Cala de Sant Francesc (Blanes)

If you follow the GR92 walk from Blanes to Tossa de Mar, a fair bit of the walk is away from the coast along the hills above the sea. This is because there are two stretches of coast that can't be connected by paths directly - Santa Cristina beach, closer to Lloret, and Cala de Sant Francesc closer to Blanes (and between the two is are the Botanical Gardens of Pinya Rosa). We'd not actually visited Sant Francesc, but Blanes council said they had done up some of the GR92 walking and we had to visit Tossa de Mar, so on a wet January weekend we went to explore, partly to add it to our list of Costa Brava beaches.

As an orientation, Cala de Sant Fransesc sits below the Castell/Tower of Sant Joan that stands above Blanes and is on the other side of the hill from the town itself. Blanes has the benefit of being on the train-line to Barcelona, but to get to the bay walking from Blanes requires walking up hill out of town, and it's a good couple of kilometres from town, so realistically is more accessible by car (though I guess in summer the parking would be difficult). If you drive past you'll see one of the access roads is blocked as marking a private estate, however, there is a second road that will take you down to the bay.

We parked at the top and simply followed the road down from the top to the beach, explored a little, then navigated back up via the series of connecting stairways that provide short cuts up the zig-zagging roads. This is very much villa country with the hillside filled with mature and attractive coastal properties looking out to sea. These surround a private tennis and sporting facility that looks very well maintained and cared for and it feels quite luxurious, without some of the industrial feel that Blanes itself has.

At the bottom is a very pleasant beach, with gritty yellow sand of a type similar to that found in Lloret with a bar and restaurant at the back. To the left and the right are walks around the bay, and it looks as if these were the areas recently improved with new wooden rails. We did try the routes to both to the right and left. The one to the right takes you up close to a tall island that you don't realise is an island until you walk past, as the channel is so narrow. This ended in a doorway marked private in Spanish and Russian. The door was open, but we didn't go any further.

Instead, we returned to the beach and tried the lefthand walk. This again was newly done, but came to a stop at a large iron gate. The path and the same wooden rails continued on the opposite side of the gate, so it is possible that this might be open at a different time of the year. However, for us it meant that there was no way out of the bay except back up the hill.

As a beach, it's very pretty and we may return in the summer to test the water for swimming. And if you are in Blanes it would provide an alternative to the town main beach.

Update March 18: Diari de Girona is just reporting that the stretch of path after the gate has been opened and should allow continuation towards Lloret. We'll revisit during summer to see.

See also: Blanes, Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar by GR92 - Lloret's Platja de Boadella, Platja de Santa Cristina - Tossa de Mar to Cala Llorell - Palafolls castle - Lloret de Mar to Sant Pere del Bosc