Latest news with #Empordà
Condé Nast Traveler
9 hours ago
- Condé Nast Traveler
A Guide to Empordà, the Artistic Hot Spot of Spain's Costa Brava
Spain's Costa Brava has long been a magnet for the jet set, its pebbled calas and charming fishing villages luring everyone from Truman Capote and Marcel Duchamp to Ava Gardner. While you could easily follow in their footsteps, spending your vacation hopping from one rocky playa to the next, that would mean missing out on the wider charms of Empordà, the storied region stretching inland from the Mediterranean Sea and north toward the French border. Once home to the first Greek settlement on the Iberian Peninsula, this picturesque corner of Spain, just an hour and a half north of Barcelona, encompasses a patchwork of honey-hued medieval towns, vineyard-blanketed hills, and rocky landscapes shaped by the fierce Tramuntana wind—which is said to have inspired the creative genius of the region's most famous son, Salvador Dalí. But Empordà's pastoral beauty and agricultural soul shouldn't distract from its more contemporary draws: a red-hot arts scene, detour-worthy dining, and an explosion of new design-forward hotels, including Finca Victoria, Villa Salvador, and a new property launched by the brothers behind the region's three-Michelin-starred El Celler de Can Roca. 'Amazingly, Empordà still feels under-the-radar,' says Pau Guardans, founder of Único Hotels, whose jewel-box retreat Mas de Torrent is the preferred bolthole of Barcelona's elite (complete with a helipad and museum-worthy art collection). But with more travelers venturing beyond the well-trodden trail, Empordà is quickly shedding its locals-only reputation and emerging as one of Spain's hotspots. It's a place where an itinerary might include cycling between perfectly preserved 15th-century villages, birdwatching in the Aiguamolls wetlands, wine-tasting at family-run bodegas, and tapping into the region's creative side at ceramic studios and independent art galleries.
Condé Nast Traveler
4 days ago
- Condé Nast Traveler
La Gastronòmica — Tour Review
Zoom out. What's the big picture here? Volcanic soil, shrimp-rich waters, and a patchwork of groves, vines, orchards and rice paddies earned Catalonia the title of 2025's World Region of Gastronomy—but a quick wander through the supermarket aisles won't give you the full flavor. To bring the region's deliciousness to life, La Gastronòmica's unique foodie tours play on senses beyond taste. 'ViViVi' pairs wines with live cello or violin performances inside a 12th-century church. 'Popi' offers a fisherman's-eye view of the coast: A traditional boat ride followed by a feast of the day's catch from Palamós fish market, veggies from nearby farms, and Empordà wines. 'Sea Road' peppers a gentle coastal hike with tales of local myths and legends, pausing at particularly magical spots to refuel on snacks and wine—all from small local producers, of course. Tell us about your fellow tourees. Tours are private and can be fully personalized. How are the guides? As you'd expect, hosts Clara and Jaume know their region—and their food. Clara is a sommelier with a Master's in Gastronomic Communication and the author of five books on wine and gastronomy. Jaume trained as a chef at Barcelona's prestigious Hofmann Cooking School. They're as engaging as they are knowledgeable, and work to a full-plate/full-glass philosophy, which is our life mantra, too. Anything you'll be remembering weeks or months or years from now? The settings elevate everything. Traditional round-table tastings have their place, but eating fresh-that-morning seafood on a small boat, near the source, feeling the salty sea breeze on your skin… ahh, it's hard to top. So: money, time—how can we make the most of both? There are two ways to savor the region's gastronomy. One is seated in a smart city restaurant, eating an utterly fabulous tasting menu from a beautifully upholstered chair. The other scraps the pomp. It's snacking on farm-to-fingers bites while trekking the region's terrain, uncovering local history and cultural quirks, and staring hypnotically at the ocean with a wine glass in hand. If you're leaning towards the latter, bookmark La Gastronòmica.
