Blanes

Blanes is located on the Costa Brava in the Spanish region of Catalonia. It is very much a resort popular with Spanish holidaymaker's and is also attractive to international tourists as it is only 60 kilometres north of Barcelona airport. It's ideal for a quieter and more relaxing holiday destination than its busy neighbour Lloret de Mar, or many of the other resorts on the Costa Brava. For families and couples seeking an easy going sea, sun and sand holiday, Blanes is the ideal holiday destination.

Many years ago Blanes was a small fishing town and it still retains some of its original charm although the main seafront is now lined with high rise buildings and all the trappings of modern tourism.

The resort has four kilometers of coastline with wide sandy beaches and small rocky coves, most of which have water sports and other tourist facilities. The beaches are the main attraction for the vast majority of tourists to Blanes, but even so, they are never over-crowded. If you get tired of the beach, there are plenty of interesting day trips and local excursions available within easy reach of the resort.

If the seafront is modern, just go back from the beach and you will find a town steeped in history, with ancient monuments, churches and buildings still standing as reminders of this town's colourful past. There is a medieval castle which still looks down on the town, though it's seen many changes since it's construction in the 13th century.

Modern tourism arrived in the 1950s and over the following years Blanes started to flourish, developing into the popular international holiday destination it is today.

Blanes is famous for its two botanical gardens which claim to have over 11,000 different plant species including some of the more unusual yucca palms, aloes and cacti to be found in Europe. The gardens attract more than 300,000 visitors a year.