Costa Brava, a historical and natural heritage, and a prestige brand

The Costa Brava district occupies the coastal zone of three counties in Girona province: Selva, Baix Empordà and Alt Empordà. The part of the coast in the Selva county runs from Blanes to Tossa, while the part in Baix Empordà stretches to Cap Salines in L’Estartit. The Alt Empordà part, which is the most extensive, runs from L’Estartit to the border with France, though no geographical change is apparent at that political boundary.

Until after the First World War, the beaches along the coast of Catalonia served for Sunday leisure pursuits for the local people, plus one or two from neighbouring villages. While world tourism had discovered the Côte d’Azur by that time, the Costa Brava remained unknown to it.

A few years after the Spanish Civil War when some sort of order had been restored, the gradual breaking down of Spain's international isolation in the 1950s cleared the way for new options in tourism. The sea and the sun were drawing increasing numbers of people, and that, together with the overcrowding the Côte d’Azur was already experiencing in those days, enhanced the appeal of the Costa Brava when some of the holiday-makers made their way up there.