Swimming and beach of Sant Feliu de Guixols

Sant Feliu de Guixols is one of the main towns in the central Costa Brava and was one of the early holiday resorts when visitors first started coming to the sea to take the waters. Traditionally it has been considered the captial of the Costa Brava.

In recent times, Sant Feliu's prominence as a tourist destination has diminished as holiday makers focused on other towns and areas along the coast. As such it retains a more local and Catalan feel with a pleasant shopping areas of narrow streets and market and some historic buildings like the Monestary - one of the major buildings of the town. In the last few years, the town has been redeveloping the beach area and renovating areas in the hills to the south of the town that had fallen into disrepair due to an inheritance dispute.

Historically, the town had the monestary, but was also connected to naval ship building in medieval times and later the cork industry, but with fluctuating economic conditions over the years. The town still has a working and leisure port, visible from the main town beach.

Sant Feliu's main town beach is less enticing that the Platja de Sant Pol just to the north which is more popular for holiday makers (one reason we haven't quite covered this one until this year). The town is, however, redeveloping and renovating the beachside area and the baths to the south side of the beach with definite improvements in the past 3-4 years.

The beach is backed by a park area with a small children's park and then behind that a tree-lined avenue with bars and restaurants before the first row of buildings of the town itself giving a pleasant fin-de-siecle feel to the area which is good for promenading in the evening. Behind this area are the pedestrianised older town streets.

A headland walk connects Sant Feliu to Platja de Sant Pol, past a Via Ferrata (a preprepared "iron way" with cables for suitably equipped climbers) in the cliffs above the sea.

To the south of the town, the road climbs into the hills with an extremely curvy road down to Tossa de Mar with a reputation for causing car sickness.

Sant Feliu has a music festival (Porta Ferrada) in the summer.

The main town beach

The beach is right in front of the town looking out to the port on the left and the headland of Sant Elm to the right. In summer there is a swimming platform in the bay. On the right hand side is the old bathing club buildings undergoing renovation, but controversially because of the 'law of the costas' which limits building on the coast itself.

The sand is a typically Costa Brava gritty texture - so too coarse for sand castles, but not pebbly. The bay is relatively shallow - though still 3-4 metres - with a mid section of rocks and seaweed before becoming clear again. The rocks and seaweed give cover for fish, so while this is a broad beach it is possible to see sealife when snorkelling.

Being a town beach it has lifeguards and facilities with a couple of beach restaurants at the back steps, and for smaller children, a small tasteful amusement park area.

Sand quality

The sand is gritty - typical of the bigger beaches.

Swimming

We swam on a yellow flag day due to wind coming in off the sea giving surface waves. But even so the swimming was easy and pretty clear. The mid-section of rock and weeds feels odd and unnatural under the water - but provides a habitat for fish to hide.

The beach is long enough for longer swims, particularly if you swim from the baths. Further out you run into the entrance for the port with a steady flow of boats (and water hover boarder that we saw).

Parking

Sant Feliu has a number of parking areas close to the port on the entrance to the town from Platja d'Aro direction, plus parking directly behind the beach in the park area, or up by the bus station. As it's not so popular as a tourist resort, and visitors would tend to go to Platja Sant Pol we've always managed to find parking, even in summer, though parking would be like to be more difficult on market day.

Walking and exploring

To the north there is the headland walk around to Platja Sant Pol going up from the back of the port.

To the back of Sant Feliu are hills with walks up to the 'balancing' rock at Pedralta or around the hills. Directly south the area gets hilly and cliffy and the GR92 coastal path runs slightly inland.

Neighbouring walks: Blanes, Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar by GR92 - Platja d'Aro and S'Agaro - Tossa de Mar north to Cala Pola - Sant Feliu de Guixols Pedralta - Solius, rocks for climbing and ruined castle

Next beaches

South to Platja de Candell and Platja de Canyet; North to Sant Pol (Sant Feliu de Guixols)