Catalonia holidays

Catalonia is glorious for walking. We have both escorted small group holidays here, and tailor made self guided trips too, all of which use locally owned and run hotels and restaurants wherever possible. They give you an authentic taste of Catalan culture, as do frequent opportunities to visit markets, or local producers of everything from cheese to olive oil and jam – you can even opt for a trip that fuses walking with gastronomy.

Our walking holidays explore the Emporda region, cradle of the surrealism art movement, and the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park inland. Well marked trails take you through beautiful fields of wildflowers, orchards, shaded forests, and idyllic bays where you’ll be glad you packed a swimsuit. Coastal paths lead to whitewashed fishing villages, hillside monasteries, and tiny restaurants serving seafood tapas. The terrain along the coast is gently undulating for the most part, getting more challenging as you turn towards the Pyrenees.

Our Catalonia tours are fab for adventurous families, with reliably warm and sunny weather and a host of activities to enjoy within easy reach. Everyone will stay happily entertained from hearty breakfast to delicious homecooked dinner.

Stay in a locally owned spa hotel in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where you can get your kicks abseiling, canyoning and white water rafting through ravines, and relax in picturesque medieval towns like Sort. Or stay in a rural hotel run on solar power, where you can try rock climbing one day, mountain biking the next, and then take a day off to hit the beaches, or the museums of Barcelona. Our holidays employ professional local instructors. As well as leading the way and keeping everyone safe, they’re also brilliant to chat to if you want to learn about life in this beautiful part of Spain.

Our hotels in the Catalonian countryside offer sublime holidays where you can be as active or inactive as you please, while also immersing you in the region’s beguiling culture. Walkers will love the convenience of having dozens of trails right on their doorstep, with varying levels of challenge, including the chance to explore the lunar-like terrain of the Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park. When necessary, transfers can be arranged so that you can enjoy everything from ziplining to horse riding, watersports to archery. Girona, Barcelona and Figueres with its Dali Theatre and Museum are all within easy reach by car or train.

Our countryside hotels are fantastic for everyone from families to triathletes in training. They are also a brilliant option for travellers with accessibility requirements, with ground floor wheelchair accessible rooms, widened doorways and slopes to the pool area. We are pleased to welcome guests with vision and hearing issues, as well as those affected by cognitive conditions. Many of the activities on offer from horse riding to canoeing can also be adapted.

From spring to autumn Catalonia is rife with festivals. There’s a horse festival, a pumpkin festival, a honey festival, even a fairy festival where everyone dresses as a fairy. Festas take place in every small town and village, some of which put on two or three events per year. Of particular note is the Besalu Medieval Festival in the first week of September. People come from all over the world to this tiny town of 8,000 people that dates back to the 10th century. You can browse artisan stalls teaching kids how to do everything from metalwork to woodwork and making bread. There’s a falconer with birds of prey, people on horseback jousting, and dancing. The whole weekend has different activities for everybody. Keep an eye out for gegants, traditional figures with oversized heads that are a common sight at many Catalan festivals.