Cadaqués is a town in the Alt Empordà comarca, Girona province, Catalonia, on the Costa Brava coastline of the Mediterranean. It sits on a bay of the same name, at the foot of the Cap de Creus peninsula, the easternmost point of the Iberian Peninsula. That position, tucked against a wild headland rather than along an open coastal strip, explains almost everything else about the place.
Why Cadaqués looks the way it does
For much of its history, Cadaqués was reachable only by sea or by a winding mountain road over the Coll de Perafita from Roses. No coastal road was ever built connecting it directly along the shore. That isolation is credited with sparing the town from the large-scale resort development that reshaped so much of the Spanish coast in the twentieth century.
The result is a historic centre built on steep, narrow, cobblestoned streets, lined with whitewashed houses. The style of these houses is protected by local building regulations, which is part of why the town has kept a consistent look rather than fragmenting into whatever style each decade’s construction favored.
Cadaqués was originally a fishing village, and its economy shifted toward tourism and the arts over the twentieth century. That shift didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened because of one man in particular.
The Cap de Creus Natural Park
The peninsula Cadaqués sits beneath isn’t just a scenic backdrop. The Cap de Creus Natural Park, established in 1998, is the first maritime-terrestrial natural park in Catalonia, protecting both the land and the sea along this stretch of coast. Given the easternmost point of Iberia is right here, it’s a landscape that earns the designation rather than just wearing it.
Dalí, Portlligat, and the artists who followed
Salvador Dalí spent much of his life in Portlligat, a small bay immediately next to Cadaqués. He and his wife Gala built a house there from a cluster of former fishermen’s huts, and it’s now open to the public as the Casa-Museu Salvador Dalí.
Dalí’s presence drew other artists and intellectuals to Cadaqués throughout the twentieth century. Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Federico García Lorca are among those who visited, and Dalí’s presence is a large part of why the town carries its reputation as an artists’ haven to this day.
Dalí is everywhere here, and rightly so, but I’d argue the house in Portlligat isn’t even the best of what he left behind in the region. That would be Púbol.
Dalí’s castle at Púbol, a short trip worth making
When in Cadaqués Dalí is everywhere, so of course you visit the house in Portlligat. But don’t forget the castle of Púbol. It’s possibly the most underrated of Dalí-related attractions in the region, and I can’t recommend it enough, maybe because I’m a sucker for a love story. In essence, this castle is Dalí’s love letter, through architecture and design, to his wife Gala.
We visited on a gorgeous autumn day, not sure what to expect, and were greeted by brown brick buildings, crumbling walls, and an ivy-covered castle entryway. At only €6 for students and under-26s, and €8 otherwise, it’s a steal. Púbol is remote enough that there were no other visitors, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves.
You’re given a map with a suggested order to visit the castle. We ignored it and started at the end, Gala’s crypt, where she is buried in the castle courtyard, her grave surrounded by strange, skinny statues of lions and giraffes. Dalí bought the castle in 1968 for Gala, and filled it with unusual, delightful pieces set against a medieval exterior, as if playing an elaborate joke on the building’s solemn shell.
The most interesting part of the visit wasn’t really Dalí himself, but Gala. There’s a contract on display, signed by both of them, stating that Dalí could not visit the castle without her explicit permission. It was entirely her own haven. Upstairs, a small room displays some of her most elaborate dresses behind glass, the one part of the visit that actually felt like a conventional museum.
Outside, entry tickets give you the run of the gardens, including the garage where Dalí’s cars are parked, and garden statues echoing his 1948 painting The Elephants. The furthest garden holds a fountain that looks Baroque at first glance and turns out, on closer inspection, to be pure surrealism, its small circles all likenesses of Wagner, reportedly Dalí’s favorite composer.
Getting there: the easiest way is to drive and park in the free lot in the village of Púbol. You can also take a train to Flaçà station, four kilometres away, then walk or taxi in, or take a bus to Flaçà or to La Pera, which is closer at two kilometres. Opening hours and prices vary by season. The address is Gala Dalí Square, E-17120 Púbol-la Pera.
The Església de Santa Maria
Back in Cadaqués itself, the Església de Santa Maria is the town’s parish church, standing on raised ground above the harbour. Inside, it houses a Baroque altarpiece, one of the few interior sights in a town whose real character is mostly written into its streets, its bay, and the peninsula behind it.
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