Sitges at nine, with a photographer and the Punta empty, and the rest of Sunday among museums and sea.

Sitges at nine on a Sunday morning is a different town: the promenade free of towels, the streets of the Punta empty and the light coming in low across the white houses. It is the moment photographers recommend for a shoot, and the rest of the day is built around it: the mansions of the returned emigrants, the two museums on the Punta, the Maricel palace with a guide and a long lunch by the sea.

An hour with a photographer before anyone arrives

9:00 · Photo session. You book with Flytographer, which works with two photographers in Sitges, and choose a route. In an hour, for $425 and 35 photos, you get Carrer d'en Bosch, the oldest street in the town, and the façades of Cau Ferrat and Maricel; if you prefer the sea, the shore route runs along Sant Sebastià beach to the esplanade of the hermitage, with the Punta church in profile. The meeting point and time arrive in the itinerary after you book. The photos come within five working days.

10:15 · The Americano houses. On foot inland, between the station and the sea. Mansions built by Sitges people who went off to make their fortunes in the Americas, mostly in Cuba, and came back rich. Start at Plaça d'Eduard Maristany, next to the station. You see them from outside and independently, in an hour.

Rusiñol, Deering and the Saló d'Or

11:15 · Cau Ferrat and Maricel. Back to the Punta. Santiago Rusiñol's house-studio, with walls covered in wrought iron and ceramics and works by Casas and Picasso, and next door the Museu de Maricel. One ticket covers both: €12, free for under-17s.

13:00 · Palau de Maricel with a guide. Opposite. The palace dreamed up by Charles Deering and Miquel Utrillo can only be seen with a guide, and on Sundays from September to June the Spanish-language tour is at 13:00. An hour through the Saló d'Or, the Saló Blau and the cloister above the Mediterranean. Buy ahead: places are few.

Xató at the foot of the church

14:15 · Fragata. Three minutes away, on Passeig de la Ribera, below the church. On Sundays it serves from 13:00 to 16:30. Order the house xató and a rice dish for two, which takes half an hour.

16:30 · Seafront walk. To work off lunch, the flat promenade to the south with the sea on one side. Return to the station whenever you like: the train takes about 40 minutes to Barcelona.