Barcelona is great.
If you don't plan to visit Tossa, skip down until you see the next photo.
Tossa De Mar is a dream!
Before coming to Spain, Tossa was a planned day trip. I knew we wouldn't get a serene beach with gorgeous views in Barcelona, so I spent a few months researching and came up with Tossa De Mar; located on Costa Brava (the 'wild coast').
Tossa de Mar was the highlight of our trip to Spain!
INFORMATION for future Tossa visitors:
Because I know that online info about getting to this wonderful town is usually incomplete, I'll sum a few things up regarding transportation to Tossa from Barcelona.
*I purposely left out a piece of info on my Barcelona: Day Two post.
After visiting La Sagrada Familia, we went to Estacio del Nord (Barcelona's main bus station) and purchased our bus tickets for Tossa de Mar for the following day.
Anyone can walk up to the window and buy tickets to go from A to B just minutes before the bus is scheduled to depart, BUT because it is high tourist season, we thought it smart to buy the day before.
Once tickets for a time slot are gone and a buses are near full, your choices are limited. Only so many buses per day run to and from Tossa De Mar.
They do not operate every hour, on the hour.
They are not a part of Barcelona's city transit system.
I had looked at the option of buying online before we had arrived in Spain, but didn't note any child fares, and I didn't understand why I couldn't follow through an online purchase. This is why I waited to buy in person.
As it turns out, there are not any discounts for children, or anyone else for the matter.
And buying online and printing a ticket for this route is not an option through the Barcelona Nord website.
You can buy online through Barcelona Nord, but it is crucial to know that tickets are ONLY delivered via courier to a local address within Spain. They cannot be printed instantly.
To view tickets and times online, visit:
Next to the 'Home' tab, click on Destinations and Timetables.
*pick the drop down "Journeys"
On the line labeled "destination" write Tossa de Mar, or "tossa".
Assuming you are departing from Barcelona and need to return, click "roundtrip", and then enter your dates of travel. Click "search".
Although you may not be able to purchase, this gives anyone an idea of how long the ride is, the cost, and the timetables for the journey.
To buy tickets while in Barcelona, go to Barcelona Nord (Estacio de Nord), near the Arc de Triomf.
Find the Sarfa counter in the middle of the building, and boom.
If you are Spanish savvy, you can book online through SARFA.com, but again, it's not an instant buy and done. It's as if you are requesting a journey inquiry, waiting for someone to say "ok", and then you can buy. *The page translates to English, but not everything will show up in English, and what does isn't written clearly.
As for my family, it was €15 per head to Tossa, and €11 per head from Tossa, back to Barcelona.
Grand total: €156
I knew it wouldn't be cheap, but it was 100% worth every 1¢ Euro.
I would say "worth every penny", but we don't call them pennies here in Central Europe! Ha!
We woke up earlier than planned and decided to take a leisurely walk to the bus station. Our bus to Tossa wouldn't depart until 10:00am, but there wasn't much fun to be had inside of our hotel room. The walk took about 20 minutes or so, but gave us an opportunity to grab coffee and breakfast along the way.
We discovered the Arc de Triomf (yes, it is spelled differently than the arc in Paris) of Barcelona, walked down the promenade to the end of the palm tree lined path, entered Parc Ciutadella and went back towards the bus station. I would have spent more time inside of the park, but it was on the list for the following day, anyway.
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The ride to Tossa was interesting. Lots to look at along the coast: Castles, ruins, some small towns here and there. Our bus driver was keen on honking at folks, which was amusing to our kids. We had thought about renting a car for the trip to Tossa (at some point when we were planning our vacation), but after visiting via bus, I am glad we didn't.
*If you plan to drive to Tossa from Barcelona, you will hit 3 tolls, each way, and once near Lloret de Mar, the roads are super curvy and crazy. I'm surprised our bus didn't tip over!
An hour and forty minutes later, we had arrived!
The bus station is conveniently located in the heart of Tossa. There are restaurants, hotels, souvenir shops, clothing boutiques, and random little stores selling water, drinks, and ice cream, everywhere.
We stopped in the tourism office near the bus station to grab a map of the town. The woman in there was very friendly, spoke perfect English, and helped us understand the hiking trails in the town that I was interested in. I had read about them pre-vacation, and was dying to explore the cliffs.
After visiting the tourism office, we stopped for a quick lunch, loaded up on water, and hit the trail!
There is a long route you can take from the tourism office, but eager to see water, we took the city short cut. Past the main beach, past the base of the castle, we found the cliff trail. We weren't even all the way up the steps before I went photo crazy!
No children were disturbed in the making of the (below) photos!
It was nice to let the 'girls' out. It was soooo hot outside! Oh, and in Spain, it's not a crime to be topless. Actually, it's pretty common to see topless chicks. They're not littered down beaches, but maybe every 20 feet or so, you'll see a lady with really tan boobs!
I am not the lady with really tan boobs. At all.
As for our American kids seeing topless ladies on a beach?
They could give two shits.
I guess all of our traveling has prepared them to expect whatever comes their way.
They're cultured kids by now, I suppose, so a few exposed breasts didn't startle them.
Eager to cool off, we turned around and went back down towards the beach. Before settling on the sand, we wandered the Tossa castle.
Castillo de Tossa de Mar is a real life sand castle.
Okay, not a sand castle, more like a castle on the sand.
It's out of a dream.
I LOVE castles and I LOVE water, so to have two of my favorite things in one setting was amazing!
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| The clearest water we've ever seen. |
After wandering the castle, it was time to hit the beach! We had noted a WC (restroom) near the beach parking area, changed in there, then headed back to the small beach surrounded by the cliffs, behind the castle.
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| Cute restaurant area near where we beached for the day. |
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| "I saw a fish. It was this big!" |
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| SEXY goggles. |
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| Some fishies the husband found while free-diving with the camera. |
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| I had to do some pose-y shots. I won't be young forever! |
We spent quite a few hours lounging at the beach. We were nearing the end of our day trip, and decided to go back up the trail and walk a bit further. It gave us a chance to dry off before getting back on the bus. Plus, the views from the trail were amazing the first time around, so I still was curious to go back and see if there were more cliffs to view.
Oh, yes. There were more.
Once down the trail, we took a backstreet around, then headed toward the main beach. We had about an hour until our bus was set to depart, so we took our time strolling the area.
By this time, it was 8pm, and we were all so sad to leave. We hesitantly started our 5 minute walk to the tiny bus station and waited for our ride to arrive. This is when I noticed that right next to the station, there's a cemetery. I am obsessed with cemeteries, so of course, I took a quick stroll inside.
Our bus arrived shortly after my cemetery stroll, and before we knew it, we were back in Barcelona.
Tossa de Mar is such a beautiful place. Not too touristy, not too crowded, and it's clean. Perfection.
I swear, I'm retiring in Tossa. It has all of my favorite things wrapped up in one small town, and the views to go with it!
Definitely worth more than a day trip, but I'm happy that we got the chance to visit at all.
If I am ever in Spain again, I shall return.
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| Tossa de Mar, sky view via airplane. I made sure to watch for it on the ride home! |
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