When I booked Girona I expected a walled Medieval city with dreamy views and the coolest looking old town streets. I saw pictures of colorful houses along the river, lovely bridges, and heard about the amazing food scene.
In reality, it hit ALL the marks and definitely exceeded most of them! There were so many surprises and I absolutely fell in LOVE with Girona. I couldn’t recommend more highly that you add this to your Spain itinerary. They say some places just give you a good feeling and Girona was one of those places. Though small, I feel we could have stayed far longer.
How to Get to Girona
By Train
Girona is super easy to reach by train from Barcelona. It is a 40 minute direct train and leaves from Barcelona Sants station multiple times a day.
I often use Rail Europe to book my train tickets. Yes, it is a 3rd party app so tickets will cost like a dollar more. But I love the app, its easy to use, and you can keep tickets all in one place when traveling.
When you arrive at the Girona train station you will need a short taxi ride to get into town. It is “walkable” but its a 20-30 minute walk and may be challenging with bags. A taxi was about 10-12 euro.
By Car
You could also drive to Girona. If you are driving, I would make sure to arrange parking before hand. You should understand how far the car park may be from your accommodation. This is a walled old town and driving in many parts is just not possible or encouraged.
By Bike
I should mention that Girona is a VERY active city. This area of Spain is known for having amazing biking routes, and even in January we saw so many bikers. People bike from town to town and stop in different places to explore. So if you’re active, and into this sort of thing, biking into Girona would be an amazing adventure.
Where to Stay in Girona
I may be biased, but I sincerely believe that I found the best place to stay in Girona. Just like the town itself, I thought this place was going to be awesome. It EXCEEDED every expectation I had.
We stayed at Hotel Palau dels Alemanys and it was SUPERB! I can’t say enough good things about this property (and no I am not sponsored this is not an AD). From the moment we started communicating with the family who own and run this place I was so impressed. They were so incredibly helpful and attentive about every single part of our trip.
Upon arrival they met with us to teach us about the history of the place and Girona too. They explained each room in such detail and gave us so much information about the area. They also gave us a glass of cava while doing so (which is always a nice touch). The B&B only has 4 suites and each one is so special and unique.
Our room was a dream, it was huge and had views over ALL of Girona. You could see the amazing town walls, the church, the mountains in the distance. It felt like all of the old town spread out in front of us. The bed was incredibly comfortable and the shower was excellent. The room had everything we needed for a few day. One of our favorite parts was just having snacks and watching the sunset from the kitchen table. This is the kind of place I could see us staying for much longer and never getting tired of it.
The location was also fantastic, we could walk right up onto the walls and we did many times! I ran along the walls in the mornings, we walked them at sunset, and explored them in between too! We could easily walk right down into the Old Town of Girona. We didn’t need a car for anything while we were here.
Where to eat in Girona
We visited Girona on New Years Day. This was the reason a number of restaurants in town were unfortunately closed during our visit. I don’t usually provide a list of places I didn’t eat. I am going to add a few restaurants here because this town has some famous spots that we didn’t get to try.
First I’ll start with where we DID eat.
Mimolet
This was our favorite meal in Girona and I am so glad we found it on a whim. This restaurant group actually has a few spots in Girona that all have a different vibe. We only got to try this one, but if we stayed a few more days I would have tried another.
The food and presentation here were fantastic. We loved that they had a fixed priced coursed out menu. You were also able to pick different dishes than your table mate, which is so fun. We were able to choose and try so many dishes. I went seafood focused, while my husband chose more meat options. Absolutely everything was fantastic.
The service was warm and welcoming, the place was so charming inside and so cozy. We loved everything about this meal and I would highly recommend it.
Cal Ros
We loved this spot as well, this one was more of a traditional Catalan experience. We ordered more of a tapas style meal here and shared everything.
Our waiter was so helpful and kind and we loved the vibe in here. He made sure we understood the menu and ordered appropriately. We tried so many bites and we loved everything! This is an easy location right in the center of town and we felt it was great value for money!
Txalaka Girona
This was a popular spot with the local community. We walked in hoping to have lunch and got very lucky to get a table. By the time we finished eating this place was PACKED. They had a large menu and also a lunch tasting menu. We went for the lunch tasting and really enjoyed it.
Again, we each tried different things so we were able to sample a lot. This was more of what call a “mom and pop” type place. You feel like a family is cooking for you. The food was very enjoyable and we loved the experience.
I had croquettes and shrimp and my husband had a salad and sausages. We both loved our meals. The meal also came with wine.
El Cellar de Can Roca (3 Michelin Star)
We did not get to try this spot as it was closed for the winter holiday. This one also may have still been what we consider “out of our budget”. But I would really love to try a 3 star spot and see what that is all about. So, we may have done it if given the opportunity.
The family who owns/runs this place own a few restaurants in GIrona. I am sure it would be amazing to eat at any of them. It is worth looking up if you are in town and love food. If we are back in the area I would come back here to try to eat at one of them.
Michelin Dining
If you are into the Michelin dining scene you are spoiled for choice in Girona. Make sure that you look them up, there are a surprising number of options.
Try a Xuixo (pronounced “shoo-shoo”)
If you are in Girona you should try as many of these as you can! They are a deep fried pastry filled with Catalan creme and coated in sugar! They are a true delight and we tried. as many as we could find. Sometimes they had other variations like fun fillings or covered in chocolate.
Things to do in Girona
Explore the Walls of the City
We have visited many walled cities throughout our travels, I can honestly say I think Girona’s walls were our favorite. The walls are still well preserved and you can walk a LARGE section of them overlooking the city. There are multiple lookout stands to stop at and the views are gorgeous the entire way. I actually ran the walls a bit in the mornings.
There is so much history in this Girona! A walking tour would be an excellent option to learn about all of it. If you are a “Game of Thrones” lover you may already know. that some scenes were filmed here in Girona. They also run tours where you can learn more about that.
If a walking tour sounds like your vibe you can check out some options here —-> Girona Walking Tours
If you’re into Game of Thrones, check out some options here —> Game of Thrones Tours
I also highly recommend seeing a sunset from the walls. It is absolutely perfect and it is really easy to get right back down into town afterwards.
Cathedrals and Churches
There are quite a number of beautiful churches and cathedrals in this city. The main Gothic Cathedral steals the show and you can see it from all around town. You could spend a decent amount of time exploring churches here. Some require paid entry and many you’re able to just walk in.
The Arab Baths
These are traditional public baths used by the Romans and are still pretty well preserved. It costs a few euro per person, but they are neat to see if you’re interested.
Check out the bridges
This might seem strange as a “thing to do”. But there are multiple bridges crossing the river through Girona and they are quite charming. One of them was actually built by Gustave Eiffel before he built the iconic Eiffel Tower. It is bright red and looks beautiful next to all the colorful homes and buildings along the river.
The bridges connect the Old Town of Girona with the newer side and they have the most stunning views.
Walk All around the Castle/Gardens area
Up by the top walls is an area called the German Gardens that is really lovely to explore around too. The exterior area surrounding the Cathedral, around the baths and walls is also beautiful to wander. I highly recommend taking some time to stroll around.
Wander the streets and shop
As with most towns in Europe, Girona has no shortage of lovely shops, bars, and cafes to pop into. You can easily spend hours just wandering the streets and popping into places. There are so many charming places. There are also a few quirky museums that you could peek into if it fit your interests.
Just Grab a Spritz, pastry, or coffee and enjoy the scene
One of my favorite things to do anywhere we go is to just sit and enjoy the scene. There are plenty of fun places to do this all throughout the old and new sides of town.
Check for Local Events/Celebrations
This is something I suggest you do anywhere you are visiting. Just type in the City/Town and your dates and see if anything comes up! We got SO lucky on this trip! We happened to be visiting on the night they lit the Christmas Star at the Cathedral. This is a town celebration to light the way for the 3 Kings who are coming a few days later.
We got to be a part of the celebration (although it was all in Catalan) and enjoy the good vibes. It was such a great and wholesome event. We had so much fun getting to be a part of it!
If you have any questions about Girona or want to know more you can always reach out to me at planformedani@gmail.com or planforme.dani on instagram!
If you’re looking for other posts on Spain, you can check them out here —-> Madrid/Barcelona Posts
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