La Emporda
One week walking food and wine in the beautiful La Emporda wine region
A hidden gem between the Pyrenees and the Costa Brava
General overview
What – 1 week (7 days, 6 nights), all inclusive holiday, small groups 4 – 8 people, self guided route from one village to the next taking in wonderful walks, food and wine in and around the historical and stunningly beautiful La Emporda and Costa Brava regions.
Self guided – Does not mean you will be left to figure things out for yourself, far from it everything will be arranged and clearly explained on a daily basis. When changing hotels luggage will be collected after breakfast and transferred for you to the next hotel.
What to expect – Typical day will start with a good breakfast in the hotel/guest house before setting off for a beautiful hike through a wide variety of truly stunning sceneries, terrains and environments. During the day you will usually be stopping for a good 3 or 4 course lunch of classic Spanish and Catalan dishes in one of the village restaurants and visiting a local wine cellar for tour and tasting.
Where – The Emporda is a wine region approximately 150km North of Barcelona nestled between the Pyrenees and the beautiful Costa Brava.
Getting here – Nearest airport is Girona and Perpignan (France), with budget flights from most European countries, alternatively Barcelona Airport is approximately two hours by either car or train.
When – Best times to visit is spring, early summer or autumn, April, May, June, September, October. The middle of the summer is always too hot, winter is less predictable but there is a chance of rain and occasionally snow.
What to bring – obviously depends on the time of year but generally a small day pack with, 2 water bottles, food/snacks, sun screen, hat, light rain jacket, phone, camera, shorts and light long trousers (to avoid scratching from bushes), ski/hiking pole (optional but sometimes the ground under foot is loose broken up slate which on steep slopes or wet can be a bit slippery).
The Region – Many people have visited the Costa Brava, towns such as Roses and Cadaques (where Salvador Dali chose to live), but very few people have ventured inland towards the Pyrenees, should they do so they will find a beautiful, little known wine region known as La Emporda. Despite being a stone’s throw away it feels like a milion miles. This is rural Spain at its best, small, peaceful villages surrounded by hills, vineyards and olive groves.
Walking – A good level of fitness is needed, expect to walk 8 – 15 km a day, some fairly steep sections but it´s walking not climbing so nothing that requires any specialist skills or equipment.
The food – It is no coincidence that the world famous chef Ferran Adria had his restaurant El Bulli right here on the Costa Brava, a region with a reputation for producing some of Spain’s finest cuisine thanks to a wide variety of fresh, high-quality seafood, meat, poultry, game, fruit and vegetables.
The wine – The Emporda wine region is becoming increasingly recognized for it’s quality and diverse range of wines, reds, whites and even some sparkling wines can be found here. It’’s also recognised for having some of the best sweet wines in Spain. The Emporda actually has an exceptionally long history with wine as it’s generally accepted that the first vines found in Spain were planted here by the Romans.
