Costa Brava, Spain

Food, wine, swimming...

Simply spectacular

August 29-September 6, 2024 – FULL
September 10-18, 2024 – FULL
September 19-27, 2024 – FULL

Our 2023 program...

• Day 1 – Meet in Llafranc, Intro Session then dinner on us – (Overnight Llafranc)
• Day 2 – Swim the Wild Coast 1 ('Costa Brava') - boat-escorted swim, course depends on conditions – (Overnight Llafranc)
• Day 3 – Trek the Costa Brava track to swim 'Our Secret Spot'. (Overnight Llafranc)
• Day 4 – Swim the Wild Coast 2 – boat-escorted swim, course depends on conditions – (Overnight Llafranc)
• Day 5 – Swim the Wild Coast 3 – boat-escorted swim, course depends on conditions, transfer to Figueres, introduction to 'Our Secret Sommelier' – (Overnight Figueres)
• Day 6 – Day trip – Cadaqués, 'tourist train' to Port Lligatt, lunch near the beach (own cost), visit Casa Dalí at Port Lligatt – (Overnight Figueres)
• Day 7 – Day trip – Cerbère, swim France – Spain, lunch (on us) at family-run restaurant overlooking the harbour in Cerbère – (We may swim Spain – France, depending on winds and other weather, which can be strong in this area) – (Overnight Figueres)
• Day 8 – Visit Dalí Museum, transfer to Madremanya for our Farewell dinner (dinner included) – (Overnight Madremanya)
• Day 9 – Breakfast on the terrace then, sadly, time to head to our next adventure.

Note that some details will change from trip to trip over our three groups in 2024 in relation to order of swims and venues, and perhaps in light of conditions prevailing.

Includes...

• 8 nights accommodation
• Breakfast daily (Llafranc, Madremany is full breakfast; Figueres is Continental)
• Lunch Cerbère, dinner Llafranc (first night) and Madremanya (final night)
• Programmed transfers (excluding to and from start and finish of the oceanswimsafari and other ad hoc transfers, although these may be arranged at cost)
• Programmed admissions, including -
  
  • Casa Dalí, Port Lligatt
  • Turistic Tren, Cadaqués–Port Lligatt
  • Museo Dalí, Figueres
• Escorted swims
• oceanswimsafari swim cap, dry bag
• Land content only

Package cost - (2023 prices at this stage; 2024 coming soon) Twin/Double share pp - From $A3,740, Single from $A5,030. The rates are 'from' because you will have a choice of room standards on our last night, at the beautiful Hotel la Plaça in Madremanya.

(Rates are kept under review in view of fluctuations in exchange rates.)

Enquiries and bookings

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This oceanswimsafari is full for 2023. If you'd like to come in 2024, please enquire... Click here

Our oceanswimsafari to Catalunya's Costa Brava has something for everyone, swimmers and non-swimmers alike. It's is a quirky tour that mixes culture with history, the world's finest food, some inspiring walking (should you wish) and some of the most unforgettable swimming you'll ever experience along a spectacular coastline, in the heart of Catalunya, Spain's most dynamic region. It all sounds too good to be together in the one package. But here you have it.

We're planning three Costa Brava oceanswimsafaris in 2024.

This is one of the most glorious swim experiences we have to offer – swimming from France to Spain around the end of the Pyrenees, exploring coves, bays and caves – it seems around every rock is an undiscovered inlet, or a cave recessing deep into the cliff face... We'll take you to 'Our Secret Spot', explore the genius of Salvador Dalí, trek the most spectacular stretches of the famed Costa Brava coastal track, and we'll enjoy some of the best food the world has to offer (this is no exaggeration: The Girona region of Catalunya, behind the Costa Brava, is home to some of the world's most inventive cuisine, its restaurants regularly rated as among the best in the world, according to Michelin).

The water along the Costa Brava generally is of almost perfect clarity. Swims are at various spots between Cap Cerbère, on the France-Spain border, to Palafrugell and Palamos. Swim selection each day is dependent on conditions. Swims generally are around 1.5-3.5km. Our flagship swim from France to Spain is around 3.4km. It's a relaxed swim, with regular stops to regroup along the way.

Actually, all our swims are relaxed, non-competitive, and informal, suitable for swimmers of most capacities and interests. No-one has to swim; all can swim if they like. You can enter or exit the water as you wish. We'll be accompanied by escort boats on all our 'wild coast' swims except for morning beach swims from our base in Llafranc.

This is a very special oceanswimsafari. Space is limited. If you're interested, let us know quick and smart (use the email link below).

oceanswimsafari duration is 9 days/8 nights.

The Costa Brava is called the 'Wild Coast' because it is wild: lots of cliffs, caves, nooks, crannies, and very clear water.

Where we go...

We meet in Llafranc, a beach town in the middle of some of the Costa Brava's most mountainous coastline, from where we'll do an array of swims up and down the coast.

Llafranc ('Yafrank'), is a fishing village known more these days as a holiday town, with its broad beach and perambulating promenade. Llafranc sits on a beautiful bay surrounded by steep hills. Swimming is terrific, and so is the food. Llafranc and the surrounding villages have lots of cafés and restaurants to choose from, including a Michelin-starred restaurant, Casamar, high on the hill overlooking the bay.

Old Madremanya is mysterious at night.

In this part of Spain, the coast is a chain of unexpected little bays, most of them with tiny villages nestled into their crux.

We'll have four nights in Llafranc. On our first morning, we'll swim from the beach at Llafranc, around the point and down the coast to the next village, Calella de Palafrugell, and back again. This will give you a good feel for the water in this part of the Mediterranean, and start your orientation in one of the most beautiful parts of the Costa Brava, but it's a part of the coast that very few visit. It's about a 2km journey round trip to Calella and back. We'll spend two mornings exploring the coastline south and north of Llafranc, the coves, the ravines, the caves. We'll visit 'our Secret Spot', which we discovered literally by accident when we became well and truly lost during our visit to Catalunya in 2012. (The best discoveries are those you make when you're lost.) It's perhaps the most stunningly beautiful beach, headland and swim location you will ever find. Other people have tried to find 'our secrete spot', but they've failed. Sometimes, it's the more adventurous, the curious who reap the rewards.

After four nights in Llafranc, you certainly won't want to leave. But there's so much more to explore. We'll head north to the ancient town of Figueres, the principal town in northern Catalunya, and the home of the museum that the artist, Salvador Dalí, built to house his works, and his tomb, which is in the museum's basement.

On the way to Figueres, we'll call into Cala Montgó, where we'll swim across the bay and out through the heads, exploring sea caves on the deepest part of the Catalan coast.

Figueres is the last major town in Spain on the way to France. It's inland a little, but it's perfectly positioned to be the base of our activities in the northern part of the Costa Brava. Figueres was the birthplace of the idiosyncratic and professionally eccentric surrealist Salvador Dalí. There are still plenty of people around town who remember Dalí well, including Luis, who supervises our dining room at Hotel Rambla. Our hotel sits on Las Ramblas, Figueres's grand promenade — a glorious avenue of trees and town life (Figueres is Catalan for 'fig trees'). The Dalí Museum is just around the corner, and there are a wealth of cafés and restaurants within a couple of minutes' walk. We'll visit the museum whilst we're there. And we won't miss the annex dedicated to Dalí's jewellery. It's extraordinary.

The shopping in Figueres is excellent, too, as is the local wine. We'll show you our fave wine bar in the world, run by a cigar-chomping sommelier, Pau, a one-time war photographer. In an era of globalisation, it's nice to know there still are places that offer a taste of the local. 

Crossing the border, France into Spain.

From Figueres, we'll head up to Cerbère, the first French town over the border, from where we'll swim around the end of the Pyrenees, from France to Spain (or Spain to France, depending on conditions on the day). It's a spectacular swim, and a spectacular drive over the last mountain before the sea. After our swim, we'll have lunch in a little family-run French bistro high on the hill overlooking the bay at Cerbère.

We'll also head down to the coast to Cadaques ('Kad-akays'), another beautiful fishing village, but with the terrain of this part of Spain, it's a world away from Figueres and Cerbère. We'll jump on the 'Tourist Train', for an epic journey to Cap de Creus and its lighthouse, with breathtaking views up and down the Costa Brava. On the way back, we'll visit Casa Dalí, where the artist lived for 50 years with his wife, Gala. When Gala died, in 1982, Dalí left, never to return. The house is virtually as they left it, and managed now by the Dalí Foundation. Eccentric, idiosyncratic, multi-dimensional, surprising, stunning, even moving in the personal insight it gives you into the artist. He wasn't just eccentric; also brilliant and prolific in many media. But he was not every Catalan's copa de sangría...

Finally, we'll transfer to another of our favourite spots, Madremanya, a medieval village outside Girona, the regional capital. At Hotel la Plaça – renovated 12th-century stables – we'll take the tasting menu for our Farewell Dinner. The food is stunning at the hotel. You will have dishes and tastes you've never dreamt of. Restaurant La Plaça is part of that enigmatic tradition of Catalan cuisine based in the Girona area. A night at Hotel la Plaça is everyone's idea of paradise.

Our goals

We aim for every swim to be a pleasure, not a chore. We are not about swimming the longest distance in the shortest time. We are not about ticking boxes. We are there to soak up the experience of some very special places and moments and some extraordinary water and swim courses. We want everyone to enjoy their swims, no matter their ability. We are not here to satisfy obsessives who just want longer, faster, farther. We are inclusive, not elitist. If you set new, personal benchmarks along the way, then that's good, but it’s not the aim of the group overall.

This is why we build other activities into our oceanswimsfaris. The places we take you are rich in culture, history, cuisine, and character. We want you to sample as much of that as possible. Swimming is the catalyst for our presence, but there's much more to these places than that.

To join us to swim, you need to be able to swim 1km freestyle without stopping. You will find you can actually swim much farther than that once you're in the peloton situation. You don't need to be fast and you don't need to be a world-beater. You might not be a swimmer yourself; you might be accompanying a swimmer. Some people just come along for the ride. There still will be opportunities for you to swim in some locations. But when we're swimming as a group, we cannot afford to be stretched out or held back. If you get into the water to swim, then you must swim. We cannot afford for anyone to hang back admiring a coral head, fascinated by an anenome fish, mooching around in the one spot. If you see something interesting, by all means stop or slow down for a closer look, but don’t dwell too long. This is in the interests of the safety of the group overall.

We generally swim 1.5km - 3km in a session, depending on conditions and the experience and capacity of our group.

Enquiries and bookings

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Peloton about to jump, Cerbére.

The Bay of Llafranc, our base for five nights.

Past the Three Pines Hotel (Bar Tres Pins) and into Calella de Palafrugell.