Visit Tossa de Mar: You Can Live in the Castle Here!

The seaside town of Tossa de Mar is home to a medieval castle, which many families call home.

Tossa de Mar is in the Catalonia region, right between Barcelona and the border with France. It’s about 100km from each.

Technically, what you see isn’t a castle, but rather a fortified medieval town. It’s the only one still standing along the Costa Brava coast.

You certainly feel like you’re in a castle from within the walls.

The walled structure dates back nearly a thousand years. Inside, you’ll find cobblestone streets, several residences, and a museum.

This photo is taken from the upper walkway inside the walled area. You can see some of the patios of the homes, which have views of the main wall.

One of the four towers standing was used as a dungeon for criminals. It’s now across the street from a row of open air cafes.

The public can walk freely from the streets inside the walled area, and the more “modern” neighborhood outside which dates back a couple hundred years.

Cars are only allowed (and only fit) on some of the streets outside the walls.

We drove a Mini Cooper one day, and making some of the turns was rough even in a car that small.

Tossa de Mar is a popular day trip from Barcelona. There’s no train service, but buses run each day from Barcelona. The drive take about 90 minutes from downtown Barcelona. It’s a bit closer to the city of Girona, which has its own airport and bus service.

It makes Tossa an easy “vacation home” spot for people from the cities.

The beaches are beautiful. Tossa de Mar has a couple main ones: the long sweeping beach which runs the length of the town, plus another more “hidden” rocky beach on the other side of the walled area.

This wide photo, taken from one of the hiking trails on the outskirts of the town, shows the smaller beach (in the foreground) in relation to the main beach.

Sunsets are spectacular from either beach.

The town becomes very busy during the summer months, but was sleepy during our winter visit.

We especially liked the serenity of the smaller beach:

The homes inside the walled area range from small apartments, to multi-level terraced homes worth more than a million dollars.

These are entrances to some of the smaller apartments:

Currently, several apartments or condos are for sale within the walls. They range in price from about $200,000 to $2,000,000.

You can also rent apartments in the area on Airbnb.com and VRBO.com.

The number of rental licenses was limited a few years ago. It’s unclear if or when the municipality will allow more licenses to be purchased. Some of the homes come with the licenses when they’re sold.