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Girona and the beautiful old town

The tranquil town on the Costa Brava has some exciting sights


The origins of the city of Girona date back to Roman times. The Goths settled here around the 6th century. Around 900, there was a larger Jewish community here, which still characterizes some parts of the city today. In 1939, Franco's troops conquered Girona.

You will often see two spellings of Girona: "Gerona" is the name of the city in Spanish, "Girona" is the Catalan name.

Girona is the capital of the province of the same name. With around 75,000 inhabitants, things are a little more tranquil there than in Barcelona.
In any case, Girona is worth a visit.

The Girona excursions from Barcelona

The tours presented and recommended here all start from Barcelona.

Girona, Figueres and Dalí Museum Day Tour

Girona, Figueres and Dalí Museum Day Tour

  • Explore Girona and Figueres on a day tour from Barcelona. Marvel at Girona's Jewish quarter on a walking tour and dive into surrealism in Figueres with priority entrance to the Dalí Theatre-Museum.
  • Discover Arab baths, Gothic churches, and one of Europe's best-preserved Jewish quarters in Girona
  • Enjoy a guided walking tour of Girona, a city that was a filming location for Game of Thrones
  • Discover the fascinating world of Salvador Dalí in Figueres
  • Skip the long lines with fast-track entry to the Dalí Theater-Museum and the Dalí Jewels permanent exhibition
  • Free entry to the Dalí Theater-Museum and the Dalí Jewels exhibition in Figueres
  • Departure 08:30, duration approx. 11 hours

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Girona and Costa Brava Full-Day Tour (private or small group)

Girona and Costa Brava Full-Day Tour

  • Private or small group available
  • Explore the breathtaking landscapes and whitewashed villages of the Costa Brava, and the medieval architecture of Girona on an 8-hour small-group or private tour from Barcelona. Travel back in time as you discover Roman and medieval history.
  • Pickup included
  • Stroll through the maze of Girona's streets
  • Discover the dramatic landscapes of the Costa Brava
  • Visit the small fishing village of Calella de Palafrugell
  • Learn about the ancient paths of the Camí de Ronda
  • Swim in the crystal clear water
  • Explore the best preserved Jewish Quarter in Europe
  • Departure between 08:00 and 09:00, duration approx. 10 hours

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Girona & Costa Brava Trip with Swimming Stop

Girona & Costa Brava Trip with Swimming Stop

  • Discover the beauty of Girona and the Costa Brava on a trip from Barcelona with roundtrip transportation by van. Take a swim in the Mediterranean Sea and visit the charming village of Pals.
  • Discover historic Girona
  • Visit the impressive Arabian Baths
  • Visit the enchanting village of Pals, a real jewel of Catalonia
  • Enjoy a delicious lunch at one of the traditional local restaurants in Calella Palafrugell
  • Discover the Costa Brava and swim in the clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea
  • Professional tour guide throughout the day
  • Departure 08:30 am, duration approx. 11 hours

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Girona and Figueres Full-Day Tour with Hotel Pick Up
(private or small group)

Girona and Figueres Full-Day Tour with Hotel Pick Up

  • Private tour or small group
  • Visit the birthplace of Salvador Dalí, and discover the Roman remains and medieval houses of Girona on an 8-hour tour of Figueres and the Costa Brava. Experience 2 beautiful towns close to Barcelona, and see one of Spain’s best-preserved Jewish quarters.
  • Visit the birthplace of Salvador Dalí
  • Explore Girona's Roman ruins and medieval houses
  • Discover the world's largest collection of Dalí's artworks
  • Immerse yourself in the exciting world of thoughts of Salvador Dalí
  • Stroll the streets of Europe's best-preserved Jewish Quarter
  • Marvel at the colorful houses on the banks of the Onyar River
  • If you choose the private option: Ticket for the Dalí Theater-Museum
  • Departure between 08:00 and 09:00, duration approx. 8-10 hours

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Costa Brava and Girona Small-Group Tour (small group)

Costa Brava and Girona Small-Group Tour

  • Embark on a small-group day tour from Barcelona to visit the enchanting towns of Costa Brava and Girona with a knowledgable guide
  • Discover one of the most beautiful stretches of the Costa Brava. Take in panoramic views from scenic overlooks
  • Discover the hidden beaches, rocky coves, cliffs and crystal clear waters of the Costa Brava
  • Enjoy a historical guided tour of Girona, one of the best preserved medieval neighborhoods in Europe
  • Transport in an air-conditioned people carrier
  • Guided tour of the Costa Brava and Girona
  • Departure 08:30 am, duration approx. 9 hours

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Private Full-Day Girona & Figueres (private group)

Private Full-Day Girona & Figueres

  • Private group
  • Visit the birthplace of Salvador Dalí, and discover the Roman remains and medieval houses of Girona on an 8-hour tour of Figueres and the Costa Brava. Experience 2 beautiful towns close to Barcelona, and see one of Spain’s best-preserved Jewish quarters.
  • Enjoy a historical guided tour of Girona, one of the best preserved medieval neighborhoods in Europe
  • Explore Girona's Roman ruins and medieval houses
  • Visit the birthplace of Salvador Dalí
  • Walking tours of Girona and Figueres
  • Private transportation
  • Departure 08:30 am, duration approx. 10 hours

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Private Medieval Girona Half-Day Tour (private group)

Private Medieval Girona Half-Day Tour

  • Private group
  • Journey through the scenic Catalan countryside on this half-day tour to the medieval city of Girona. Enjoy this tour in the company of a small group of maximum 8 persons with a pick-up and drop-off from your accommodation.
  • Hotel pickup in Barcelona included
  • Marvel at Girona's medieval streets and explore the city's Jewish Quarter
  • Visit a 19th-century iron bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel
  • Discover the fascinating world of Salvador Dalí in Figueres
  • Duration approx. 5 hours

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Private Girona and Costa Brava Guided Tour (private group)

Private Girona and Costa Brava Guided Tour

  • Private group
  • Soak up the scenery of the Costa Brava as you discover the towns of Girona, Pals, and Calella de Palafrugell on a private day trip from Barcelona
  • Admire Girona's medieval architecture and explore the Jewish Quarter
  • Walk through winding streets to soak up the atmosphere of Girona
  • Enjoy a private tour and personalized attention from your guide
  • Walking tour of Girona, Pals and Calella de Palafrugell
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off, transportation by private vehicle
  • Departure 08:30 am, duration approx. 10 hours

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Girona has a lot to offer, from big attractions to little secret spots. A guide can show you these. Especially if you only want to spend a day in Girona, it makes sense to join a tour group with local guides or take a private tour where the tour guide is there exclusively for you. So you don't miss anything and have used a nice day optimally.

It is around 50 kilometers to Figueres, the birthplace of Salvador Dalí with an impressive Dalí Museum. Both places, Girona and Figueres, are worth a visit, which is why they are often offered together in one tour.

Sights of Girona

Official city map

On the official tourist map of the city of Girona you will find 45 individual sights listed.

The official tourist map of the city of Girona lists 45 individual sights. Here we have summarized some of the most beautiful ones for you.

Força Vella, the oldest part of the old town

East of the Riu Onyar are the oldest parts of the old town: Força Vella, built by the Romans in the first century BC as a fortress. This part of the old town until about 1000. In terms of area, the Jewish quarter takes up about half of it. With its narrow and winding streets, the Jewish quarter, which occupies about half of the Força Vella, is one of the oldest and largest historical Jewish quarters in Europe.

  • City walls
    You can visit the parts of the Roman city wall, which was built in the 1st century BC and expanded and strengthened in the 3rd century. The Roman city wall was extended by the Carolingians from the 9th century. Their defensive walls are still preserved today and are absolutely worth seeing.
  • Cathedral
    Built between the 11th and 18th centuries, the cathedral with the long, wide staircase in front of the main portal is one of Girona's symbols. Many architectural styles overlapped in it, from Romanesque to classicistic. Unique is the 23 meter wide Gothic nave (15th-16th century), which is the widest ribbed vault in the world.
    The Romanesque tower and cloister are from the 11th-12th centuries. Century emerged, the baroque facade and staircase in the 17th-18th.
  • Pia Almoina
    The facade of the 14th-century poorhouse is an impressive example of civic Gothic. It frames the monumental space of the cathedral staircase.
  • Jewish quarter
    The Jewish quarter of Girona is mentioned for the first time, it is one of the best preserved in Europe. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, synagogues, ritual baths, schools and hospitals were built for the Jewish community, which at its peak numbered over 800 members. The Museum of Jewish History evokes the history of the Jewish communities in Catalonia in the Middle Ages, with a particular focus on Girona. It shows a collection of medieval Hebrew tombstones from the former Montjuïc Jewish Cemetery. The Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies is a research center on Jewish culture and history with a library of over six thousand publications.

Medieval Quarter

South and north of the Força Vella is the medieval quarter, which was built between the 11th and 15th centuries. These parts of the city were also surrounded by a fortress wall, the battlements of which are largely preserved today and can be visited. Girona had its heyday in the 14th century, with 12,000 inhabitants it was the second largest city in Catalonia.

  • Medieval city walls
    The path on the city wall offers a unique view over the city. Those in the 14th-15th The walls built in the 13th century protected the parishes of Sant Feliu, Sant Pere, Vilanova, Areny and Mercadal.
  • Basilica of Sant Feliu
    Girona's first cathedral (until the 10th century) is one of the most representative Gothic buildings in the city, thanks to its slender bell tower (14th-16th centuries). The originally Romanesque chancel was later supplemented with Gothic naves and a Baroque facade.
  • Sant Pere de Galligants
    Founded in the 12th century, the Benedictine monastery, with its grandiose basilica and iconographic capitals in the nave and cloister, together with the nearby chapel of Sant Nicolau, is one of the most important Romanesque sites in Lombardy, Catalonia.
  • Sant Nicolau chapel
    This small burial chapel originally had a Lombard floor plan, a no-frills and massive construction, with four apses. The octagonal dome is remarkable. When the nave was added, an apse was lost. Today you can visit exhibitions there.
  • Moorish bath
    A unique Romanesque building (12th century) modeled on ancient Roman baths. Among the most outstanding features are the vaulted entrance used as a changing and resting area and the dome over the central basin, supported by slender columns with elaborately decorated capitals.
  • Colorful houses at the Riu Onyar
    A striking contrast to the narrow streets of the old town are the brightly painted houses along the Onyar River with a view of the cathedral in the background. Three distinctive bridges cross the Onyar: the slender Gómez Bridge (1916), the red Peixateries-Velles Bridge (built in 1977 by the Eiffel company) and the Stone Bridge or Isabel II Bridge (1856)
  • Sant Marti Sacos
    The church of the former monastery from the 17th century with its baroque facade and staircase and the steep stairs are certainly among the most beautiful places in the city.

Modern and contemporary city center

The modern and contemporary part of the historic city center is on the west side of the Riu Onyar and was built between the 16th and 20th centuries. Here you will find great resemblance to the Eixamble district of Barcelona with its checkerboard layout. In the modern city center you can eat well, for example at Plaça de la Independència.

  • Former Santa Caterina Hospital
    Today the baroque building is the seat of the Catalan government in Girona. The hospital was founded in the 17th century, the building was renovated in 1928 and remodeled in the 2010s. In the old pharmacy, restored in 2011, you can see over 350 exhibits of ceramics, glasses, mortars and historical surgical instruments.
  • Plaça de la Independencia
    The porticoed neoclassical square is now a lively place with many popular restaurants.

Travel tips Girona

You should allow 4-6 hours for Girona, of course depending on how fast you walk, which sights you want to see for how long and whether you also want to enjoy the gastronomy, for example.
Download the tourist map, there you will find a lot of information and the map is quite sufficient to find your way around Girona. You can also get this free of charge at the Tourist Info.

The easiest way to get there is by train, the journey time from Barcelona is around 50 minutes. The train station is about 700 meters walk from the old town.

With an organized tour you have the choice between private tours where the guide is exclusively for you and open excursions where you are together with other guests. For private excursions, you can also book a German-speaking tour guide and you can be picked up directly at the hotel. So you don't have to worry about anything.

  • Address of the Tourist Info
    Rambla de la Libertat 1
    Telephone: +34 972 226 575
    Opening hours: Mon - Fri 09.00- 19.00, Sat 09.00 - 14.00, 15.00-19.00, Sun and public holidays 09.00 - 14.00

Game of Thrones in Girona - the filming locations

This medieval city has one of the best-preserved Jewish quarters in all of Europe. It is not for nothing that the city served as a filming location for some scenes from the 6th season of the HBO hit series Game of Thrones.

GOT tours in Girona

Several locations in Girona served as the backdrop for Season 6, which takes place in the coastal town of Braavos. A film tourism industry has now established itself around the filming locations. Here you can book special tours to the locations of well-known films.

Arrival and airport

Directions
Girona can be reached by car via the A7, which leads directly to the French border. If you are driving straight to Barcelona, ​​you can make a detour here or on the way back. It is about 70 kilometers to Barcelona.
Trains run regularly from Barcelona directly to Girona from Sants train station.

How to get to Girona Airport
From Girona you can take the bus to Girona Airport. This departs from the central train station. If you want to go to Girona Airport from Barcelona, ​​you should not drive to Girona, you can take the shuttle bus directly. You can find here how to get to Girona Airport from Barcelona.

Why visit Girona

Girona is a beautiful city with a really exciting city center. You will see Roman, Carolingian, Moorish, Gothic, Baroque and Modernist buildings. You can walk on the city walls and visit the largest medieval Jewish quarter. Some Modernisme buildings can also be seen.

Almost all of the tourist attractions are located within the Força Vella and the medieval quarter. So everything is quite compact without having to go far. The surrounding area of ​​the Costa Brava with its beautiful landscape and rugged coast is also absolutely worth seeing. You can also dine excellently in a number of excellent restaurants.
Girona is also ideal to visit together with Figueres, the birthplace of Dalí.