Peratallada: a moat in the rock and an Iberian city.

In the inland Baix Empordà there are two villages four kilometres apart that tell two thousand years of history. On the Ullastret hill, the largest Iberian city in Catalonia, with its wall and streets laid out twenty-five centuries ago. In Peratallada, a medieval village that has barely outgrown its walls, surrounded by a moat dug into the rock. In the morning you climb the hill, at midday you cross the moat and eat in a courtyard among walnut trees, and in the afternoon you climb a tower to look over the rooftops. From Girona, fifty minutes.

The Day, Hour by Hour

9:15 · Departure. From Girona, take the C-66 towards La Bisbal d'Empordà and the Ullastret turn-off, about 50 minutes. From Barcelona, the AP-7 to Girona and the same route, an hour and fifty minutes.

10:00 · The Iberian city of Ullastret. The site is on the Puig de Sant Andreu, a small hill on the outskirts of Ullastret. Between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC it was the capital of the Indiketes, surrounded by a lake that dried up in the 19th century. The visit starts at the reception centre and climbs the hill: the wall, one of the best preserved of the Iron Age in Catalonia, with towers and gates for carts; the streets, with a planned layout; and at the top, the museum of the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya. From October to May it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00, and in summer until 20:00. Admission costs €7 and is free for under-16s and for everyone on the first Sunday of the month. A stretch of wall has come away and there is a temporary route: follow it. Allow an hour and three quarters.

12:00 · Peratallada's medieval old town. Four kilometres by car. Leave the car in one of the three car parks outside, paid at Easter and in summer, and walk in. Peratallada is a historic-artistic site: narrow cobbled streets, stone houses and, in the centre, the castle-palace, documented in 1065. Continue to Plaça de les Voltes, arcaded, and go down to Sant Esteve, outside the walls. An hour and a half without hurrying.

13:45 · Lunch at El Pati. On Carrer Hospital, in an 18th-century Catalan house that is also a hotel. What gives it its name is a large courtyard closed in by the natural rock on which the village stands, with walnut trees and plants; inside there are small dining rooms for cold days. It is open at midday from 12:30 to 15:15 and closed on Wednesdays. Book by phone, on 972 634 069, and ask for a table in the courtyard if the weather is good.

16:00 · The moat and the wall. Peratallada comes from petra scissa, cut stone. The moat around the enclosure was dug into the living rock and is seven or eight metres deep; above it, 12th- and 13th-century walls with three towers. Walk round it on the outside, free of charge, in half an hour.

16:40 · The Torre de les Hores. A tower in the wall from the 13th to 15th centuries, with a clock from the early 20th century. You can climb it free of charge and without booking, every day from 10:00 to 20:00 until 31 December 2026. At the top, the stone rooftops and the plain as far as the Gavarres.

17:30 · Return. In Girona around half past six; in Barcelona, at half past seven.

What to Order

El Pati does not publish a menu on its website: ask when you book what there is that day, especially if you have children or need a vegetarian dish. If you are looking for another option within the old town, La Roca, opened in 1992 on Carrer de la Roca, serves seasonal Catalan cooking with a terrace and a rustic dining room; confirm by phone that it is open that Sunday. With children, Pati Pizza serves Neapolitan wood-fired pizza in a courtyard with trees, with dough rested more than 24 hours.

With Children and Dogs

Ullastret works with children if you tell them this was a city with streets and gates: the path climbs, but it is short, and under-16s do not pay. At Peratallada, the moat impresses them and they like the tower. With small children, swap the tower for the short Fitor dolmens route, in the Gavarres: 1.6 km flat and 45 minutes. With a dog you can go to the site and the old town, on a lead.