Things to Do in Girona, Spain: Old Town, Walls and Museums

Girona’s old town is small enough to walk in a day, and the four things worth building that day around are the Jewish quarter, the cathedral, the Carolingian city walls and the six museums that share one discount card. Give Girona a full day rather than three hours, because the walls, the cathedral and the museums each close at fixed times and a rushed visit catches only the bridges.

I came to Girona from Figueres, half an hour north by car, after a morning at the Dalí Museum. Finding a parking space took longer than the drive did. Once we crossed the Onyar into the old centre, we walked to the tourist office on the Rambla de la Llibertat for a map and then let the alleys take us wherever they went. What follows is that walk, with the current opening hours and prices from the city’s own listings.

How to get to Girona and how long to stay

Girona sits 105 km (65.2 mi) northeast of Barcelona, and the high-speed train covers that in well under an hour. That makes the city an easy day trip from Barcelona, and it also makes it a sensible base for the Costa Brava and the Catalan Pyrenees if you would rather sleep somewhere calmer than the coast. Compare train times and fares from Barcelona before you commit to a coach, since the fast service and the slow regional one arrive at the same station at very different speeds.

A car is the better choice if Girona is one stop on a wider Catalonia route. We drove down from Figueres, and the rental car made the Dalí Museum and Girona into one comfortable day. Park outside the old town and walk in. The historic centre is a network of stairs and alleys that no car belongs in, and the riverside car parks fill early because the city is busier than its size suggests.

One day covers the old town on foot. Two days lets you add the museums properly, and that is the version I would repeat.

Walk the Jewish quarter, El Call

El Call is the reason most people come to Girona, and it is the largest and most intact medieval Jewish quarter in Europe. El Call occupies the west slope of the Força Vella on the far side of the Onyar from the modern town, and its name comes from the Latin callis, meaning street. Narrow alleys, stone staircases and doorways cut into bare rock run off Carrer de la Força, which was the quarter’s main street then and is where both the Jewish history museum and the city history museum stand now.

Girona held the second largest Jewish community in Catalonia after Barcelona, and that community mattered from the 10th century to 1492, when Jews across Spain were ordered to convert to Catholicism or leave. Those who refused were expelled. The quarter itself has changed remarkably little since, which is why walking it works better than reading about it.

Do not plan this part. Follow whichever alley looks interesting and you will find the stone steps up to the Església de Sant Martí, the escalinata in front of the cathedral, or passages such as Carrer Manuel Cúndaro and Carrer del Doctor Oliva i Prat.

Girona Cathedral has the widest Gothic nave in the world

Girona Cathedral holds the widest Gothic vault anywhere, spanning 23 metres (75.5 ft), and that single fact is the reason to go inside rather than photograph the staircase and move on. The cathedral was built between the 11th and 18th centuries, so it reads as a set of different buildings joined together: Romanesque in the cloister and the Tower of Charlemagne, Baroque in the façade and the great staircase, and Gothic in the vast 15th and 16th century nave. Some guides describe the nave as the second widest Gothic nave after St Peter’s in Rome. St Peter’s is not Gothic. Girona’s is the widest Gothic nave there is, and second only to St Peter’s among churches of any style.

Inside, the Museu Tresor de la Catedral holds the Tapestry of Creation, an embroidered panel roughly a thousand years old, alongside stained glass and medieval tombs.

The ticket is the part worth knowing in advance. The Girona City Council lists the cathedral and the Basílica de Sant Feliu together at €7.50 (about $9, £6), audio guide included, with a reduced rate of €5 (about $6, £4). Adding the Art Museum brings all three to €12 (about $14, £10). Entry is free for under-sevens, for clergy and for people born or living in Girona.

Hours change three times a year. From 1 November to 14 March the cathedral opens Monday to Saturday 10.00 to 17.00 and Sunday and public holidays 12.00 to 17.00. From 15 March to 14 June and again from 16 September to 31 October it runs Monday to Friday 10.00 to 18.00, Saturday 10.00 to 19.00 and Sunday and holidays 12.00 to 18.00. From 15 June to 15 September it stays open until 19.00 on weekdays and 20.00 on Saturdays. It closes on 25 December, 1 January and Good Friday.

The cathedral is hard to photograph, incidentally. It stands at the top of a huge staircase but is boxed in by buildings rather than facing an open square, so the head-on shot other European cathedrals give you is not available here.

Walk the city walls

Girona’s walls carry a walkway along the longest surviving Carolingian walls in Europe, dating from the 9th century, and the towers along them are the only high vantage points in the old town. The walkway, the Passeig Arqueològic, runs around the north and east of the historic streets, with several sets of steps up and down it, so you can join it for ten minutes or follow it for an hour. Access is free.

Check the hours before you climb, because this is the one Girona attraction that keeps different times from everything else. The walls open 8.00 to 21.00 from September to May and 8.00 to 23.00 from June to August. Early morning and the hour before closing give the softest light and the fewest people.

I will be honest about the walls: I did not enjoy all of them. I have a fear of heights, and although there was no realistic way to fall, standing near the edge was uncomfortable enough that my ex took most of the photographs. One tower along the route climbs to a higher viewpoint. I started up it, got dizzy and nauseous after a few steps and came back down. On the way down I heard a woman say to her husband, in Dutch, “look, that girl doesn’t dare go up either”. She was surprised when I answered her in Dutch. If heights bother you, the walkway itself is fine and the towers are optional.

Jardins de la Francesa and Jardins dels Alemanys

Two gardens give you a way onto the walls without a long climb, and both are free. The Jardins de la Francesa sit behind the cathedral and connect straight onto the walkway. The Jardins dels Alemanys stand a little further up the hill and are scattered with ruins: a sign there records that the barracks of the German soldiers stood on this spot during the Peninsular War in the early 1800s, which is where the name comes from. Tree cover and broken walls make it the better of the two for sitting down.

Cross the bridges over the Onyar

Girona has eleven bridges over the Onyar, and the view from them is the image of the city everyone recognises: rows of ochre, red and yellow houses built out over the water, the cases penjades, or hanging houses. Each bridge frames that row differently, so cross more than one.

The three to prioritise are listed below.

1. Pont de les Peixateries Velles, also called the Eiffel Bridge or Pont de les Palanques Vermelles: a narrow red iron footbridge put up in 1877 by Gustave Eiffel’s company, twelve years before the tower in Paris.
2. Pont de Pedra: the three-arched stone bridge, and the most photographed profile in the city.
3. Pont de Sant Feliu: a quiet pedestrian crossing where the reflections in the water are sharpest, and the approach to the Basílica de Sant Feliu.

Basílica de Sant Feliu and the lioness

The Basílica de Sant Feliu was Girona’s main church before the cathedral was built beside it, and it served that role in the 900s. Sant Feliu is a patchwork of styles like its larger neighbour, keeping Romanesque bones under a Gothic tower and a Baroque façade, and its collection includes several early sarcophagi and a sculpture by the Catalan sculptor Aloi de Montbrai. Your cathedral ticket covers it, so there is no reason to skip it.

Between the bridge and the basilica stands a stone column topped by a lioness, El Cul de la Lleona. Tradition says a visitor who kisses the lioness’s backside will return to Girona one day, and the city has obligingly put small steps at the base so you can reach it. The figure you kiss is a replica. The original is in the Museum of Art, and is not reachable at all.

The Arab Baths

The Banys Àrabs are a Romanesque bathhouse from the 12th century, built on Roman and Islamic models, and they survive almost intact. The rooms run from the entrance chamber, which doubled as changing room and lounge under a barrel vault, through the caldarium, tepidarium and frigidarium, to the central pool under a dome carried on slim decorated columns. They stopped working as baths in the 14th century.

Entry costs €3 (about $3.50, £2.60), reduced to €1 for students, pensioners and under-16s. From March to October they open Monday to Saturday 10.00 to 18.00 and Sunday and public holidays 10.00 to 14.00. From November to February they open Monday to Friday 10.00 to 18.00, Saturday 10.00 to 17.30 and Sunday and holidays 10.00 to 14.00. The two-o’clock Sunday closing catches people out.

If you want to get into water rather than look at it, Aqva Gerunda, a working spa a couple of streets away, runs the same sequence of temperatures.

Game of Thrones filming locations

Girona stood in for Braavos and King’s Landing in season six of Game of Thrones, filmed here in 2015. The locations are close together and easy to recognise: the staircase up to the cathedral, the steps outside the monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, and the street beside the Arab Baths. Guided tours run to the full set of locations, and they work as an excuse to walk parts of the old town you would otherwise miss. Compare the Girona tours and tickets on offer before you arrive, since the small-group ones sell out at weekends.

Girona’s six museums share one 50% card

Six Girona museums belong to the GironaMuseus scheme, and the card pays full price at the first museum and half price at every other one for six months. That card is the cheapest thing to pick up in Girona if you plan to see more than one collection, and the brochure is available at the museums themselves or on the GironaMuseus site. Five of the six sit in the historic quarter, within a few minutes of each other.

Museum of Jewish History

The Museu d’Història dels Jueus stands on the site of Girona’s last synagogue, which closed in 1492, and it tells the story of the Jewish communities of medieval Catalonia. The museum is at Carrer de la Força 8, in the middle of El Call, and its exhibits run from gravestones and documents to daily objects. Behind the building a glass courtyard opens onto the gardens.

History Museum of Girona

The Museu d’Història de Girona runs chronologically from the Roman foundation of the city in the 1st century BC to the present. It occupies an 18th-century Capuchin convent further down Carrer de la Força, at number 27, and keeps some of the convent’s own spaces, including the cistern and the friars’ cemetery.

Museum of Art

The Museu d’Art de Girona fills the old Episcopal Palace next to the cathedral, and its collection covers Catalan art from early Romanesque altarpieces to the Noucentisme of the early 1900s. The building is half the point: you walk from the former throne room to the old episcopal jail to a courtyard garden. Your cathedral ticket can be extended to include it for €12 (about $14, £10) in total.

Archaeology Museum at Sant Pere de Galligants

The Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya’s Girona branch sits inside the monastery of Sant Pere de Galligants, and the monastery outranks the collection. The 12th-century church has three naves, four apses and a rose window over the door, and the cloister dates from 1154. The displays cover weapons, pottery and jewellery excavated around the Girona region from the Palaeolithic to the medieval period. Do not confuse it with the archaeology museum of the same name in Barcelona.

Casa Masó

Casa Masó is the birthplace of the architect Rafael Masó i Valentí, who lived from 1880 to 1935, and it is the only one of Girona’s coloured riverside houses that opens to the public. The house stands at Carrer de les Ballesteries 29, furnished as Masó kept it, with glass galleries looking straight down onto the Onyar and a white façade that stands out against the colour on either side. Visits are by guided tour in small groups and have to be booked in advance, so fix this one before you arrive rather than turning up.

Museum of Cinema

The Museu del Cinema was the first museum of its kind in Spain when it opened in 1998, and it is built around the Tomàs Mallol Collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum sits across the river at Carrer Sèquia 1, and it runs from shadow puppetry and magic lanterns through to modern film. It is the one museum in the scheme that is a walk rather than a step away.

Monastery of Sant Daniel

The Monastery of Sant Daniel is a ten-minute walk uphill from the Jardins dels Alemanys, and the walk is the reason to go. The 11th-century former nunnery sits in woodland rather than in streets, which makes it a relief after a morning of stone, and it holds cloisters and a carved tomb by Aloi de Montbrai.

Parc de la Devesa and Plaça de la Independència

Parc de la Devesa is the largest urban park in Catalonia at around 40 hectares (99 acres), and it fills a wedge of the west bank with plane trees, wide avenues, fountains and picnic ground. The Ter runs along its north side and the Onyar down its east flank. Locals use it far more than visitors do, which is the point of walking there.

Plaça de la Independència is the city’s largest square, just across the river on the edge of the old town, ringed by 19th-century neoclassical arcades. The monument in the centre, by the sculptor Antoni Parera, commemorates the defenders of the city during the third siege of Girona in 1809. The cafés under the arcades are reasonably priced and busy with residents as well as visitors, which is unusual for a central square and makes it the right place to sit for an hour.

Where to eat in Girona

Girona eats very well for a city of its size, because it sits at the inland edge of a coast that takes food seriously. Girona’s restaurants draw on fish and shellfish from the Costa Brava ports, and on a seasonal inland larder of mushrooms, chestnuts and calçots, the charred spring onions that Catalonia eats by the bundle from January to March.

Local dishes worth ordering are listed below.

• Suquet de peix: a fish and potato stew, thickened with almonds.
• Arròs negre: rice cooked in squid ink.
• Coques de llardons: flatbread with pork crackling.
• Botifarra: the Catalan sausage, usually grilled and served with white beans.
• Caracoles: snails, which appear on menus across the province.

If you cannot decide, order the menú del dia. The fixed lunch menu is where Girona’s kitchens are at their most honest, and it is the cheapest way to eat properly.

The city’s famous address is El Celler de Can Roca, run by the three Roca brothers, where tables open up to eleven months ahead and go immediately. Treat a reservation as a long-term project rather than a holiday plan. The same family runs Rocambolesc, an ice cream shop by Jordi Roca where the flavours change daily and nobody needs to book.

Mercat del Lleó

The Mercat del Lleó is Girona’s covered food market and the place to buy rather than eat, with more than 60 stalls selling fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and cheese. The market has run since 1944 and stands on Plaça Calvet i Rubalcaba on the west bank, near the Passeig General de Mendoza. It opens in the mornings from Monday to Saturday and closes on Sunday, with a late session on Friday evenings, and there is an extra-virgin olive oil vending machine inside, which I have not seen anywhere else.

The Old Hospital of Santa Caterina

The Hospital de Santa Caterina now holds Catalan government offices, and it keeps one of the oldest surviving pharmacies in Catalonia. The building went up in 1666 and worked as Girona’s main hospital until the 21st century. Guided visits are arranged through the Museum of Art, and the courtyard, the old chapel and the pharmacy are the parts to ask about. It is the furthest of Girona’s sights from the old town, but it is close to the Museum of Cinema and the Mercat del Lleó, so the three make one western loop.

Frequently asked questions

Is Girona worth visiting as a day trip from Barcelona?

Yes, and the fast train makes it straightforward at 105 km (65.2 mi) each way. A day covers El Call, the cathedral, the walls and the bridges. What a day trip does not leave room for is the museums, so stay overnight if the collections are the draw.

How many days do you need in Girona?

One day walks the old town and two days adds the museums and the Devesa without rushing. Anything longer is better spent using Girona as a base for the Costa Brava or Figueres rather than on the city itself.

Do you need to book Girona Cathedral in advance?

No. The cathedral sells tickets at the door, and the €7.50 ticket includes the Basílica de Sant Feliu and an audio guide. The one Girona sight that does need booking ahead is Casa Masó, which is guided-tour only.

Which Girona museum should you pick if you only have time for one?

Pick the Museu d’Història dels Jueus if you want the story of El Call, which is what makes Girona distinctive, or the Museu del Cinema if you are travelling with children. The GironaMuseus card makes the second museum half price, so the question often solves itself.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Four things from this visit would have saved us time, and three of them come down to timing.

1. Park on the west bank and walk over a bridge. Finding a space near the historic centre took us longer than the drive from Figueres, because the old town is a stair-and-alley network that traffic cannot serve.
2. Do the walls first, not last. They open at 8.00 and they close at 21.00 from September to May, earlier than you expect on an autumn evening, while the cathedral and the museums stay open through the middle of the day when the walkway is hottest and busiest.
3. Skip the wall towers if heights bother you. The walkway itself is wide and safe. The climb to the higher viewpoint is a narrow tower, and I had to turn back a few steps up.
4. Buy the GironaMuseus card at the first museum you enter. It cuts every later museum to half price and stays valid for six months, so it also covers a second trip.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her visit to Girona and the Dalí Museum in Figueres. The team covers Spain for independent travellers, including the Barcelona itineraries, tours, museums and places to eat worth booking, and updates this page when prices, opening hours and rules change.