Tossa de Mar

Tossa's Vila Vella is the only medieval walled town left on the Catalan coast, built in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries on a headland against Barbary raids, with three cylindrical towers and a circuit of wall running down to the sea. Within it are stone lanes, a ruined Gothic church and a lighthouse at the top with a view along the coast. Below the walls lies the main beach and a second cove at Codolar. A Roman villa on the edge of town has mosaics. In the 1930s Tossa drew a group of artists, among them Marc Chagall, who called it a blue paradise, and the municipal museum holds work from that period. The 1951 film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman was shot here.

What you actually see

• The Vila Vella walls - the last fortified medieval town on this coast.
• The three towers - cylindrical bastions on the headland circuit.
• The lighthouse - a tower at the top with a coastal view.
• The artists' collection - 1930s work including a Chagall in the museum.

When to go

May, June, September and October for warm sea without the peak crowd; July and August fill the beaches and the walls completely. Winter is quiet with many businesses closed.

Honest expectations

Summer crowding is heavy and the town's population multiplies. The walled town is small, seen in an hour, and its lanes are lined with restaurants. Parking is difficult and paid in season.

Nearby

Lloret de Mar lies south; Sant Feliu de Guixols and the Costa Brava coves continue north.