As We Enter March 2026 / Pedalling The Costa Brava’s Gourmet Heartland / Publisher Luxurytravelmag

Cycling between medieval hill towns, golden fields and Michelin-starred restaurants, this Costa Brava journey reveals why Catalonia – 2025’s World Region of Gastronomy – is best explored on two wheels

When you are travelling through 2025’s World Region of Gastronomy, Catalonia – and more precisely, the province of Girona, which has no less than 15 Michelin-starred restaurants and 30 wineries along its DO Empordà Wine Route – it pays to be doing so by bicycle. 

For every sugar-crusted Xuixo pastry and oozing Crema Catalana that we snack on, for each glass of cool white Macabeu wine and hearty fish stew we consume, there’s a one- or two-kilometre pedal along quiet country lanes.

It is even better if the velocipedes you are riding are E-bikes, like those helping my teenage daughter and I to coast up the occasional undulation in the Baix (lower) Empordà, on this week-long UTracks ‘Catalonia by Bike’ self-guided tour. 

While the cycling – which links the medieval villages of Monells and Peratallada in the Costa Brava hinterland with the Mediterranean shoreline’s beautiful coves and fishing hamlets – is minimal, journeying on two power-assisted wheels allows us to absorb the detail in the the Tuscany-like landscape. 

Catalonia | Costa Brava | Cathedral in Girona City

From fragrant pine forests, past stands of imperious Cypress trees and conifers first planted by ancient Iberian farmers as windbreaks, through fields ablaze with brilliant yellow sunflowers with shimmering hilltop hamlets ever-present in the distance, this is a consistently visually splendid ride.

It wasn’t until 1908 that the name Costa Brava was first coined by Girona-born journalist Ferran Agulló. Thereafter its rugged natural beauty drew artists like Chagall, Picasso and Dalí, and the coast was earmarked for tourism development in the 1960s, when the name was widely adopted.

From medieval villages to Mediterranean coves

Our scenic journey begins in Monells, bedding down for our first two nights in a restored 14th century hospital and farmhouse, the Hotel Arcs de Monells.

In this family-run boutique property the medieval shell has been artfully modernised to accommodate 21-air-conditioned rooms, including three suites, grouped around a glinting swimming pool and beautifully kept gardens.

Its much-travelled owners Josef and Sandra Serramia have created the sort of haven they would want to stay in themselves, and they are invariably on hand to offer advice or to concoct generous cocktails at the bar.

Just as the hotel combines ancient and modern, so its excellent on-site restaurant Monki fuses two cuisines, Catalan and Asian, with sensational results.

At breakfast, it is more local in flavour, with an inviting spread of cured meats, tangy regional cheeses, artisan bread and pastries.

At lunch, it morphs into a sushi bar drawing on this area’s excellent seafood, with unexpected delights including the Gynza, uramaki with tempura squid and avocado, topped with local Palamós shrimp and salmon roe.

At night, while my daughter tucks into Bravas Monki, a variation on the well-known spicy potato tapas dish, with kimchee mayonnaise, and Bao Tacos with calamari, I feast on Iberian pork jowl Gyozas with teriyaki glaze, followed by duck breast with soy and honey-marinated shiitake mushrooms and feisty Osaka sauce.