Castell de Tossa de Mar

The headland at Tossa de Mar is not large. A rocky promontory pushing into the Mediterranean between two beaches — Platja Gran to the north, Platja de la Mar Menuda to the south — it would be, in most European coastal towns, a viewpoint with a café and a car park. At Tossa, it carries a complete walled medieval settlement. The walls and towers of the Vila Vella (Old Town) have stood on the headland since the 13th and 14th centuries, and unlike every other fortified coastal settlement on the Catalan coast, they are still standing in their entirety. Tossa de Mar is the sole remaining intact medieval fortified town on the coast of Catalonia.

The lordship over Tossa during the medieval period belonged to the great Benedictine monasteries of northern Catalonia — first the Abbey of Sant Pere de Rodes, then the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll. The abbots commissioned the defensive circuit to protect the town and its fishing harbour from the corsair raids that plagued the Catalan coast from the 12th century onward. The walls follow the natural perimeter of the rocky headland, enclosing the residential settlement on the clifftop in a circuit of round towers connected by curtain wall. The principal surviving towers — the Torre de Ses Hores, the Torre dels Codesos, and the Torre de Can Garriga — are the dominant elements of the skyline as seen from either beach below.

The Torre de Ses Hores (Clock Tower) is the largest of the three, a round drum tower at the highest point of the enclosure that serves as the visual anchor of the Vila Vella's profile against the sea. It owes its name to the clock mechanism added in a later century; its medieval function was the same as all watch towers on the Catalan coast — early warning of approaching sails. From its upper section, the coast extends in both directions along the Costa Brava.

Within the enclosure, the town that the walls protected has largely disappeared. What remains, besides the walls and towers themselves, is the Museu Municipal de Tossa de Mar, housed in a former Gothic palace within the enclosure. The museum's collection includes archaeological finds from the Roman villa at Els Ametllers (one of the best-preserved Roman villa sites on the Catalan coast, immediately below the headland) and, more unexpectedly, a painting by Marc Chagall — acquired from the painter's visit and making the Museu Municipal one of the very few provincial Spanish museums with an original Chagall in its permanent collection.

Chagall visited Tossa de Mar in 1933–34 and called it 'le paradis bleu' — the blue paradise. He was not alone in that response. From the early 20th century, the Costa Brava attracted a significant colony of European modernist artists who came for the Mediterranean light, the clarity of the sea colour, and the visual geometry of the Vila Vella's towers rising above the turquoise water. The combination of medieval architecture and Mediterranean coast that makes Tossa photogenic now was making it artistically compelling a century ago.

The GYG day tour from Barcelona (t731263, approximately 9.5 hours, small group of maximum 8 people) places the castle at the heart of the programme. The tour includes a guided walking tour of the Vila Vella (30 minutes, confirmed Visit stop, not Optional), free time in Tossa de Mar, and a coastal hike along the Camí de Ronda — the historic coastal path that runs along the rocky Costa Brava shoreline between Tossa and the beaches to the south, alternating between clifftop sections with open Mediterranean views and descents to small coves (calas) accessible only on foot. An optional snorkeling stop is available for those who want it. The Camí de Ronda hike is the tour's second major attraction after the castle: a walk along one of Spain's most visually dramatic coastal paths, combining physical immersion in the Costa Brava landscape with the earlier heritage visit. The tour carries a 5.0★ rating across 26 reviews and is Top Rated on GYG.

The Vila Vella is freely accessible at all times — the enclosure is a public area within the town, and the walls, towers, and headland can be visited without any ticket. The museum inside carries a small admission fee. The Costa Brava's peak tourist season (July–August) brings significant crowds to Tossa de Mar; the Vila Vella in spring or autumn, with the beaches quieter and the headland less congested, is a different experience from the summer peak.

[Cardona Castle](/castles/spain/cardona-castle) — the salt-rock hilltop fortress of the Cardona dukes inland in Catalonia — and [Siurana Castle](/castles/spain/siurana-castle) — the last Moorish stronghold in Catalonia, on a clifftop in the Priorat — are the other Catalan castle experiences best combined with a Costa Brava base.