After a few weeks on the south coast of France and with the campsites closing for winter (it was only mid-September), we weren’t ready to turn north for home, so we decided to dip our toes over the border into Spain and found the lovely little seaside resort of L’Estartit. Only 70 miles from Perpignan, at the northern end of the Costa Brava, the town is nestled between the Roca Maura mountains and River Ter. This gives it a unique 15km of beautiful rocky coastline, along with one of the longest fine sandy beaches on the Costa Brava at 5.4km long, although this is split into sections and there is something for everyone.
Our original plan was to stay a couple of nights then move further along the coast; however, it was such a lovely place, and the weather was glorious, so we extended the campsite and ended up staying put for a week which is a long time for us and says a lot about how much we enjoyed it! We spent quite a bit of time lounging around the site and on the beach, which is not very interesting, so I’m only going to talk about our exploring days out.
Exploring The Town – Several Visits
Our campsite was a 15-minute walk or a few minutes cycle ride into the centre of L’Estartit, which made it great in an evening to pop in on our bikes for a drink and watch the world go by. After setting up camp, we headed out on foot to explore the town. Cutting through a couple of backstreets brings you onto the seafront and main beach of the town. From here we walked along the promenade towards town and farther along to the marina at the opposite end.
The seafront is lined with restaurants almost from one end to the other, so there is plenty of choice. We noticed that the nearer you got to the marina, the more expensive the prices became, although having spent a chunk of time in France it suddenly seemed very cheap in L’Estartit! We stopped for a drink in a small bar just off the beach beyond the marina, we asked for a sangria and a beer. What we got was a fishbowl sized glass of the most amazing sangria, and a frozen tankard filled to the brim with beer that could have sunk a ship. When I went to pay, I thought I’d misheard so gave the lovely lady a 20 euro note, which she promptly gave me 15 euros back; yes, I had heard correctly it was only 5 euros for both drinks. We decided we liked this place even more!
We stopped for food, and of course it was a bit of seafood heaven again for me. We shared a ‘black’ seafood paella, this was a first for us as the rice is dyed with squid ink. My goodness, it was the best paella I’ve ever tasted, and the huge prawns sitting on top of it were amazing; I got very messy! The town was gearing up for a pirate festival over the weekend which gave the place a nice buzz, and local businesses were all taking part.
The following day we popped into town to see the pirate parade, but it was manic, so we headed up a back street to the shopping area. The main shopping street has some nice independent retailers, and I got a couple of bargain beach dresses. This leads up to a small square where there is a large church and a couple of restaurants. On this street there is also the best ice-cream parlour we found in the town. Step off the seafront and you get triple the ice-cream cone for the same price. As we’d had one on the seafront the day before, we ordered a double scoop thinking it would be the same small size. Being honest, I was nearly sick after eating the humongous sized ice-cream that was just 4 euros, it was nearly as big as my face, but absolutely delicious!
Illes Medes
We walked around the headland beyond the marina, where you can sit and admire the Illes Medes. These are a small set of islands 2km out to sea that is a protected natural heritage site, home to a colony of herring gulls and over 1300 species of fish and undersea plant life. It is forbidden to land on the islands but if you are into diving/snorkelling then this is the place to visit, and glass-bottom boat trips are available from the marina for non-divers. Despite the lovely weather, there was a strong breeze which made the sea very choppy during our stay, so we didn’t partake on this occasion as my sea legs aren’t the best.
Cycling to the Ter Vell Wetlands
There are 17 marked cycle routes in the region around L’Estartit, we decided to head out on our bikes for a few hours to explore the Ter Vell Wetlands and beyond to the natural parkland. We followed the cycle path which veered away from the seafront on small back lanes, all flat riding, arriving at the wetlands. There is a circular path to walk through the nature reserve with lots of seating and bird watching hides. The whole reserve is suitable for wheelchairs/pushchairs on good flat paths, it was a nice walk.
We cycled on to Mirador del Parc Natural del Montgri and to the La Gola del Ter viewpoint, around 2.5 miles in total, coming to the beach which was almost deserted, with beautiful golden soft sand. There is nothing here, so you need your own drinks/food if planning to stay a while on the beach. We were able to head back on ourselves and pick up another cycle track which led us to the Els Griells beach where we followed the promenade back towards town. This beach is more populated and is where water-sports activities occur.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at Camping Emporda on the outskirts of town. This was an excellent find, the staff are really friendly and let you walk around and choose your own pitch. We used our ACSI card but were able to choose any pitch so ended up with a huge flat grass one, demarcation on the floor rather than hedges, near the pool away from the ‘Spanish quarter’ which the receptionist advised us would be manic over the weekend due to the festival in the town, she wasn’t wrong but it didn’t impact on us at all. Some pitches had high steps to navigate but these were mostly seasonal so there were enough decent ones to choose from, despite the busy festival period.
The highlight of this site for me was the standard of toilets/showers. You will see from the photos that they are huge and excellent, posher than my own bathroom at home! They were spotlessly clean at all times, even on the busy weekend. The swimming pool was nice but cold, and the bar was on limited opening other than the festival weekend where they provided day-time entertainment.
There is a Lidl a couple of minutes’ walk on a path along the main road which had good stock, and a Spanish supermarket slightly farther along that had limited food but a lot of good cheap wine. There was no need to move the motorhome once in situ, we used our bikes to pop in and out of town as it was only a few minutes, but you could easily walk. There are a few campsites in the area, one slightly closer into town that looked ok, but we really liked this one and would use it again.
Where We Ate
We ate on the seafront a couple of times, the best meal was definitely the black paella on day one. Most of the restaurants did a 2 or 3 course daily lunch special, and the main menus were very reasonably priced too if you avoided the upmarket marina end.
El Chiringuito de Melchor y Josefa – a small outdoor bar serving the cheapest sangria and beer we’ve had in Spain, fabulous friendly service and a nice view over the beach and marina.
Restaurant Garbi – the best ‘black’ paella I’ve ever tasted, great service and very reasonably priced. Highly recommend this place and would eat here again without question.
Restaurant Can Licus – good food but small portions, I had grilled octopus that came with the smallest portion of grilled vegetables, hubby had a steak. If you’re not overly hungry then it is fine, but we needed dessert, and it was quite expensive as it was nearer the main marina area.
La Xixonenca ice-cream parlour – eat in or take-away huge ice-cream cornets, very cheap as its off the seafront, you only need one scoop! Delicious ice-cream and lots of unusual flavours; lemon meringue pie and a local choc-chip biscuit mix were my choice.
Summary
L’Estartit was originally a small fishing village, but with careful development has created a lovely small-scale seaside resort. There aren’t really any architectural wonders, and the seafront is lined with small tower block hotels above the restaurants. However, the place has a charm to it that draws you in. A plus for me, and a surprise, was still being able to speak French and English everywhere as my Spanish isn’t great. I guess the French pop over the border for a cheap holiday just like we did!
Enough waffle for this week, if you have been to the area, please drop me a comment on the blog letting me know what you thought of it. If you enjoy reading my blogs, please like and subscribe to my website so you get notified when the next blog is published. It’s completely free, I don’t fill your inbox with unwanted spam, and it really means the world to me to know my experience has helped someone else.
Happy Travels
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