The Baix Empordà, the southern part of the Costa Brava.

The limestone rocks of the Sierra de Montgri form the natural border between the Alt (high, or upper) and the Baix (deep or lower) Empordà. The Baix Empordà, at about 700 square kilometres, is smaller than the Alt Empordà at 1.342 square kilometres. However the population is about the same, maybe 90,000 inhabitants. While the hinterland of the Alt Empordà ranges from hilly to mountainous, the inland topography of the Baix Empordà is mostly gently sloping lands. The coast, apart from the long and very attractive sandy beach at both sides of the delta of the Rio Ter, the "platja de pals," is rather rocky with many small isolated bays.

At the northern coast of the Baix Empordà there is the first remarkable attraction: the Medes islands (Illes Medes) just offshore from L'Estartit. These islands have been uninhabited since the year 1932; at that time the last lighthouse attendant left the largest island Meda Gran, and the lighthouse was converted to automatic status. The archipelago with its seven islands with a surface of 21,5 hectares has been a protected area since 1990. The islands have become a paradise for underwater sportsmen. It is strictly forbidden to take sea animals and plants and over the years the fauna and flora have returned and flourished.

Medes-Islands

In the numerous caves and reefs hide many shellfish, fish and plants, which are rarely seen away from these islands. Photos of divers at the Medes islands stroking or feeding enormous fish are neither photo assemblies nor inventions of PR managers, but simply the wonderful reality. Estartit, once more or less the port of Torroella de Montgri, has transformed itself into an important tourism centre, with the appropriate services and shops, but has also retained the ambiance of a pretty historic town centre around the plaça de l'ésglesia, the plaza of the church.

A special point of attraction and accordingly well visited is the small town Pals with its perfectly restored medieval centre.

Begur is the next town on the coast; constructed high on the rocky shores, this pretty coastal town has become particularly attractive to the Barcelonese. Several small and carefully settled bays (La Tuna, Sa Riera, and Aiguablava) provide for Mediterranean delights and very individual beach pleasures.
	La Tuna

The coastline around Begur and Palafrugell are very picturesque. Thus, it hardly surprising that inland there are numerous urbanizations. However the housing has been arranged so discretely and partially hidden by tall pine trees that you must look again and again to recognize evidence of man’s presence. One will not find silos with low-priced flats for rent here. If you want to spend your holidays here you must make arrangements way before the season begins.

Llafranc

The sea remains the centre of the interest of its population. Apart from the small and very pretty old part of town one finds very little of the past. Palamos was, to a large extent, destroyed during the Spanish civil war and the reconstruction occurred without much thought of architectural controls. The sand beach before Palamós is broad and well maintained, the sports port is well equipped and the fishing port with its auctions and the fishery museum are a favourite destination for numerous tourists.

Palamós

Sant Feliu de Guíxols is another city with a long history. Tourists are quite welcome but they hardly form the only source of income for the town. Anyone who seeks a quiet vacation, with some urban amenities, would be well served to look at Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
	Sant Feliu de Guíxols

	Sant Feliu de Guíxols is at the southern end of the coast of the Baix Empordà; the next region sough is "La Selva." But anyone who reaches this point should follow the fabulous coastal road to Tossa de Mar. Landscape beauty is quite a relative term, but this stretch of road is called the most beautiful one on the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast.
Tossa de Mar

	If you want to visit the medieval small towns Pals or Peratallada you should go on a weekday. On the weekends these restored towns are filled with tourists. If one wants to look further back in history, older than Pals and Peratallada, the place to visit are the ruins of Ullastret.
Peratallada