Travel Eye on Estartit (Costa Brava, Spain)

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Overview:

The town of Estartit is mostly a recent development, moving S from the original fishing village; streets are generally wide and the buildings low. There is some atmosphere in the centre, the church square (Plaça Esglesia), but the general tone is tranquil. It is heavily influenced by British tourism but hasn't given up its own character. An archipelago of 7 islands called Las Islas Medas, just offshore, is now a nature reserve.

Locality:

Estartit is set in the very NE of the Spanish mainland, on an E-facing coast in the Costa Brava (47 mls NE of Lloret de Mar, 28 mls E of Gerona, 32 mls E of its airport). It is positioned on a fairly open, curving bay, occupying mostly flat ground with the outskirts creeping up a steep, rocky, tree-covered ridge called Rocamaura.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Estartit is most suited to the low and middlemarket holiday maker, all ages but especially families with young children and especially scuba divers.

Accommodation is predominantly 3-star hotels and a variety of middle-range apartments. Els Griells to the S is half falling apart and half being slowly bought up by Spanish families for their own use.

Beachwise there is one very long, curved bay of soft, light brown sand that extends 2 mls, all the way along the resort from the pleasant marina at the N end. Broad, with plenty of space behind a tightly packed band of sunbeds and parasols. Often windswept but generally safe for children.

Shoppers don't have much to get excited about, apart from a few clothes shops and usual tourist outlets scattered around. A food market on Thursdays and a much bigger one in nearby Torroella on Mondays.

Popular activities and entertainment include: diving the islands off the coast which are surrounded by coral and varied aquatic life. Plenty of diving schools offering classes from 2 to 4 days. Windsurfing, sailing, fishing, boat trips to the islands. Sports from body-building to minigolf. "Ultralight" flying. Big children's funfair on main road into town. Nightlife is limited to a variety of pubs, bars and cafes mainly concentrated by the marina; a couple of discos.

Eating out options provide a mixture of fast food and pizzas plus very good local cuisine as well as Indian and Chinese. Typical fare is homely and simple with plenty of fish.

Getting around is fairly easy with buses to Gerona 3 to 4 times a day; Torroella 15 times a day. A tourist train runs along the resort hourly, from the port to Els Griells. No bus circulates the resort.

Popular excursions include: La Bisbal (8 mls) for history and pottery; ancient Greek and Roman ruins of Empuries (9 mls). Boat cruise to Palamos market. Full day trips to: Barcelona; Pyrenees; Mountain of Montserrat with its 8th-century monastery.