Blanes or calella which is better. Blanes, Lloret de Mar, Calella and other resorts in Spain. Relaxing holidays in Roses

For several years now, Spain has rightfully taken pride of place among European countries where Russians prefer to go on a beach holiday. Spain has a lot of advantages: the cleanest wide beaches, the possibility of not only a beach holiday, but also an educational holiday with sightseeing and trips to nearby towns, a Schengen visa for six months, which, as a rule, is given to all tourists who bought a package tour. Still thinking about which resort town in Spain to choose for your vacation? In this article, I will tell you about the popular Spanish resort cities in the province of Catalonia, where I happened to visit, and show you their beaches.

I want to say right away that Spanish beaches are mostly public, for renting a sunbed and an umbrella you will have to pay from 4-6 Euros per day. The so-called beaches at the hotel, which are very numerous in Turkey, are not here.

First I want to tell you about the towns that are popular among our tourists, located on coast of the Costa del Maresme. I think almost everyone who has ever traveled on a package tour to Spain has heard of these towns, which over the past few decades have evolved from fishing villages to popular resort destinations. For clarity, I am attaching a plan for the placement of towns on the coast.

Calella

Calella is located 55 km from. The beach of Calella stretches over 3 km. This beach is regularly awarded the Blue Flag, which is given to ecologically clean beaches in Europe, the water in which meets high quality standards. Behind the city beach, nudists often sunbathe in the rocks. You can easily walk along the beach to the neighboring town of Pineda de Mar. In Calella, there is something to do besides a beach holiday: the city has a very large promenade, many shops, including shops with Spanish leather products, cafes and restaurants for every taste. In your free time, you can go to the city museum of Calella, 12 exhibition halls of which are dedicated to the history of the city. In summer, a tourist train runs around the city every half an hour, where you can ride with children. This is my favorite city on this coast, we rested here in good hotels Hotel Kaktus Playa and Hotel Volga (you can book hotels at competitive prices using the links).

Pineda de Mar

Pineda de Mar is located about 60 km from Barcelona. The beach of Pineda de Mar is sandy, very wide and long, as in most resort areas on the Costa del Maresme. Near the beach there are hotels, cafes, terraces and restaurants. Among the water sports, kayak racing and bodyboarding stand out. In Pineda de Mar, there are a lot of cafes with chairs right on the sand, where it is very pleasant to sip a cocktail and see off the sunset. Pineda de Mar is not such a large resort, so mainly Europeans rest here, while compatriots are very rare.

Santa Susanna

Santa Susanna is a convenient base for visiting both Barcelona and Girona. This is a major tourist center with all the ensuing consequences: noisy discos until the morning, souvenir shops open until late, crowds of tourists. Party lovers will like it here, because compared to the quiet "pensioner" Pineda de Mar in the neighborhood, Santa Susanna is a party place. The beach is in no way inferior to the beach of Pineda de Mar or Calella, however, in some places the descent into the water is problematic due to the high coast: you have to literally slide into the water from the sandy slide. In 2003, the Santa Susanna resort was awarded the title of resort for families. There are several parks in the city, a separate attraction is the promenade, along which you can even walk to the neighboring city of Malgrat de Mar. Also you can visit Marineland water park, to which free buses run from other nearby coastal towns.

Blanes

Starting from Blanes, the Costa del Maresme turns into coast of the Costa Brava, which continues all the way to the Spanish-French border in the north. There are several botanical gardens in Blanes, one of which called Murimurta covers an area of ​​15 hectares, and more than 4,000 plant species grow on its territory. By the way, this garden offers stunning views of the Costa Brava. The largest of the city's beaches stretches for 3 km, and its width is 60 m. Beach volleyball courts are provided on the beach. Every year in July, the city hosts a fireworks festival. Blanes is much larger than the resort towns that I talked about earlier, here on the beaches you will already see not so much tourists as the local population.

Lloret de Mar

Popular far beyond Spain, Lloret de Mar is located 76 km from Barcelona and 42 km from Girona. This resort is very popular among English and German youth, parties here in the summer go on literally around the clock, and it is often impossible to sleep. The beach in Lloret de Mar is considered one of the most popular beaches of the Costa Brava, its length is 1630 m, width is 45 m. It has nice fine white sand. One of the symbols of the resort and its calling card is the legendary castle on the coast of Lloret de Mar. On the beach you can ride a "banana", go on an excursion on a pleasure boat around the surrounding towns. The city is located in a bay protected from the winds. Recommended for relaxing with friends and unbridled parties.

Tossa de Mar

The town of Tossa de Mar is located 100 km from the French border near Girona in a cozy bay. From here it will be convenient to go on an excursion to the Dali Theater Museum in Figueres. You can sail to Tossa de Mar on a pleasure boat from Lloret de Mar. The old city is located inside the fortress walls of the 14th century, inside which the castle is located. It is the only walled city in Catalonia. The beach offers snorkelling and diving. This resort is designed for families. Marc Chagall liked to visit Tossa, a museum with paintings of which is in the city. Previously, Tossa de Mar was famous for the production of corks for corking expensive wines.

In conclusion, I want to say that a railway passes through Calella, Pineda de Mar, Santa Susanna, and Blanes, along which you can easily get to Barcelona within an hour and be able to walk around the city of Gaudí on your own without overpaying for excursions. There are bus stops in Lloret de Mar and Tossa de Mar from where you can get to Blanes and then transfer to the train to Barcelona. I also advise you to choose a holiday resort according to your needs: a family relaxing holiday or hanging out with friends, in order to avoid disappointment upon arrival. Pleasure boats run between all these cities, some of them with a transparent bottom, I advise you to definitely take a ride.

My husband and I were vacationing in Calella and decided to take a day trip to Blanes. The purpose of the trip was to visit the local botanical garden.

botanical sad

Yes, and along the beaches along the city promenade I wanted to take a walk.

The beaches of Blanes

It is convenient for tourists with any wallet to get from Calella to Blanes. Buses and trains run between cities. Those who like to travel more comfortably can rent a car or take a taxi.

By bus

By bus, Blanas can be reached in one hour. From Calella there are several flights of the transport company Sagales:

• Line 603. There are eight flights daily (at 10:03, 11:33, 12:33, 15:03, 16:33, 18:23, 19:53, 23:58).
• Line 622. Between June 23 and September 11 there are daily flights at 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00. At other times of the year, these flights are not operated on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Here is the schedule of flights number 603.

These buses can be boarded at any of these stops:

• St. Jaume - Mar - benzinera;
• St. Jaume-St. Josep-Mercat;
• St. Jaume - Pl. de les Roses.

Here is the stop St. Jaume-St. Josep - Mercat on the map. My husband and I traveled from here.

And this is the timetable for line 622.

Departure and arrival times at the station are highlighted in yellow. Flight 622 boards from these stops:

• Hospital de Sant Jaume;
• Sant Jaume - Sant Josep - Mercat;
• Sant Jaume - Plaça de les Roses.

Here is the Hospital de Sant Jaume stop on the city map.

Before planning a trip, be sure to go to the Sagales official website and check the timetable, as changes may be made by the carrier.

Ticket price

Tickets for bus lines 603 or 622 cost 12.80 euros.

Where to buy tickets

Tickets can be purchased at the box office of bus stations or on the carrier's website.

By train and bus

You ask why this route is combined? After all, Blanas has its own railway station and the city can be reached by rail. Yes, there is a train station in Blanas.

But as you can see on the map, it is located outside the settlement, and more than two kilometers from the station to the city center. You can overcome this distance in half an hour on foot or in a couple of minutes by bus.

Now in order. At the small train station in Calella, you need to take the R1 train to Blanes or Maçanet-Massanes.

Entrance to the station

In this direction, about thirty flights are carried out daily. The first train leaves at 06:56, the last at 24:06. You will reach your destination in 16-20 minutes. Here is a fragment of the schedule of these trains.

A more detailed schedule can be viewed. I recommend reading the story. Learn a lot of useful information about railways in Spain. After buying tickets, go to the platform.

Platforms at the station

There are only two at Calella station. One train goes towards Barcelona, ​​and the other one goes towards Blanes. Focus on the signs :).

Arriving at the Blanes station, you need to transfer to the Pujol bus, which runs along the route station-bus station-station. You can see the detailed schedule. In ten minutes you will be at the bus station of the city. You can also take the flights of this company, which follow from the station to Lloret de Mar or Tossa. They also go through Blanes. See the carrier's website for the schedule of these flights.

Ticket price

• Train ticket - 5.90 euros;
• Bus ticket - 1.85 euros.

Where to buy tickets

• On the train. Tickets can be purchased at the station ticket offices or ticket terminals.
• On the bus. Tickets can be purchased from the driver, at the station ticket office or on the carrier's website.

By taxi

By taxi in Blanes can be reached in 15-20 minutes. You can use the service in one of the Calella taxi services. There are not many of them here:

• Parada de Taxis;
• Jesús Segura Liarte;
• Taxi Calella Rm.

The trip will cost 25-30 euros. Traveling by taxi is not profitable for one person, but for two people the price is quite acceptable. Two bus tickets will cost more than 25 euros. To travel by bus, you will need to go to the bus station, buy a ticket, wait for the bus to depart and drive for an hour. And you can use a taxi at any time in a taxi and for the same money in half an hour you will be in Blanes.

By car

There is only one car rental company in the city. The office is open daily from 09:00 to 20:00. You can also rent a car from more well-known transport companies. For example, in the neighboring town of Pineda de Mar there is an office of the company Avis.here), so it is better to choose the second road for the trip.

other methods

There is no air or sea communication between the cities.

Finally

It was I who described to you all the possible options for a trip from Calella to Blanes. If you are going to go to this city from the airport of Barcelona or Girona, then I recommend reading the history. All possible options for such a trip are interestingly described here.

Calella (Calella) - like a smooth pebble rolls in the mouth. Since childhood, I have been bringing these black pebbles from the sea. Therefore, from this association it becomes cozy and a smile spreads over the lips with the warmth of the sun.

Calella is located in the Costa de Barcelona-Maresme resort. This town began to be built from the 12th century, when the first fishing huts began to appear in this area. Calella has many charming old but well-preserved houses from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Therefore, walking around this town is very pleasant and interesting.

View of Calella beach

Church of Santa Maria and San Nicolau in the main square of the city. Double consecration because in Catalonia the patronage of saints is double

Church sculptures

Railway station Calella. The station platforms were located right in front of our hotel, but oddly enough, the noise did not interfere with sleep

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The sea is great! clean and deep half a meter from the shore.

Seaside Boulevard Manel Puigvert (Passeig Manel Puigvert)

Along the boulevard, with their facades facing the sea, there were low, but very different and cozy houses, each decorated in its own way - tiles, stucco, mosaics, bizarre sculptures.

People in Spain, it seemed to me, are very friendly, if a person has a problem, they will definitely try to help. Here I could not leave the feeling that I was in one big family.

House-cactus, accidentally discovered on the streets of the city

In Spain, it is customary to say hello - and everyone (whether they are familiar or not) greet everyone: “Hola!” And since we are accustomed to greet only acquaintances, there is a feeling that in Spain everyone knows each other.

The caissons of the balcony are tiled. Ceramics - one of the folk crafts of Catalonia

Such a big, friendly group all over the country. And if you add that the Spaniards smile a lot, then soon you begin to feel very comfortable, warm and really friendly. The children here are happy and fearless, very appetizing%), similar to olives - the same black, rounded smoothed and oily. And their almond-shaped eyes can also be compared with olives. There are a lot of dads walking alone with their children. And Spanish women - no, they are not beautiful, but they are sweet and charming.

Immediately upon arrival in Calella, on the very first evening, we got to the festival of lamps.
A wooden stage was built on the seaside boulevard, around which long wooden tables were placed, next to it there was a “camping cafe”, which deserves special mention. Desk-type tables were lined up in a large square, inside of which frisky old men and old women climbed. They cut small loaves of bread and, rubbing them with garlic and tomatoes, prepared a traditional Spanish dish. Sausages were fried here, beer was sold, sandwiches were made. And all this was done with such simplicity and friendliness that it seemed to me that these were not volunteers, but one big family, or a warm company that often gathers like this - the whole city - in someone's kitchen.

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In the meantime, an orchestra had risen to the stage and had already begun to play national melodies. How did I know it was them? Yes, just all around rushed to dance. What struck me - even children, just not babies - everyone knew the movements and, at the first familiar rhythms, quickly organized themselves into circles, where there were only two, while others numbered 10 people.

These are not pioneer dances at all, sardana

Sardana is an old Catalan folk dance. The Catalans, by the way, in every possible way distinguish themselves as a separate people and very carefully preserve their traditions. All inscriptions in public places are duplicated in two languages: Spanish and Catalan.

Night Church of Santa Maria and San Nicolau

And yet, despite the minor (from my point of view) differences, the Catalan language sounded very clear and pleasant. Slightly more prone to French pronunciation.
Once in the whirlwind of the Catalans, from the abundance of Spanish-sounding speech, I suddenly suddenly began to feel like I was in a TV series. And this strange, very funny feeling haunted me the whole trip! It was as if she was going to the country, but came to the TV.

Meanwhile, the festival had reached its culmination: the stage was empty, and the chairs for the jury were placed at the central platform of the boulevard at an equal distance from each other. Participants of the competition: children, teenagers, parents with babies - and all the other motley crowd lined up in one long snake. Each lovingly lit his lamp, and lo and behold, the procession began.
Strict and important judges evaluated all 80-something lamps made by children and their parents.

Ah, Don Pedro! What a man!

Among the judges, I especially liked the elderly man with a mustache and a red shirt. Like a strict but kind judge, he carefully assessed all the lamps passing by him, which were carried in the hands of the children, as if guarded by their parents behind their backs by angels. Not a single, even the smallest and most uninteresting lamp, was missed by this judge, whom I silently dubbed “Don Pedro”. Thoughtfully, he stopped too zealous contestants to consider their number. A string - both adults and children of all ages - passed rejoicing, not at all embarrassed and even proud of their simple crafts. And the parents - it was read in their views - were proud of their children. And for every child - be it a baby or a teenager - there was at least one lamp: fish, jellyfish, lighthouses, a catalan with castanets, cartoon characters and God knows what else!

There were even such: mothers carried to themselves an already tired and sleeping baby, and with their free third hand they held a lamp made for him; but the girl, who is still so small that she cannot fully coordinate her movements, waves her wand with a lamp attached to its end, knocks her “house” on the ground; but two teenagers carry a beacon cunningly arranged almost in their height with a power supply hidden in a backpack.

Towers (Les Torretes) and lighthouse (Far de Calella)

Of course, neither the lighthouse nor the towers are something extremely attractive in terms of tourism, but the road to them is very beautiful - and just goes past those wonderful bays.

And although we had to climb up the hill to the towers and by that time the sun was at its zenith and justified the name of the country by all 35 degrees, our path ran under the sprawling branches of trees - cedars and pines, whose needles strewn the ground around. The step was pleasant and soft, even in light flip flops there were no problems. And the air around acquired that unforgettable smell that we all remember from our childhood and trips to the Crimea. When the fresh sea breeze mixes with the absolutely indescribable smell of pine needles - while alchemy creates a magical aroma that I thought I would never smell again. And according to such a fairy tale (albeit with a noticeable upward slope), we came to the towers, where there was also an observation deck overlooking the city.

The towers of Les Torretes were built in the middle of the 19th century and were part of a communications system that stretched to the very border of France. Information was transmitted using optical signals, flags and lights, so with the advent of electricity, the towers lost their relevance and were abandoned.

Unlike the lighthouse. The white lighthouse is now a real beauty surrounded by green palms. It was built a decade later than the towers in order to prevent attacks by pirates from North Africa. At first, the lighthouse ran on oil, then on paraffin, and finally on kerosene. After 1927, with the advent of electricity, it was modernized - electric lamps were installed and optics were replaced.

Now it not only functions remarkably well (the light beam of the Calella lighthouse reaches 35 miles), but is also one of the official symbols of the city. Therefore, there were so many handicrafts in the form of this lighthouse at the festival of lamps.

Dalmau Park

We read about Dalmau Park "with tropical vegetation" in a free guide to the city.

The park met us with silence, coolness, a sunny web of shadows and light, the same amazingly sweet "Crimean" air and that state when absolute joy and uncontrollable happiness just like that, for no reason, spills into the soul - remember how in childhood when you walk to complacency in the yard and all the swings and horizontal bars every time seem more and more interesting.

Dalmau Park itself is small, and the main plant species in it are pines (that's why the smell is so delicious), but it is also an arboretum, so during our fermentation, signs with the names of plants periodically came across along the paths.
If you go through the park, going upstairs, and look towards the sea, you can see a nice view of the city with the dominant - the bell tower of the Church of Santa Maria and San Nicolau.

All in all, a very nice place, of course.

A little trip to Blanes with fireworks

Our time coincided with the annual fireworks festival in Blanes. It was very convenient since Blanes is very close to Calella.

The resort town of Blanes is the oldest of all the cities of the Costa Brava. There is evidence that settlements existed on the site of the present city already in the era of the Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula (after 218 BC), one of them was named Blanda or Blande. The first mention of Blanes proper, or Forcadell Castle, dates back to 1002. From the 12th to the 14th centuries, the city came under the rule of the aristocratic Blanes family.

The sea licks the shore - clean

And in this city of Blanes, since 1906, the traditional International Fireworks Festival has been held annually at the end of July, which coincides in time with the main holiday of Blanes - in honor of St. Anne (the holiday itself is very popular throughout Spain).
For a whole week, every evening in Blanes, one of the best teams with a worldwide reputation shows their art of pyrotechnics. And all week in the city, the situation with transport and accommodation is terrible.

According to the established tradition, fireworks are launched from a platform located on the rock of Sa Palomera protruding into the sea, dividing the bay of Blanes into two parts, from which the Costa Brava originates. Therefore, we chose a pleasant boat trip with a code in the form of watching fireworks from the water (all my life I dreamed of seeing fiery flashes scattered in the velvet sky and reflected in the black surface of the sea).

In the soft rays of the setting sun, we were among the first to take our places on the pleasure boat. And, blown by the still warm breeze, we smoothly went to collect spectators in all other towns.
I must say that especially for this sea trip, I bought myself a feeling of lightness, in the sense of a dress - long and loose. And what kind of work was it worth to stay on your feet and not fly away from the upper deck!

View of the promenade of Blanes

Meanwhile, the sun was hiding behind the mountain, and the waves were caressing the sandy shore. However, the romantic idyll soon came to an end. At one of the stops, the upper deck of the boat was filled with a crowd of extremely active Catalan pensioners. It was like an invasion of jackdaws and Brownian motion at the same time. How loud they are, they all said something to each other, walked back and forth, waved to each other, sang songs! And, having seen someone familiar on a nearby boat, the whole crowd rushed so zealously to one side - to convey air greetings - that I thought we would turn somersaults like that. They were so cheerful and so vital that I involuntarily envied them on behalf of our pensioners. And in general - so much energy - here anyone can envy!

Those same brisk pensioners

Meanwhile, we had already arrived at the place, stood in the bay next to Blanes, treated ourselves to champagne and a pie from the organizers. And they took a strategically advantageous position for observation.
However, oddly enough, as soon as the fiery extravaganza began, the talkative pensioners fell silent as if on cue. And all the passengers of our yacht stared in fascination and admiration at the fiery flowers blooming in the night sky.

Let's just take a look.

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As we later found out, it was a Polish team. But who won the festival, I never found out.

Technical information
We bought tickets for a boat to Blanes with fireworks viewing from our guide at the hotel. Although in principle they could do it on their own. True, one would have to take care of this much in advance, because. On these flights, all seats are sold out very quickly.
In general, any boat tickets can be bought at the Dofi Jet Boats booths. They are easy to identify by the corresponding emblem - that's how it is on the website (you can also see the routes there). In Calella, I noticed two of them - both stood on the beach, one closer to the beginning of the city (from Barcelona) - this one is called Calella, the other at the end of the city (just near "our cemetery" and the beach we loved;) and it is already called Poblenou .
The boat stops at both stations - so - carefully study where it is more convenient for you to sit down and walk from it, so that you do not have to go through the whole city later.

Photos are mine and

When buying a tour to Spain for the first time, many novice tourists are puzzled - where to go to the sea in Spain. Most often they are offered inexpensive tours on the Costa Brava. Let's see which resorts are located in the Costa Brava and what are the features holidays in the Costa Brava.

Costa Brava means “wild, rocky coast” and, in general, geographically, the Costa Brava coast is considered part of the Mediterranean coast in the northeast from Blanes to the very border with, and from Barcelona to Blanes, the coast is called the Costa del Maresme.

However, travel agencies have tacitly included the more southern (and less wildly rocky :)) resorts, such as Calella, Pineda de Mar, Malgrat de Mar, and others, as part of the Costa Brava for a long time. Well, let's not break traditions and include them in the review.

Costa Brava Map

Calella (Calella) - the territory of rational recreation

Playa de Aro - the rising star of the Costa Brava

Spanish resort Playa de Aro (Platja d'Aro) is an increasingly popular holiday destination in Catalonia. And no wonder - very quickly the fishing village turned into a picturesque tourist center.

Playa de Aro and its environs have everything you need for excellent beach, sports and sightseeing tourism: the clearest azure sea, a two-kilometer strip of beaches and excellent trekking routes, city entertainment and colorful monuments of antiquity.
The only problem in Playa d'Aro is that it is inconvenient for tourists to get to Barcelona on their own.

Relaxing holidays in Roses

resort town Roses practically unknown to the Russian tourism industry. This quiet and sunny abode is for wealthy European pensioners and lovers of a settled, many-month-long vacation at the sea. Do you want to have a holiday in Roses? Go there on your own, especially since