A Guided Journey Along The Mediterranean Coast

The Med on one side, the Pyrenees on the other. France and Spain. Enjoyable and not-challenging walking. Glorious weather (mostly!) and fascinating unspoilt fishing villages and small ports. Comfortable accommodation and good food. Plus a bi-lingual guide who can bring it all alive for you. Good value too!

A summary of your journey

A walking holiday packed with highlights - just as we like it! There's the authentic and historic city of Perpignan (so often missed, thank goodness, by people rushing south and north). Then the superb fishing village and waterside castle of Collioure, a village made famous by Matisse and Picasso, followed by unspoilt coastal villages like Portbou and Port de la Selva before the culmination, Cadaques, a lovely village with Dali's house to visit nearby. En route, plenty of capes, creeks, bays and beaches as nature made them, and the Dali Museum in Figueras. Good quality accommodation and some great meals too! Plus a bi-lingual guide who knows the region well, and is a qualified mountain walking guide. How about that?

The Plus Points

Delightful towns and villages - Perpignan, Collioure, Port de la Selva, Cadaques
Marvellous unchallenging walking along the coast - much of it in national parks
Wonderful walking weather (mostly) and a bi-lingual guide
Quality accommodatioin and great meals too

Le programme

Day 1

We meet you at Perpignan airport (5 flights a week from London Stansted from mid June), or rail station, and transfer to your hotel near Perpignan's charming and historic city centre.

The Comfort Hotel Centre Del Mon is modern, chic and comfortable and an easy stroll from all you might want to see and do in Perpignan. You will immediately feel you are in the real France because although the city has many visitors it still very much belongs to its inhabitants going about their daily lives.

Transfer time: 10 minutes.

Day 2

After breakfast, you meet with your travelling companions - minimum 5 (including you), maximum 15 - who are likely to be from several countries speaking English and French. You will also meet your highly qualified and bi-lingual guide, so you can only speak English if you choose. Your guide takes you on a delightful walk gently upwards towards the majestic Madeloc Tower, and the breathtaking 360° view tells you why they built it here. From there, it's a strolling descent with the Mediterranean out in front as you walk past the Hermitage of Notre Dame de la Consolation, through alternating "maquis" and vines, and past an old windmill as the bays, castle and streets of Collioure emerge. Check into your hotel, then understand why Collioure became such a favourite of Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, Braque and Charles Rennie Mackintosh (among many others) by following the "Chemin du Fauvisme" featuring reproductions of Matisse and Derain paintings dotted around the streets. It's a joy!

The three star Hotel Les Princes de Catalogne is welcoming and well-situated at the very heart of Collioure, just metres from the port and the sea. Dinner will be in a nearby restaurant, a favourite of ours, which offers a selection of local specialities.

Walking time: 4 hours. Elevation: + 250m / - 300m. Transfer time: 30 minutes.

Day 3

Once you have enjoyed all Collioure offers, your guide will lead you on the delightful coastal path walking to the typically Catalan and very active Port Vendres, then on to Cap Bear with its numerous attractive coves and creeks, often featuring vines and delightfully colourful, fragrant flowers. Paulilles beach offers an almost irresistible opportunity for a swim and sunbathe before continuing to Banyuls via Cap d'Ullastret with its crystal clear waters and hidden coves.

Banyuls is an interesting and historic frontier town, which is also the end of the famous trans-Pyrenean 900 kilometre GR10 from the Atlantic to here on the Mediterranean. You stay at the three star Hôtel Les Elmes, exclusively located overlooking the sheltered beach and scenic bay that is understandably popular with yachts. The terrace and the huge windows of its La Littorine gourmet restaurant enable you to enjoy sea views while eating excellent food. Many rooms have sea views, and some also have balconies.

Walking time: 4-5 hours. Elevation: + 400m / - 400m.

Day 4

You walk in both France and Spain today beginning with a long but gentle climb up through vines towards the historic and magnificently located Querroig Tower, which is still on the frontier. The panoramic views reward the climb as you look over Cape Cerbere and your destination for this evening, Portbou. What may surprise you is how wild and rugged (hence "brava") the coast is, and how empty of human construction too other than a few white villages dotting the coast. You descend through the Franco-Spanish Alberes National Park down to Llanca, another pleasant surprise.

Yes, there is a big yacht marina here, but Llanca remains a Catalan fishing village and port, a town of 5,000 that mostly looks and feels several generations before the tourist resorts much further south. You stay at the stylish and very comfortable three star Hotel Goleta in the heart of the old town, but just a two minute walk to unspoilt, sandy coves one way and the marina, bars and shops the other. You dine at the hotel's rather good restaurant.

Walking time: 5-6 hours. Elevation: + 700m / - 700m

Day 5

The visit to the archetypal monastery of St Peter of Rhodes will be today's highlight, and probably a highlight of the whole journey. Said to have been founded in the ninth century by monks protecting St Peter's relics, the wonderfully evocative 12th century cloisters are the architectural and physical centre, but the associated buildings as well as the amazing location - on a mountain side high above the Mediterranean - will long remain in your memories - and photo albums. There was once a large castle above the monastery protecting it from its many attacks, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a town and another monastery nearby. No wonder at all that it was a favourite pilgrimage destination in the middle ages. You will also enjoy - we hope! - the pleasant descent to the coast, and the pleasure of reaching sea level at Port de la Selva, another favourite place to stay anywhere on the Mediterranean.

The three star Hotel Porto Cristo is just 30 metres from the village's sandy beach, and its two restaurants (one essentially indoor, the other outdoor) offer views of the bay. It is a 19th century Empire style building, but all the rooms have been thoroughly modernised to make it a very comfortable and pleasant place to stay with the bonus of a spa centre too. After a day's walking, you may decide you deserve a bit of pampering, and why not?

Walking time: 5 hours. Elevation: + 700m / - 700m

Day 6

Port de la Selva is the last village before the renowned - and justly so - Cape Creus. This is the archetypal "savage", "brave" coast that even today is almost as nature has made it - thanks to man largely leaving it alone (the whole cape is a national park). You follow the coastline with its frequent creeks, bays, headlands, cliffs and beaches - it's got the lot! - until you arrive at the outer edge of the superb Cala Tavallera (or Taballera depending on your chosen language) that is perhaps best described as a delightful mini fjord with a surprisingly unspoilt sandy beach at its end. There's plenty of time to relax and swim here, or indeed any of the other less well known inlets, before setting off inland across the cape before the scenic descent down to Cadaques and its lovely bay where you will be pleased (we're sure) to stay for two nights.

We really like the balance that Hotel S'Aguarda offers. It's contemporary and well managed with light, bright rooms, a good restaurant, lots of terrace space, and a pool with plenty of sun loungers. What makes it even more relaxing is that it is located a few hundred yards away - and a few yards above - the town and bay, so it's got rather special views from many places. All the same, it's an easy stroll through the town to the beach and bay, so we think you get the best of both worlds.

Walking time: 5 hours. Elevation: + 300m / - 300m.

Day 7

You can do as little or as much as you like today. We include tickets to see Salvador Dali's weird and wonderful house (for many years his actual home) outside Port Lligat - an absolute must. You can walk along the coast to the lonely lighthouse, then picnic, read, swim, sunbathe and snooze on any one of a number of beaches en route. We also include a boat trip along the coast to get a wholly different perspective on the Cape. You can also stroll around Cadaques itself, a fishing port that still retains a lot of its charm, especially in the streets behind the bay. We're sure you'll know what suits you best.

Your second night at the Hotel S'Aguarda, but tonight you dine in one of our favourite - and most characterful - little restaurants. It won't surprise you to learn that they specialise in fish.

Walking time: up to you! Elevation: not too much.

Day 8

Well, this it! Au revoir to this wonderful coast, your walks and happy memories, but there is one last highlight when we take you to Figueras, and its Dali Museum - a museum like no other, and packed with pleasures and surprises. Ticket included. Then it's back to Perpignan for a last afternoon and night.

You stay again at the Comfort Hotel Del Mon but we leave you free to dine where you wish.

Total transfer time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

Day 9

After breakfast, we take you back to Perpignan airport, or rail station.

Détails Pratiques
Informations COVID-19

MEETING POINT

We take you to and from Perpignan airport, or railway station, and then to your hotel in the city centre.

END OF YOUR TRIP

On the last day, we drop you off at Perpignan airport or rail station.

LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY

This holiday features comfortable walking with some fairly long, but not steep, slopes, usually 5 hours or so a day with accumulated ascents and descents of about 400 to 700 metres, so is suitable for people who are reasonably fit, and used to walking (albeit "gently") for a few hours a day. It will get hot in July and August, as well as more crowded. We would recommend June and from mid August through September and well into October as the best months.

DEPARTURE GUARANTEED FROM ( No. pers)

GROUP LIMIT (pers.)

LUGGAGE TRANSPORT

We will transfer your luggage between each hotel, so all you need to carry when walking is a daysack with whatever you regard as essentials, and, where relevant, your picnic.

GUIDE

This holiday is led by an experienced, bi-lingual guide with mountain walking qualifications and a wide knowledge of the region. You need only speak English if you so choose, not least because members of the group may well speak English as their first, second or third language.

MEALS

You will eat well. Dinners are based on set menus featuring regional specialities usually with 3 or 4 choices for each of three courses, but you can pay locally for upgraded choices. Picnics are included as specified below.

TRANSFERS

Journeys by road are by comfortable minibus or taxis.

To make the right choice

Have a look at our detailed explanations on the types of hiking, the standards of accommodation, and understand baggage transport ... How to choose your trip ?

DISPOSITIONS COVID-19

Because of the added health precautions relating to COVID, you must be equipped from the start of your trip with:
* a sufficient quantity of masks (at a rate of 2 per day minimum). Wearing a mask will be compulsory during any transport, in certain accommodation, crowded places etc.
* zipped pockets for masks and other items such as used tissues
* hydro-alcoholic gel
* a thermometre to take your temperature in case of symptoms appearing during your stay
* a pen (sometimes necessary to sign an agreement in certain accommodation).

The hosts who will welcome you (hoteliers, refuge guards, restaurateurs, transporters, local teams ...) are the people who will help to guarantee the smooth running of your stay and will ask you to conform with certain health related protocols. Out of respect for them and other people who frequent the same places, we ask you to commit to respecting the instructions given to you. Be reassured and optimistic, because as you know, hiking is an activity that will allow you long and enjoyable periods of time during which the wearing of a mask is not mandatory!

On our guided trips we do not insist that you take a single room if you are travelling alone. If you book a shared " twin" room with 2 beds you agree to assume responsibility for the possible consequences related to sharing the room (and therefore the bathroom and toilet) with another person from the group. If you do not wish to do this you should take the single room option, subject to availability

Thank you for your interest in the trips presented on this website.

Purely Pyrenees is based in the French Pyrenees and we are specialists in creating and organising walking and cycling holidays in this region, both in France and in Spain.
Our parent company, La Balaguère*, has provided holidays for French walkers for nearly forty years.
Due to the problems we have experienced following the global pandemic, notably the difficulty experienced by English speaking customers being able to travel to the Pyrenees, we have taken the decision to stop selling our trips directly from this site.

Our holidays will soon be available again through trusted partner agencies and more information on this will soon be available on this page.
If you would like any further information at this time, please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@purelypyrenees.com

*La Balaguère is part of the non profit organisation UCPA.

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