← Marató d'Empúries·2 nights

Cadaqués: Two Nights at the End of the Road

A whitewashed fishing village on the Cap de Creus peninsula, with Salvador Dalí's house at Portlligat a short walk away and a flat curve of seafront for tired legs.

Duration2 nights
TransitBus to Figueres, then bus to Cadaqués, about 1 hour 45 minutes in total
DepartsL'Escala

After the Marató d'Empúries: Cadaqués

The Route: L'Escala → Figueres → Cadaqués → Figueres → Girona or Barcelona Airport Logistics: Moventis bus to Figueres, about 45 minutes, then the bus over the mountains to Cadaqués, about an hour. Two nights. Back via Figueres and a train to Girona or Barcelona. Marathon Month: April Duration: 2 nights

L'Escala ──(about 45 mins bus)──> Figueres ──(about 1 hr bus)──> Cadaqués (2 nights)
                                                                      │
   Girona Airport (GRO) or Barcelona (BCN) ◄──(train from Figueres)───┘

The Marató d'Empúries finishes on the southern edge of the Bay of Roses. Across the bay, at the end of a winding road over the Cap de Creus mountains, is Cadaqués: white houses stacked around a harbour of fishing boats, a church on the top and nothing beyond but the rocky cape. Salvador Dalí spent his childhood summers here and later made his home in the next cove, Portlligat. The road in is slow enough that the village has kept its shape.

April in Cadaqués is spring out of season. Days are usually in the high teens, the evenings cool, and the tramuntana can blow hard enough to close the Cap de Creus road and push waves over the seafront. Most restaurants and hotels have opened for the season by Easter. The sea is too cold for most swimmers.

From L'Escala, Moventis buses reach Figueres in about 45 minutes. From Figueres bus station, buses run to Cadaqués several times a day, taking about an hour over the mountain road. Check both timetables and the connection the day before, and sit on the right for the view on the way down into the village.

Nights One and Two: Cadaqués

The seafront runs around the bay from the harbour, level and paved, past the small beaches and the fishing boats pulled up on the shingle, and on to the coves south of the village. It is the recovery walk, and at a slow pace it fills an hour with stops.

The old village climbs from the harbour to the church of Santa Maria, whose Baroque altarpiece fills the east end. The lanes up to it are steep, paved with sharp slate cobbles set on edge, and hard on sore quads. Leave them for the second day and go up slowly.

Portlligat, where Dalí and Gala lived from 1930 until the early 1980s, is about 1.5 km from the centre, over a low headland on a quiet road. The Casa-Museu Dalí is a warren of fishermen's huts he joined together over the decades, with a garden and an egg-topped tower. Visits are in small timed groups and must be booked well in advance; in April the house is open every day, 10:30 to 18:00. The walk over is gently uphill and then down.

The Cap de Creus lighthouse, at the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, stands in a natural park of wind-carved rock 8 km beyond Portlligat. A taxi from the village is the practical way to reach it.

Where to stay: Hotel Playa Sol sits on the bay a few minutes' walk from the centre, with rooms facing the water. Hotel Llané Petit is on the Dr Bartomeus beach at the southern end of the seafront, on the level.

Where to eat: Casa Anita, in a lane behind the seafront, is a long-standing family restaurant with shared tables and fish from the day's catch. Compartir, opened by three former chefs from elBulli, the restaurant that made Roses famous, serves dishes meant for sharing in a courtyard in the village. Book both.

Getting Home

Take the bus back to Figueres, about an hour, then a train from Figueres or Figueres-Vilafant to Girona, about 15 to 30 minutes, for the airport bus to Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO). For Barcelona Airport (BCN), take a high-speed train from Figueres-Vilafant to Barcelona Sants, about 55 minutes. Allow at least three hours from Cadaqués to either airport.