The Baix Empordà offers a very wide choice of historic and archaeological itineraries. You can view the prehistoric findings in the local museums, or visit the caves in the Montgrí massif where they were discovered and the magical tomb monuments hidden in the Gavarres and L’Ardenya hills, most of them located at points that offer extensive views of the Empordanese plain. The Indiketa people left us the large Iberian town of Ullastret and the settlements of Castell de la Fosca in Palamós and Sant Sebastià de la Guarda in Palafrugell. The Romans left their mark in the villa of Pla de Palol in Platja d’Aro, now suitably restored.

You will find the most notable remains of pre-Romanesque times in the Gavarres, for example Santa Coloma de Fitor and Sant Feliu de Boada. Our Romanesque buildings include such beautiful examples as the monasteries of Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Sant Miquel de Cruïlles or the castle-palace of La Bisbal. Other, smaller Romanesque churches are scattered around the district, like Sant Joan de Bellcaire, Sant Andreu de Pedrinyà or Sant Pau de Fontclara.

But it is easy to see that the greatest imprint conserved by our land is that of the Gothic period. The fortified villages with their castle or tower, the narrow streets, and a thousand and one details of the houses will carry you back to the times of the knights, for instance in Ullastret, Peratallada, Pals and Monells, not forgetting the Montgrí castle, the castle-palaces of Bellcaire and Peratallada, or the church of Sant Genís in Torroella (although its façade is Baroque).

All along the coast, watchtowers were built in the 16th and 17th centuries to warn of raids by Moorish pirates. Round or square, large or small, forming part of a farmhouse or totally free-standing, many of them have survived to the present day. Most of them are concentrated into the districts of Torroella, Palafrugell, Begur, Calonge and Palamós. In the same way, the large fortified farmhouses, with their windows and doors with neo-Gothic and Baroque details, their broad vaults and porches, offer a magnificent display of the popular architecture of our land.

The Renaissance and the Baroque did not leave such an evident mark on our architecture, but in the former style we have the portal of the church of Sant Isidor in La Pera and the remodelling of the castle of Vulpellac; and in the Baroque style the church of Santa Maria in La Bisbal or that of Sant Martí in Palafrugell.

On the coast, in sheltered bays, we find small whitewashed villages that conserve their seagoing character, like Calella de Palafrugell, Llafranc, Tamariu, Sa Tuna or Sa Riera. The fishermen’s houses were originally very simple: a shed for the boat on the ground floor and a few small rooms upstairs. Nowadays many of them have been converted into holiday homes, but still conserving all of their charm.