Girona's Baix Empordà draws visitors to medieval Pals and Dalí's Castle in Púbol

The Baix Empordà region on Spain’s Costa Brava, about 90 minutes by car from Barcelona, offers two distinctive cultural sites. Pals, a medieval village in the comarca of Girona, is noted for its stone streets, narrow arches, the Torre de les Hores, and the historic church of Sant Pere. The town’s landscape of gentle hills, rice fields and vineyards gives it a Tuscan‑like ambience, and visitors are advised to check seasonal opening times for the tower.

In nearby Púbol, Salvador Dalí purchased an 11th‑century castle in 1969, restored it between 1969 and 1972, and gifted it to his muse Gala under the condition that he could only enter with a written invitation. The castle displays Dalí’s baroque furnishings, personal sculptures, Gala’s elaborate bedroom, and a garden with elephant‑like sculptures. Gala died there in 1982; the site now belongs to the Fundació Gala‑Salvador Dalí and is open to the public Tuesday to Sunday, with an entrance fee of about €9 for adults.