Costa Brava is the perfect place to combine amazing beaches, nice villages and artistic heritage. In this article, I show you our 5-day road trip in Costa Brava in camper. It can be useful both if you travel in this kind of vehicle or if you are going to do it by car. Also, I give you recommendations about driving the camper in this place and I tell you where we stayed each night.

1. Five-day roadtrip in Costa Brava

This was the itinerary we did in Costa Brava and in a part of inland Girona. We departed from Valencia, so if you start from other point, maybe it is best for you to change the order of this itinerary.

Day 1. Tossa de Mar

Our first stop in Costa Brava was Tossa de Mar. We walked through its beautiful old town, we climb to the lighthouse and the viewpoint there is near it, and we explored the city wall, we find Tossa de Mar an amazing town. We also walked a little bit the Coastal Path or Camino de Ronda and, lastly, we walked around the promenade near the beach.

Before it got dark, we went to “Mirador Tossa de Mar” (Tossa de Mar viewpoint), from where there is an amazing view, and then we went to the place we spent the night with the camper (at the end of the article I show you all the places where we stayed).

Related article: Tossa de Mar: what to see (a tour for the curious)

Day 2. A good portion of nice villages

We started this second day visiting Calella de Palafrugell. We did its Coastal Path, that ends in one of its beaches, where there are colourful doors. From there, our idea was going to Cala s’Alguer. Nevertheless, passage for vehicles has been cut off and, as there wasn’t good weather for having a bath, we decided to continue with the itinerary. If you want to reach this beach, you have to park in Palamós and walk to it by the Coastal Path, or go from Platja Castell.

We reached Pals, one of the most beautiful and well-kept villages I’ve ever seen. There are plenty of charming nooks, full of bougainvillea, stone houses… with no doubt, this is a must in Costa Brava. Next stop, just 9 km from there, was Peratallada, that has nothing to envy Pals. We had lunch here in Restaurant La Cort, where they had a good daily-meal for €15, drinks not included.

To end up, we went to Roses. Actually, it was the place we liked the least, as it is for a kind of tourism different from the one we usually do, very focused on beach flats. However, it has a great Citadel with remains of different times. To make the most of the afternoon, you can do the activity we did in Empuriabrava on our third day.

Day 3. We dive into Dalí’s universe

We were clear that our road trip along Costa Brava had to include a good dose of Dalí. For that reason, the third day we went to Portlligat, the place where there is the house in which the artist and his wife, Gala, lived from 1930 to 1982. To visit it, I recommend you to book it in advance on the website of Fundación Gala – Salvador Dalí, as capacity is limited.

We started visiting the gardens of the house, that are included in the ticket, but you explore them on your own. After that, we visited the interior of the house. It was a fascinating and enriching experience.

After this, we went to Cadaqués, and we stroll in its ibicencan streets and in the promenade that reaches Mirador de Cadaqués (Cadaqués Viewpoint). After lunch, our idea was having a bath in Cala Montjoi, where the iconic restaurant El Bulli is located. The road to the beach is pretty narrow, so you have to be careful. Even though we reached the beach, we had to change plans, as the sea was rough.

We went to Empuriabrava, when we can find the biggest residential marina in Europe. Here we rent a boat that doesn’t require a licence to drive and which you can drive along the main canal to have a look at the luxury houses and the amazing boats some of the neighbours have. An hour of renting for two people was €45, and there are several companies, we did it with Los Barkitos. At the end of the afternoon, we arrived to Figueres, where we strolled and had dinner.

Day 4. Inland Girona

As we slept in Peralada, near Figueres, we started the day taking a walk around its old city and visiting its castle. Later, to continue exploring the universe of Dalí, we visited his Teatro-Museo in Figueres (advanced tickets online are also available here).

After that, we drove to Girona inland, visiting some of the villages that stand out because of its beauty: Besalú, Castellfollit de la Roca and Monells. Finally, as it was pending for us from the first day, we drove to Lloret de Mar, where we spent the night.

1.5 Back home

This last day, we visited Lloret de Mar. Even though it is a destination pretty focused on beach tourism, it has some curious nooks, such us San Román Church or Sa Caleta, with a view to the d’En Plaja Castle. We relaxed in the camping, where we spent the previous night, and we drove back home to Valencia.

2. Our experience in camper along Costa Brava

After our experience visiting Costa Brava in camper, here you have some recommendations that can be useful for your road trip:

2.1 Restrictions for campers in Costa Brava

We heard that there are several constraints in Costa Brava for those who travel with camper or motorhome. It is true that in some towns they are restricted, but we hadn’t any problem to drive around the places, parking and finding a place to sleep.

Towns where we found more limitations were Roses, where the majority of parkings have limited the height, so campers can’t enter, and Cadaqués and Portlligat. In the case of Roses, we ended up finding a parking space in the street, and we slept in a motorhome area. In Cadaqués, there is a big car park at the entrance of the town, where we paid €5 for around three hours. Furthermore, in Portlligat, there is a sandy parking that costs €10 no matter how long you spend. In the rest of places, they usually have a car park at the entrance of the town.

2.1 Where to sleep in camper in Costa Brava

As it was our first time in a camper, we wanted to try the different types of overnight: free overnight, free and paid motorhome service areas, and camping. In our opinion, the best option is motorhome service areas, as they are placed specially prepared for this kind of vehicles, and they normally have services such as water drain. These are the places where we overnighted. We found it in the app Park4Night:

• Night 1: Ermita de Sant Grau. Here it is legal parking, but not camping (as long as you don’t open the side windows, there should be no problem). It is a place surrounded by nature and very calm, even though the road to arrive is full of corners.
• Night 2: Autocaravaning Park Roses. Paid motorhome service area. We paid €12. It is big, there are toilets, draining and filling services, electricity charging and Wi-Fi.
• Night 3: Área para Autocaravanas de Peralada. Near Figueres. It is a free motorhome area with water drain service. Next to it there is a park with storks, so depending on the season you may see many of them.
• Night 4: Camping Santa Elena, Lloret de Mar. For this night, we paid €22. It is very big and there is swimming pool and mini golf. It doesn’t have greywater drain service.

Please bear in mind that we did this road trip in June, when the weather was already nice, but the high season hadn’t begun yet. If you come in the middle of summer, keep in mind that it is quite a busy area. I hope you find this information to travel along Costa Brava in camper useful, and I wish you a nice trip!