Alt Emporda Coast

If you are wondering where your bucket and spade might want to go on holiday this year, you might want to check out Alt Emporda's crinkly coastline.

Back in the 1950's it was lumped together with the rest of the Catalonian coast into the Costa Brava and stood in the shadows of the bigger resorts further south. Maybe that's a good reason to explore this place, which is easy thanks to good public transport

Portbou

Portbou has never really taken off as a resort. It's built on shale which makes for grey sand, rather than the golden sands further south. But if you want to escape the golden horde and their parasols, these out of the way places might be worth a look. It's a great place for walking, being on the GR92 which takes you up and down the hills between each resort. You can also walk back over the hill into France.

It's also a place with some sobering 20th Century history

There is also more information about Portbou here.

Colera

Like Portpou, Colera is a sheltered bay with couple of beaches divided by a rocky outcrop and a harbour. The greyness of it's sand and the fact it can only ever be a small place has limited its appeal to mass tourism. Perfect?

Next stop down the line is Llançà.

Llançà

The town of Llançà is set inland and away from its harbour which has kept it out of sight from the prying eyes of pirates in days gone by. However, it's only a short walk to the harbour and the significantly more golden sandy beach. There are a series of bays that are easy to walk between. Take your pick. You can learn about the history of the area and its connection to the sea on a series of information boards along the way. There are also some curious bunkers from General Franco's paranoid period, which you can find out more about here.

There is also more information about Llançà here.

Port de la Selva

From Llançà train now goes inland towards Figueres, but the Number 30 bus pootles further down the coast to Port de la Selva, where the beaches face north as the coast juts out to form the Cap de Creus. From here you can get the bus to the capital of Alt Emporda, Figueres.

Figueres

Figueres is well worth thinking about as a base. Each day, you can decide which beach to visit, or take the train to Girona or Barcelona. As for where to stay, My favourite place is Dali Theatre Museum apartments, and while you're here, why not see what the man with the moustache made?

There's more information on Figueres here.

Cadaqués

The pretty town of Cadaqués is a big draw for tourists and with good reason. The journey from Figueres to Cadaqués and then on to Roses is worth the trip alone. But the main reason tourists come is Salvador Dali, who's home was in the adjoining bay of Portlligat.

There's more information on the Cadaqués here.

You can get to Cadaqués by the No. 12 bus, which goes on to Roses.

Bay of Roses

The Bay of Roses is a huge sweep of sand with the resort of Roses at the top of it. In the 60's Roses was one of the resorts that opened up to tourists from the UK but these days it seems to be a mostly French affair. But Roses has a long history with stone-age dolmens in the hills and a museum in the fortress which nicely tells the story of the place.

You can find out more about Roses from their tourist office here.

Getting to Alt Emporda

Its easy to get here. Take the Eurostar to Paris and then get daytime or night train down to the Spanish border.

Eurostar to Paris

Take a morning Eurostar from St. Pancras to Gare du Nord and head over to d'Austerlitz, which is on the banks of the Seine. You could take the Metro but why not take the bus and see more of Paris? Number 91 runs between Gare du Nord and Gare d'Austerlitz.

Night train to Cerbère

Take the night train down to Cerbère which is on the border with Spain. Cerbère, along with other resorts on France's Cote Vermeille is also well worth exploring and easy to do by train.

There are regular trains that will take us over the border to Portbou.

Daytime TGV to Narbonne, Perpignan or Figueres

An alternative to the night train is to take the TGV. At the time of writing, there are two direct trains a day to Figueres from Paris, but there are regular trains to Narbonne or Perpignan from which you can catch a regional train to Cerbère or Portbou.

For more details on train times, check out https://www.sncf-connect.com