Guide to Lloret de Mar

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Despite its reputation as a party town Lloret de Mar still has plenty of highlights.

The main beach in Lloret de Mar

The main beach in Lloret de Mar. Photo by Albert Torelló

Lloret de Mar is renowned for its bustling nightlife, with a variety of clubs, bars, and restaurants catering to tourists. In addition to its nightlife Lloret is also known for its excellent beaches, including Fenals Beach and Santa Cristina Beach, which offer a range of water sports and other activities. And there is also its history and culture, with museums devoted to the town’s maritime heritage and archaeology and a summer music festival featuring a variety of tribute bands.

Overall, Lloret de Mar is a popular destination for those seeking a mix of culture, history, beach-filled fun in the Mediterranean sun and long nights partying until dawn.

As one of the early success stories for tourism on the Costa Brava, the small fishing village that Lloret de Mar once was is long gone. The glorious beach and tranquillity made the town a popular destination, first for local holidaymakers and then foreign tourists.

But the town’s popularity as a holiday destination brought about a construction boom that saw much of the old town demolished to create space for hotels. The old Lloret de Mar was swallowed up by the high-rise apartments and hotels in the rush to cater for cheap package tours.

While it does boast an impressive beach, the seafront is spoilt by unchecked construction and in the summer it is overcrowded. Sadly the result is that little remains that is genuinely Catalan.

However, just a little bit out of the town and there are some surprises. Fenals and Boadella beaches are a world away from the main beach. Nearby Santa Cristina boasts a fourteenth century hermitage overlooking the sea and a fairly small beach. The extra effort required to get there and cost of parking keep many potential visitors at bay.

There are also the botanical gardens overlooking Boadella beach, considered to be the best example of contemporary landscaped gardens in Catalonia.

And a number of houses remain from the nineteenth century when locals who had made their fortunes in Cuba and the West Indies came home to Lloret and commissioned fantastic houses befitting their status. Also see Sant Romà church and the town’s Catalan modernist cemetery.

Today Lloret de Mar is one of the largest towns in the comarca of La Selva with a population of around 40,000. While it isn’t as packed as during the summer months, Lloret isn’t a ghost town in off season either.

Beaches

Lloret’s sandy beaches are one of the main reasons the town became so popular as a tourist destination in the early days. While the man beach gets packed in summer there are a number of other beaches and smaller coves you might like to check out.

The main beach is a mile long stretch of coarse sand that runs along the town’s promenade. It is dominated by high rise buildings which detract from the beach but on the other hand it has all the facilities you need such as sports facilities, showers, toilets and walkways for people with reduced mobility.

Lloret's beach in August

Lloret’s beach in August. Photo by Hengist Decius.

Over the peak season there is also a children’s club for kids aged 3 to 12. In the summer it gets packed but at the northern end of the beach you’ll also find the slightly more secluded cove of Sa Caleta. South of the main beach is another cove, the rocky Cala Banys.

Fenals beach is also nearby and consists of 700 metres of the same kind of coarse sand as found on the main beach. It’s more picturesque than Lloret’s main beach as it is near the botanical gardens and not so urban. All the same it has good facilities.

The beach at Sa Boadella has long been a nudist beach but its 250 metre length can get a little bit overcrowded in August, although it remains a popular choice for many holidaymakers and it does have services such as a toilet and first aid post.

Santa Cristina beach

Santa Cristina beach

Better is the beach at Santa Cristina. 450 metres long it isn’t straightforward to get there, although the Dofijet boats stop there. You also reach the smaller Cala Treumal. The best way to get here us by car as it is a few kilometres from the centre of Lloret. Parking at the hermitage costs around €7 per day, which puts many people off. There are a couple of restaurants behind the beach but the path down from the hermitage is pretty steep.

Finally, found off the road to Tossa de Mar you’ll find Canyelles beach. The area is well populated and so it gets busy in summer but it’s rather more picturesque than the urban setting of Lloret’s main beach.

Where to stay

While most towns in the Costa Brava comprise largely of holiday villas and apartments, Lloret de Mar has more hotels than any other town.

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While Lloret once had around 200 hotels, that has now reduced to 120 or so with 30,000 beds in total. If you’re looking at staying in a hotel you have a really good choice. If you’re in town to party then a hotel near the centre would be your best bet and many don’t accept kids. Hotels on the outskirts of town are far quieter though and more family friendly.

gray and black throw pillow on bed

The 5-star Hotel Santa Marta is perched at the top of a hill overlooking Santa Cristina beach. They run a shuttle service down to the large pool and restaurant, which a just behind the beach. You get great sea views from the hotel. Hotel Delamar is a 4-star adult only hotel near the beach with two pools. And the rather more modest Hotel Caleta has a single star but is just 50 metres from the beach and many rooms have a sea view. For more see our page on the 10 best Lloret de Mar hotels.

Along with a variety of hotels and holiday apartments, the town also has a number of campsites for visitors who prefer to camp. These include Camping Lloret Blau, Camping Canyelles, Camping Santa Elena Ciutat, and Camping Tucan, which all offer pet-friendly plots, rental chalets, swimming pools, and other facilities such as supermarkets and laundry services. Read more about Lloret’s campsites here.

Eating in and eating out

Lloret de Mar doesn’t have the same reputation for restaurants as other towns on the coast. It does have a lot of fast food joints, including McDonald’s and Burger King, there are plenty of places you can get a pizza and a tandoori restaurant. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some good restaurants serving local specialities though.

One such place is on the road as you approach Lloret from Vidreres. Mas Romeu (Avinguda Mas Romeu, 3) serves local dishes including paella and suquet, which is a typical seafood stew from Catalonia. You’ll also find this dish in El Trull (Plaça Nacions Unides, 1), as well as fideuà, a seafood noodle dish and, typically for Catalonia, dishes with meat and seafood known as mar i muntanya – sea and mountain. Read more about eating out in Lloret.

If you’re looking to self cater during your stay in Lloret then you’ll appreciate the large selection of supermarkets both from the big names as well as smaller local businesses. You also have a good choice of fishmongers, butchers, bakeries and grocers.

There is also a covered daily market located at Carrer de la Sénia del Rabic, 37 open 8am to 2pm every day. On top of that you’ll find a weekly market in Avinguda del Rieral every Tuesday between 7:30am and 1:30pm. There you can find a wide assortment of good for sale as well as food and drink.

See and do

With a long history dating back to before the Romans arrived on the Iberian peninsula, Lloret de Mar may surprise you with the number of historical buildings you can visit. And when you’ve had enough of sightseeing there are plenty of other activities for all the family.

Sant Romà parish church in Lloret de Mar

Most notably, it has an impressive church from the Catalan gothic style, Santa Clotilde gardens perched on the cliffs, Santa Cristina Hermitage high on the cliff tops, the castle of Sant Joan, a neo-gothic castle, a cemetery in the Catalan modernist style, and other modernist buildings.

Historical sites

The parish church of Sant Romà was constructed in the Catalan gothic style between 1509 and 1522 when it was consecrated. The design featured a single nave and fortifications such as a portcullis. The church appears to have been enlarged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and then remodelled in the Catalan modernist style by Antoni Gaudí disciple Bonaventura Conill i Montobbio in the early twentieth century. Unfortunately the church suffered fire damage in 1936 at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

High on the cliff tops accessed by a winding road of the main thoroughfare between Lloret and Blanes is Santa Cristina Hermitage. The current neoclassical chapel was completed in 1772 and has an impressive Italian made marble altar paid for by a Lloret merchant based in Genoa. The earliest documentary evidence of a chapel here dates from 1354. Behind it, overlooking the beaches below, is Plaça del Pi – Pine Square – with a huge oak tree in the centre. It also has a small museum with a variety of documents and other items.

On a small hill between Lloret’s main beach and Fenals is the castle of Sant Joan. It consists of a large circular tower, about 18 metres high, surrounded by a 5 metre wall. Built in a triangle, the castles covers around 500 square metres. The building dates back to the eleventh century but over the centuries was repeatedly damaged and rebuilt. By the early nineteenth century the castle was in ruins and was extensively reconstructed at the end of the twentieth century.

In the hills a couple of kilometres behind Lloret de Mar you’ll find the ruins of an Iberian settlement dating back to the third century BC. With just six houses, the site was surrounded by a thick wall and defence towers.

Up in the hills between Lloret and Blanes at the site of Benedictine monastery you’ll find the Sanctuary of Sant Pere del Bosc. Today it is in use as a hotel and spa. This neo-gothic building was designed by modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch for Nicolau Font i Maig. Font i Maig had made his fortune in the Americas and bought the estate in the second half of the nineteenth century. The estate also includes the Mare de Déu de Gràcia chapel and Sant Pere del Bosc cross.

Despite not being open to the public it is worth mentioning the castle built on the headland north of Lloret’s main beach. Privately owned, the neo-gothic Castell d’en Platja dates from the early twentieth century and was completed in 1940.

Lloret’s cemetery probably this isn’t on most people’s list of things to see while on holiday but it is one of the best examples of its kind anywhere in Spain. During the late nineteenth century many Catalans went to the Americas to make their fortunes. Those who did so and returned were often referred to as the “indianos” and many had spectacular houses built in the distinctive Catalan modernist style. This cemetery was built in the same style with work by some of Barcelona’s best known architects of the time, including Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Bonaventura Conill i Montobbio.

As well as the cemetery, a number of modernist buildings survive. These include the rectory in the square opposite Sant Romà church, Can Font (Carrer Sant Carles 16-18), and the facade of the Antic Cinema Modern which is now a shopping centre.

Perched on the cliffs above Cala Boadella are you’ll find Santa Clotilde Gardens, which date from the the early twentieth century. In 1919 the Marquis of Roviralta commissioned the architect and garden designer Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí to design and build Santa Clotilde house and gardens. He completed the project in 1926.

Activities

In addition to the local attractions, Lloret offers a variety of activities to keep you engaged throughout the day, catering to those who may not enjoy lounging on the beach or families with restless kids.

Water World, located on the outskirts of Lloret, stands as one of the Costa Brava’s few water parks. Dofi Jet boats provide an opportunity to explore the coast, reaching as far as Sant Feliu de Guíxols in the north or venturing down to Calella along the Maresme coast.

For a whimsical family outing, Gnomo Park, a gnome-themed park, awaits with its year-round availability on weekends, bank holidays, and daily during the summer. The park encompasses a kids’ area, mini-golf course, and an arcade room.

Thrill-seekers can partake in water sports such as water-skiing, parasailing, or experiencing the underwater world through snorkelling or full scuba gear. If you’re inclined to embrace nature, take a stroll along the coastal paths that showcase the renowned rugged terrain of the Costa Brava, offering captivating clifftop views.

And of course, Lloret’s vibrant nightlife deserves recognition, with numerous nightclubs hosting renowned European and international DJs during the summer nights. Moreover, Lloret de Mar boasts one of Catalonia’s limited number of casinos, inviting you to test your luck at the slot machines or various tables.

History

The first documented mention of Lloret de Mar dates from 966. Then the inland area was populated by a small number of farmhouses but the hills were inhabited before that. Today you can visit the ruins of an Iberian settlement from the third century BC.

By the fourteenth century the beach area had begun to be populated. Things weren’t easy though. They suffered from the Black Death and were attacked by the Genoese. Two centuries later a church was built in the area where the sailors and fishermen lived. It was built with fortifications for the population to take refuge during pirate raids. But by following century the population was hungry because of shortages.

The New World trade routes and the indianos

During the eighteenth century Lloret’s economy grew dramatically through trade with the Americas, mainly Cuba and the West Indies so that by the nineteenth century it was routine for ships of 150 to 250 tonnes to moor off Lloret. A round trip to Havana and back took such ships four to five months to complete or closer to six months to Montevideo.

On the outbound voyage they’d be loaded with wine, olive oil, textiles, salt and flour. They returned laden with cotton, hardwoods, hides, sugar, tobacco, coffee, rum, oil and jerky. With riches to be had by all, many emigrated to seek their fortunes. These became known as the indianos.

On their return many commissioned spectacular houses in modernist and neo-classical styles. They were wealthy and wanted to flaunt it. And they frequently married women far younger than themselves. Often their wills would stipulate that their wives would forfeit their inheritance should they remarry!

By the turn of the twentieth century transatlantic trade was in decline. Spain had lost most of its American colonies. However, the town began to experience early tourism from 1918 and wealthy Barcelonans began to build summer houses. Of course this all stopped between 1936 and 1939 because of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath under Franco.

The tourist boom

During the 1940s the first foreign tourists began to appear, attracted by the warm climate and long sandy beach. But during the 1950s Lloret began to change forever.

The town experienced huge growth thanks to tourism. Mansions became hotels and vineyards were urbanised. When there were no more vineyards to build on the forest was cut to build on. More housing was built as it became the vast urban sprawl you find today. The town became hugely popular as a package tourist destination so that by 1975 there were more than 200 hotels in Lloret. There were also more than 400 bars and over 50 nightclubs.

And then came Club 18-30. Lloret de Mar was the very first destination for the holiday company that specialised in cheap package holidays for singles with the emphasis very much on sun, sand and sex. The result was a town that suffered a very poor image both home and abroad, something it has never truly overcome.

To be fair, the local council has introduced measures to combat the worst excesses of holidaymakers. Lloret de Mar does have a number of treasures worth exploring but they are rather overwhelmed by the sheer number of hotels.

But it is a town that has re-invented itself in the past and may well do the same again.

How to get to Lloret

By car Lloret is around half an hour from Girona-Costa Brava Airport or an hour and a quarter from Barcelona. From Barcelona you can take the C-32 up past Mataró, Arenys de Mar and towards Tordera before heading to Blanes and Lloret de Mar. Another route is via the AP7, a short section of the C-35 towards Vidreres and then the winding C-63 to Lloret.

There is also a scheduled bus service from Girona airport which takes around 50 minutes. During peak season there is a bus service from Barcelona too, but in the off season you need to get to Girona by train and then take the bus. The bus station is right next to the train station.

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