# Garraf Coves

A village of bathing huts on the sand, 30 minutes from Barcelona by train, with the Garraf limestone massif behind: beach, coves, coastal path and natural park.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/catalonia/garraf-coves · Revisado: 2026-11-12

## What is Garraf and what is there to do here?

Garraf is a small village in the municipality of Sitges, tucked into a cove at the foot of the massif of the same name. Its image is the beach: a half-moon of 345 metres with 33 white and green bathing huts raised on the sand, between the railway line and the sea. Next to it is the harbour, now only for pleasure boats, built in 1902 to ship out the stone from a quarry used to extend Barcelona's port, and beside the road, the Celler Güell, the old Güell wine cellar attributed to Gaudí or his collaborator Francesc Berenguer, which is now part of a restaurant.

Behind the village begins the Garraf Park, 12,820 hectares of white limestone with sinkholes, dolines and dwarf palms, and dry-stone vineyard huts. It is the contrast that makes this place: in a short time you go from the beach towel to a landscape of dry stone and scrub.

## How do I get there without a car?

By train, on the Rodalies R2 Sud, which stops at the Garraf halt, right by the beach. From Barcelona it is the easiest way: in summer the C-31 road along the Garraf coast, with its bends, gets congested and there is little parking in the village. By car you arrive via the C-32, exit 42 Port Ginesta-Garraf, or via the C-31.

There is no public transport into the park. From the halt, the GR 92 long-distance path climbs to the park office at La Pleta, a Modernista farmhouse from 1894: about 3.5 km of climb with sea views.

## Beach or coves?

Garraf beach is urban, with fine sand mixed with stone and a very gentle slope into the water, with showers, toilets, lifeguards, ramps, sunloungers and pedalos. It has a blue flag. On both sides, the Sitges coast continues in cliffs with small coves; two of them, Cala Morisca and Cala Ginesta, have lifeguards in season. They are small: if you want a spot, go early.

## Dónde está
- Cerca: Sitges (a 8.2 km), Penedès (a 21.5 km), Barcelona (a 26.8 km), Montserrat (a 38.1 km)

## Qué hacer
- **From Garraf Station to La Pleta on the GR 92** (3.5 km · Walkers with some experience · Self-guided · free): What it is
It is the way into the Garraf Natural Park on foot from the sea. You get off the train at the Garraf halt, next to the beach with the little beach huts, and climb the long-distance GR 92 path, the Camí de les Costes, to La Pleta, the modernista farmhouse that is now the park office. It is about 3.5 km of continuous climbing through the limestone massif: white rock, dwarf fan palms and low scrub, with the Mediterranean ever further below. The return is by the same path, so the whole outing is about 7 km.
It has no technical difficulty, but it is all uphill on the way out and there is no shade.
The route step by step

Garraf halt: on leaving, go back along the road towards Barcelona. Walk on the mountain side and with care, because it is the Costes road, with bends and traffic.
Start of the GR 92: on the mountain side you will see a marker post at the start of the path, the Camí de les Costes. The GR waymarks are red and white.
The climb: the path gains height up the hillside between dwarf fan palms and limestone. As you climb, views open up of the village, the beach with the huts and the Garraf harbour.
La Pleta, about 3.5 km from the start: the park's office and information centre.
Return: along the same path to the halt.

La Pleta
It is a farmhouse from 1894 attributed to the modernista architect Francesc Berenguer i Mestres, a collaborator of Gaudí. It began as a livestock farm; the Diputació de Barcelona bought it and restored it as a park facility. It has a permanent exhibition, a panoramic viewpoint, a self-guided trail, a drinking water fountain, toilets, a defibrillator and charging for electric bicycles. It also lends adapted equipment free of charge: handbikes and extra wheels for wheelchairs, by reservation.
The office is open Monday to Friday mornings and at weekends and public holidays from 10:00 to 15:00. The park's website gives two different weekday hours (until 13:30 or until 14:00), so phone if you will be arriving close to closing time.
Getting there
By train, on the Rodalies R2 Sud line, to the Garraf halt; from Barcelona it is half an hour. No public transport reaches the park, and this path is the most direct way in on foot from the railway. By car, you reach Garraf by the C-32 (exit 42) or the C-31, but there is little parking in the village; La Pleta has its own free car park, on the Plana Novella road.
When to go
From October to May. The sun falls full on the hillside and the white stone gives the heat back: in summer, only first thing in the morning, and even then with plenty of water. With the low light of winter the contrast between the white rock and the sea is the best part of the walk.
Water and shade
There is no shade along the whole route and no water until the La Pleta fountain. Bring at least a litre per person and a cap.
With children and a dog
With children who can already walk an hour uphill, it is fine; the reward is the farmhouse and the views. With a pushchair, no. With a dog, yes, on a lead, and with water for them too: in summer the stone burns.
Complete the day
Go down to the beach with the huts for a swim when you finish and eat at El Chiringuito de Garraf, on the sand, with its kitchen open all day.
- **Les Casetes Beach, Garraf** (3 h · Everyone; families with small children · Free): The beach of the village of Garraf is the postcard of this whole coast: a crescent of sand wedged between the small harbour and the point, with 33 white-and-green bathing huts in a row on the sand, the railway line behind and the white massif closing the background. It measures a little under 400 metres (sources give between 345 and 380) and about 28 wide, so in August it fills up quickly. The rest of the year it is a quiet village beach, with the train a step away.
Sand, huts and water with no slope
The sand is fine, mixed with stone and the odd pebble near the rocks. The water is calm and gets deep very gradually, which makes it comfortable with small children: they can stand far from the shore. The huts, raised above the sand, are what sets it apart from any other beach on the coast.
What there is on the sand
It has a Blue Flag in 2026. In season there are lifeguards, showers, toilets, bins and daily cleaning, sunbed and parasol hire, hire of pedalos and other boats, a children's area and a sports area. Right on the sand, at the point, are El Chiringuito de Garraf, open all day, and the tablecloth dining room of La Cúpula.
When to swim and when not
The lifeguards work from May to mid-October. In 2026, from 25 June to 31 August, from 10:00 to 19:00, and with shorter hours at Easter, in May, June and September. The good months are June and September: the water is already warm and there is room on the sand. Turismo de España classes it as a high-occupancy beach: in July and August, especially at weekends, come early or late in the day.
Out of season the beach is still a good place to sit in the sun before lunch or to start the climb along the GR 92 towards La Pleta, which leaves from the same village.
Dogs
In high season dogs cannot enter this beach. In Sitges, the beach where dogs are allowed is Vallcarca, at the foot of the Garraf, a few kilometres to the west.
By train, better than by car
The Garraf stop on the R2 Sud is at the beach, about 30 minutes from Barcelona: you get off the train and you are on the sand. By car you arrive by the C-32 (exit 42) or by the bends of the C-31, but there are very few spaces in the village and in summer they fill up first thing.
The beach fits into a perfect day: the coastal path in the morning, a swim and rice facing the sea. It is what the Sunday in Garraf of beach huts, coves and rice suggests.
- **Sakya Tashi Ling Buddhist Monastery at Palau Novella** (1 h 30 · Everyone · Guided visit €9 (reduced €7)): Palau Novella is the last thing you expect to find as you climb the bends of the Garraf Park: a Modernista and neo-Gothic mansion from 1890, with towers and battlements, surrounded by pine forest and limestone. Since the 1990s it has been home to the Buddhist community Sakya Tashi Ling, which opens it to the public Wednesday to Sunday with guided visits. It is about 10 km from Sitges, on avinguda de Plana Novella, inside what is now called Colònia Agrícola Plana Novella.
A ruined indiano and an agricultural colony
According to Sitges tourism, the house was designed by Manuel Comas for Pere Domènech, a man from Sitges who had made a fortune in the Americas and lost it to phylloxera. The estate began as an agricultural colony, and from that time the chapel remains, which the community has kept. The monks explain that history during the visit, and the part of Buddhist philosophy that brought them here.
What you see in the 45 minutes
The guided visit goes through the building inside:

The Golden Room, with the original Modernista decoration, where the former owners held parties.
The chapel, the typical piece of the agricultural colonies, now integrated into the monastery.
The Room of the Buddhas, with religious images representing mental qualities that are cultivated through meditation.

Outside there are stupas in the garden. Meditating in them is a separate experience, booked separately, like the meditation room.
Sessions, opening hours and price
The monastery opens Wednesday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:00, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 9:30 to 18:00. It is closed Monday and Tuesday. Guided-visit sessions are few on weekdays: Wednesday to Friday, only at 12:00; at weekends and public holidays, at 11:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 17:00.
General admission costs €9. The reduced rate, €7, is for children aged 5 to 12, pensioners, large and single-parent families, people with disabilities, university students and teachers. It is bought on its website. Visits are in Spanish; groups of six or more can request Catalan, English or French.
Eating at Plana Novella
The colony's restaurant serves traditional cooking Wednesday to Sunday and public holidays, from 13:00 to 16:00, with booking from its website. It is the way to avoid having to go down to the coast at midday: you do the 12:00 or the 13:00 session and eat there.
You can only get there by car
There is no public transport. From Garraf or from Sitges you climb along the park roads to Plana Novella; expect bends and little traffic except on Sundays. If you come by train to Garraf, the monastery is out of walking reach in a morning. Combined with an afternoon at les Casetes beach or with the Sunday in Garraf of beach huts, coves and rice, it makes a full day.
- **Kayaking Beneath the Garraf Cliffs, from Garraf to Sitges** (5 h · With kayaking experience; from age 16 · Desde 90 € per person): Five hours of paddling along the only stretch of the Barcelona coast where the massif drops sheer into the water. The trip is run by Nootka Kayak & Sup, a school based in Sitges, and goes one way: you set off from les Casetes beach in Garraf and land at their base on Les Anquines beach, in Sitges. Between the two there is no road in sight: the C-31 runs above, in tunnels and bends, and below there is only white rock and the birds that nest on the cliffs, which reach 200 metres.
From Garraf harbour to Les Anquines
You meet at Garraf beach 20 minutes before the start, at 8:40 if the departure is at 9:00. The guide hands out the equipment, explains the route and you set off. You paddle west hugging the wall, and halfway you stop in a cove that can only be reached by sea: it is the time to rest, eat something and snorkel. Then you continue to Sitges, where you finish at the Nootka base. In all, about five hours with the stop.
The boats are touring kayaks or open kayaks. Nootka rates the difficulty as medium, and it is because of the distance and because, outside the coves, there is nowhere to get out of the water if the sea turns nasty.
What they ask before you book

Having paddled a kayak before. It is not a beginners' outing.
Being able to swim.
Wearing a T-shirt under the life jacket, which is compulsory.
Being 16 or over; minors go with an adult.

The minimum group is four people, though you can book a single place and they will add you to others. The website asks you to book in advance: in one place it speaks of 48 hours and in another of 24; allow two days just in case. You book online, on 938 100 256 or on 609 252 412.
Price, dates and what is included
It costs €90 per person. It runs from March to October, on Thursdays and Sundays at 9:00; other dates can be requested. The price includes the kayak and the rest of the equipment, the guide, insurance, changing room with lockers and a snack of water, juice and a cereal bar.
What you bring: swimsuit or shorts that can get wet, a synthetic or lycra T-shirt, water shoes, a cap and sunglasses with a strap, sun cream, water, a picnic for the stop, a towel and a change of clothes.
The train solves the return
As the crossing does not return to the starting point, the convenient thing is not to depend on a car. The Garraf stop on the R2 Sud is two minutes from the beach, and from the Sitges base there is a city bus that stops nearby and goes to the station. If you come by car, the other option is to meet an hour earlier at the Sitges base: you leave your car and whatever you do not want to take in the kayak there, and Nootka takes you up to Garraf in its van.
If the day feels too short, in Garraf you can eat facing the sea at La Cúpula, and with more time the climb to La Morella shows from above the same cliffs you have paddled.
- **Climb to La Morella from Garraf Beach** (5 h · Keen walkers; best in winter and spring · Independent · free): La Morella is 593 metres high and is the second summit of the Garraf massif. It does not impress by height, but because you climb it from the water's edge: you leave Garraf beach, at sea level, and you supply all the ascent yourself. It is a long out-and-back outing over open terrain, with the sea behind you on the way up and ahead of you on the way down, and at the top a cross and a panel naming what you can see.
From the Celler Güell to the Pla de Querol
You start in the village of Garraf, beside Gaudí's Celler Güell. You cross the C-31 and take the path marked GR 92. Soon you reach a viewpoint over the village and the coast towards Castelldefels, where the path turns north-west and enters a stone pine wood with kermes oak, rosemary and the odd dwarf fan palm.
Then you pass an active quarry, skirt a dog pound by a shortcut that avoids the road, cross the tarmac and continue along a botanical path, wheelchair accessible, to La Pleta, the Modernista farmhouse that is the park's headquarters. Up to here it is the same route as the GR 92 from the train stop. From La Pleta to the Pla de Querol car park, or Pitxot, it is about 2 km on tarmac: the most monotonous stretch and the one that tires you most.
From the radar to the cross
From the Pla de Querol an asphalt track closed to traffic continues, with the Vallirana radar in view. At the Campgràs pass the view opens towards Barcelona and Collserola. Then you skirt the former Vall d'en Joan landfill, now turned into meadows, and by a dirt track and a last path of about 200 metres you reach the summit.
At the top there is a cross and a panoramic panel. On clear days you can see Barcelona, Collserola and the Serralada Litoral, La Mola, Montseny, Montserrat and, beyond, the snow-capped Pyrenees. Mallorca is only guessed at on some very clear winter days.
The descent, with two detours
You return the same way, with two changes suggested by the Diputació: before the Pla de Querol, a detour passes the Asensio pothole, 84 metres deep; after La Pleta, you walk the other half of the botanical path. Then the morning's shortcut as far as the quarry, and the GR 92 to the Celler Güell.
What it costs and when not to go
It is free and done independently. Allow about five hours there and back. There is no fountain along the whole route and no bars inside the park, and the shade ends when you leave the pine wood. In summer, the sun on the white rock makes it very hard: go only first thing or, better, from October to May. If you want to cut it in half, start at the Pla de Querol car park.
On the way down, the village of Garraf has a beach and a table: les Casetes beach and El Chiringuito de Garraf, open all day.

## Dónde comer
- **El Chiringuito de Garraf** (Restaurant, Garraf, €€). Qué pedir: the caldereta rice with lobster or the seafood paella to share, and the xatonada Garraf to start.
- **La Cúpula Garraf** (Restaurant, Garraf, €€€). Qué pedir: The lobster rice caldereta or the seafood paella; for dessert, grandmother's cheesecake.

## With teenagers: Paddling Beneath the Cliffs

Garraf has a beach for everyone, but what hooks a teenager is in the sea and on the rock: a kayak beneath 200-metre walls or a summit climbed from sea level.

### What works best
The kayak crossing from Garraf to Sitges, from age 16 and with experience

The climb to La Morella from the beach, the summit of the massif

The Buddhist monastery, with stupas and a Modernista mansion

### Where to sleep
Hotel Estela Barcelona, with a pool, at Aiguadolç

### Where to eat
El Chiringuito de Garraf, on the sand, all day

### Bear in mind
There is no shade or fountains in the park: plenty of water

The kayak requires being able to swim and booking 48 hours ahead

### Qué hacer with teenagers
- Sakya Tashi Ling Buddhist Monastery at Palau Novella
- Kayaking Beneath the Garraf Cliffs, from Garraf to Sitges
- Climb to La Morella from Garraf Beach

## Consejos

### Come by train
The halt is right by the beach and you save yourself the bends and the parking.

### Go up to the park in the morning
The white rock reflects the sun and the climb to La Pleta has no shade. Bring water: there are no bars inside the park.

### Visit the Buddhist monastery
The Palau Novella, the former mansion of an American from Sitges, is now the Sakya Tashi Ling Buddhist monastery and is open Wednesday to Sunday and on public holidays.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### What is the Buddhist monastery in Garraf?
The Sakya Tashi Ling community has occupied the Palau Novella since 1994, about 10 km from Sitges inside the park: a Modernista and neo-Gothic mansion from 1890, by Manuel Comas for Pere Domènech, an indiano who was ruined by phylloxera. It has stupas in the garden and an intact Catholic chapel. It is open Wednesday to Sunday and on public holidays.

### How long is the beach?
345 metres long and about 29 wide, with fine sand and stones and a gentle slope into the water.

### Are there lifeguards?
Yes, from May to mid-October. In 2026: from 25 June to 31 August from 10:00 to 19:00; in May, June and September with shorter hours.

### Can I go with a dog?
Not to Garraf beach in high season. In the municipality of Sitges, the beach with free dog access in summer is Vallcarca.

### Can I visit the Celler Güell?
The building can be seen from the road and is part of a restaurant. Its authorship is disputed between Gaudí and Francesc Berenguer.

### Where can I stay?
There is hardly any accommodation in Garraf. The nearest is Sitges: the Hotel Estela Barcelona, in the Aiguadolç harbour, is about six kilometres along the coast.

### Can I go kayaking?
Yes. Nootka Kayak & Sup runs a guided five-hour crossing from Garraf beach to Sitges beneath the cliffs, from March to October, on Thursdays and Sundays, for €90, for experienced people.

### Where can I get information about the park?
At the La Pleta office, on the road from Rat Penat to Plana Novella, km 3.5: Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 13:30 and at weekends and public holidays from 10:00 to 15:00 (690 045 560).