. For their part, prawns, sea bass and gilt-head bream are prepared in numerous ways. Among the desserts, fruit is very important (strawberries, peaches, melons, water melons, oranges...), and in summer these are turned into ice-creams and sorbets.

Your tour of Tossa could continue in the Municipal Museum, which lies within the walled enclosure of the Vila Vella. Outstanding among its collections of archaeology, Catalan and foreign painting, sculpture and glass, are Roman mosaics and canvases by Benet, Sunyer and Marc Chagall. The Roman pieces largely come from the Roman villa at Els Ametllers.