Girona city guide

Arriving in Girona by train feels like being let in on a secret. Only a fraction of visitors step off here, and the station handles far fewer passengers than Barcelona, even though trains from Paris, Lyon and Marseille stop directly in the city. Most travellers rush past on their way to the Costa Brava or bigger cities nearby, but Girona is worth pausing in. The Onyar River glints between rows of pastel houses, the cathedral bell carries across the rooftops, and cyclists roll through in quiet pelotons on their way to the hills. Tucked between the Pyrenees and the coast, it’s small enough to cross in minutes yet varied enough to fill days, with ambitious food, experimental art, and shops that range from jewellery studios to weekend flea markets.

Fikri Rasyid

Girona.

Culture

The cathedral dominates the skyline, its staircase made famous by Game of Thrones, but the more interesting stories begin just a few streets away. Beyond Plaça dels Jurats sits Casa Masó, the birthplace of Rafael Masó, one of Catalonia’s most significant architects. The interiors are a lesson in Noucentisme, with stripped-back geometry and pale colours that stand in deliberate contrast to Gaudí’s flamboyance. Masó pared things back with pale walls, clean lines and furniture that still feels strikingly modern. Preserved as he designed it, inside you’ll find coloured glass designed to soften the summer sun, built-in bookcases that make the rooms feel lived in, and tiled floors patterned like woven textiles.

Annie Spratt

Casa Masó façade.

Walk along the Onyar and you’ll hear culture spilling out of La Mercè Cultural Centre, a former convent turned grassroots arts hub. Late in the day you might catch a theatre group rehearsing or a dance class in full swing in its vaulted rooms. It isn’t polished for visitors, and has hosted everything from Catalan folk concerts to writing workshops, independent theatre productions to art exhibitions.

Annie Spratt

Pintxos in Girona.

Michelin stars to late-night taverns

Girona packs a culinary punch. At the top of the tree is El Celler de Can Roca, once voted the best restaurant in the world. Run by the Roca brothers, it holds three Michelin stars and is experimental, ambitious and famously hard to get into, with tables booking up months in advance. They aren’t alone either: the city and surrounding region count more than 20 Michelin stars, with restaurants such as Massana and Divinum offering creative tasting menus that showcase Catalan produce with fine-dining flair.

But if you don’t have six months to wait for a reservation or simply want something a bit more casual, the city is just as rewarding. In the old quarter, Zanpanzar, a Basque tavern, buzzes late into the night. The appeal isn’t only the pintxos lined up on the counter but the way Basque traditions meet Catalan staples. Cod in glossy pil pil sauce, made with olive oil, garlic and a touch of chilli whipped into an emulsion, sits beside coca (Catalan flatbread), topped with butifarra (a peppery pork sausage). The room is noisy, tables are crammed, and the counter is restocked as fast as the plates empty.

Biker Jun/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0

Bacalao al pil pil (cod in pil pil sauce)

Coffee and cycling

La Fábrica, the café opened by former pro cyclist Christian Meier and his wife Amber, is the unofficial clubhouse of Girona’s cycling scene. Professional teams train in the city, and the Volta a Catalunya passes through, so bikes are stacked outside the café most of the day. Inside, the air smells of freshly ground coffee and warm waffles. Cortados arrive on small trays, bagels come stuffed with pulled pork or avocado, and the banana bread is mandatory. You don’t need to know a derailleur from a chainring to feel welcome as the café draws as many locals and tourists as Lycra-clad riders.

Beer and dessert

If you want regional beers with your meal, make your way to B-12, a bar-restaurant that boasts the best craft beer list in Catalonia. The focus here is entirely local: microbreweries from the volcanic Garrotxa region, farmhouse ales brewed in the Pyrenees, experimental sours from Barcelona. It’s also vegan, a rarity in these parts, and the mushroom croquetas disappear almost as quickly as the beer from the taps.

Finish the night at Rocambolesc, the Roca brothers’ ice cream parlour, where dessert doubles as theatre. Each flavour riffs on Catalan childhood snacks: the signature is a toasted brioche filled with warm apple pie ice cream, while lollies shaped like Darth Vader dipped in chocolate tend to win the queue. Order one and take it to the bridge to watch the last of the daylight on the water.

Annie Spratt

Market in Girona.

Shopping

Girona’s shopping scene is small but personal, led more by makers than by brands. N estudi, tucked away on Carrer Migdia, feels more like a quiet jewellery workshop than a store. The window display is sparse, a few silver rings, earrings, and pendants, but inside you might catch Núria at her bench, hammering metal. It’s a slow, thoughtful space, and the pieces here are made to be worn and kept for life.

Every Saturday, the Lleona Exchange Market sets up at the foot of the Cul de la Lleona statue in Plaça de Sant Feliu, spilling onto Carrer de Jaume Pons Martí. It is part flea market, part antiques fair, and wandering the stalls is like rummaging through Girona’s attic: one table stacked with 1960s ceramics in mustard glazes, another offering old postcards or vintage tools. The crowd is a mix of students, collectors and designers, each digging for something different.

Hotel Museu Llegendes

Duplex suite, Hotel Museu Llegendes.

Hotels

After a night of beers at B-12 or a sugar rush at Rocambolesc, you’ll want to bed down somewhere central. Hotel Museu Llegendes sits in an 18th-century townhouse just below the cathedral. Each of the ten rooms nods to a local legend, from the Witch of the Cathedral to the Lioness of Girona, but the design is more boutique than theatrical. The emphasis is on comfort and quiet, with modern bathrooms and subtle historical details..

Hotel Carlemany is a short walk from the station, so it’s practical if you’re arriving late by train. It has larger facilities than many of Girona’s boutique hotels, including two restaurants and a café, plus the lobby doubles as a gallery with rotating work by Catalan painters and sculptors.

Jordi Guinovart Mas

Vic, Spain.

Where next

A short train north brings you to Figueres, Salvador Dalí’s hometown, where his theatre-museum is equal parts carnival and surrealist temple. Southward, Barcelona is less than 40 minutes away, but for a quieter detour, head inland to Vic. The ride curves past farmland and volcanic hills before arriving in Vic, well known for its embutidos. Inside the town's covered market, rows of sausages and hams hang above the stalls, their smoky aroma filling the hall. The market air is heavy with smoke and spice, and most visitors leave with strings of sausage tucked into brown paper bags.

Take a trip by train to Girona via France, or check out our other Spanish slow travel holidays by rail.

Read our Zürich city guide, or about six of the best scenic trains in Europe.

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