Two days is the honest answer. Give the first to the Barri Vell: the cathedral at the top of its staircase, the Call, the Arab Baths, then a lap of the walls for the rooftop view. Give the second to the Onyar houses, a museum or two and a long lunch. Add a third for Figueres and the Dalí museum, under an hour north by train.
Updated · Wimup Editorial
Girona is a small city with a long memory: a Roman road town that became a Catalan cathedral seat, walled, besieged twice by Napoleon, and left with one of the best preserved medieval quarters in Europe. The Onyar splits it, the old stone climbs the east bank, and everything worth seeing sits inside a twenty-minute walk.
The 10 best things to do in Girona
1
Climb to the cathedral and stand under the widest Gothic nave in the world
Landmark· Plaça de la Catedral, 17004 Girona
Romanesque cloister, Gothic nave, Baroque facade, all of it stacked at the top of one long staircase. The single span overhead is the widest Gothic vault ever built, which is why the inside reads as a hall rather than a church. Season six of Game of Thrones used those steps as the Great Sept of Baelor.
Time1.5 hrs
Cost€12 combined with Sant Feliu and the Art Museum, audio guide included
Best atLate afternoon
TipThe same ticket covers the Basilica of Sant Feliu two minutes downhill
Walk the Call, the best preserved Jewish quarter in Europe
Neighborhood· Carrer de la Força, 17004 Girona
Jews lived on this hillside from the ninth century until the expulsion of 1492, and the lanes off Carrer de la Força are still narrow enough to touch both walls at once. The Museum of Jewish History sits in the middle of it, holding the tombstones and the documents the community left behind.
Time1 hr
CostFree to walk
Best atEarly morning
TipThe museum closes at 2pm on Sundays, Mondays and public holidays
Do a lap of the walls for the only view that shows the whole city
Free· Passeig de la Muralla, 17004 Girona
Close to three kilometres of Carolingian and medieval rampart, reopened as a walkway above the rooftops. Towers punctuate the route and each one is a different angle: the cathedral from behind, the plane trees of the Devesa, the hills the city was built to watch.
Photograph the Onyar houses from the bridge Eiffel's company built
Landmark· Pont de les Peixateries Velles, 17004 Girona
The red and ochre facades hanging over the river are the city's postcard, and the best angle on them is the iron footbridge Gustave Eiffel's company put up in 1877, eleven years before the tower in Paris. Cross at dusk, when the windows start to light.
Time20 min
CostFree
Best atDusk
TipCasa Masó is the one house in the row you can go inside
Book El Celler de Can Roca far enough ahead to actually eat there
Restaurant· Can Sunyer 48, 17007 Girona
Three Michelin stars since 2009 and twice ranked the best restaurant in the world. Joan cooks, Josep runs the cellar, Jordi does the desserts, and the room takes its own bookings rather than selling seats through a platform. 2026 is its fortieth year.
Time4 hrs
CostTasting menus
Best atDinner
TipTables are released months ahead and go the same day
See the Arab Baths, which are neither Arab nor baths any more
Landmark· Carrer de Ferran el Catòlic, 17004 Girona
Twelfth century and late Romanesque, built to the plan of a Muslim bathhouse by Christian Girona, which is the whole trick of the place. The octagonal pool room under its lantern is what you came for, and it stood in for Arya Stark hiding from the waif in Game of Thrones.
Time30 min
Cost€3, €2 over 65, free under 8
Best atMidday
TipIt closes at 2pm on Sundays and public holidays, so go in the morning
Give the Cinema Museum an hour of tricks that predate film
Museum· Carrer Sèquia 1, 17001 Girona
Tomàs Mallol spent decades collecting magic lanterns, shadow puppets and optical toys, and the city built a museum around them in 1998, the first of its kind in Spain. It runs in order, so the Lumière brothers arrive as a punchline rather than a beginning.
Time1 hr
Cost€2.50 reduced, free under 14
Best atA rainy afternoon
TipFree on the first Sunday of the month, and last admission is 45 minutes before closing
Cross the river to Sant Pere de Galligants for Romanesque and archaeology
Museum· Plaça de Santa Llúcia, 17007 Girona
A twelfth-century Benedictine monastery whose cloister capitals would be worth the ticket on their own, now holding the Girona wing of Catalonia's archaeology museum. It is also the quiet end of the walls, five minutes from the cathedral crowds.
Time1 hr
Cost€7, €5 reduced
Best atMorning
TipClosed Mondays, and it shuts at 2pm on Sundays and public holidays
Stop at Sant Feliu for the sarcophagi nobody queues to see
Landmark· Pujada de Sant Feliu, 17004 Girona
Girona's main church before the cathedral took the title: Romanesque below, a Gothic nave above, a Baroque front. Eight Roman and early Christian sarcophagi are set into the sanctuary walls, and the Gothic tomb of Sant Narcís, the city's patron, is here too.
Book ahead for Casa Masó, the only Onyar house open to visitors
Museum· Carrer de les Ballesteries 29, 17004 Girona
Rafael Masó was born here in 1880 and rebuilt the house as his own argument, a precursor of Noucentisme working against the grain of Barcelona modernisme. It is the one house in the riverfront row you can enter, still furnished as the family kept it.
Time1 hr
Cost€10 adults
Best atTuesday to Saturday
TipGuided visits only, in groups of eight, so reserve ahead by phone or email
Two full days covers the old town without rushing: the cathedral, the Call, the walls and a museum on the first, the riverfront and a long lunch on the second. A third buys Figueres and the Dalí museum, or a stretch of the Costa Brava.
Is Girona worth visiting from Barcelona?+
Yes, and the high-speed train makes it about 40 minutes each way from Sants. A day trip works, but the old town is at its best in the evening once the coach groups have left, so a night here is the better version of the same idea.
When is the best time to visit Girona?+
Mid-May to mid-June and mid-September to mid-October, warm without the August heat. May also brings Temps de Flors, when the courtyards fill with flower installations and the city is at its busiest and its best looking at once.
Do you need to speak Catalan in Girona?+
No, but it is worth knowing that Catalan is the everyday language here and Spanish is the second one, not the first. Hotels, restaurants and museums all work in English, and a bon dia and a gràcies go further than they should.
What is Girona famous for?+
Its medieval old town: the best preserved Jewish quarter in Europe, close to three kilometres of walkable walls and a cathedral with the widest Gothic nave anywhere. Also for El Celler de Can Roca, and as the winter base of professional cycling.
Where to eat
Best restaurants in Girona
Six kitchens beyond the three-star one, from Basque pintxos to the daily catch on ice.
Plaça de la Independència
Casa Marieta
Traditional Catalan
One of the oldest dining rooms in the city, doing Catalan standards under the arcades.
Girona station is a ten-minute walk from the old town. Barcelona Sants is about 40 minutes away, roughly hourly, and the same line runs north to Figueres and into France.
The slow line down the coast route from Portbou to Barcelona, every 30 to 60 minutes. Cheaper than the high-speed train and the simplest way to Figueres.
The Barri Vell is walkable and largely stepped, so wheeled bags are the enemy. City buses cover the outer districts and TEISA runs the country routes to Banyoles and Besalú.
Spain
