Spain · Self-guided walk
Girona in one walk 8 sights, 35 minutes
A self-guided walking tour of the Girona Old Town: 8 sights on one 2.4 km loop, about 35 minutes on foot, back where you started.
No two days to spare? Here is the short version: the big sights in one loop. I would take longer. I always take longer.
At a glance
The walk in numbers.
- Distance
- 2.4 km, a loop
- Time
- about 35 minutes of walking at 4 km/h, plus however long you stop
- Sights
- 8
- Start and finish
- Catedral de Girona
- Steps
- on Placeta de Maria Laffitte Masjoan, Carrer de Ferran el Catòlic, Passeig de la Reina Joana, Passeig de la Muralla, Carreró de la Torre dels Socors, Carrer d'en Mora, Carrer Nou del Teatre, Carrer de Bonaventura Carreras i Peralta, Pujada de la Catedral
- Cost
- free: no guide, no booking, no tip
The route
Map of the Girona walk: 8 stops, one loop.
The gold line is the walk. The numbers are the stops, in the order you reach them. The pale lines are every other street in the Old Town.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
The stops
8 sights in Girona, in walking order.
Each stop says how far the next one is and which streets take you there.
1. Catedral de Girona
the start
The far corner of the walk, and the one I put last on the plate. The square in front is where to stand, not the doorway. From the far side of it the whole west front is in one piece. From the doorway it never is.
Next: Basilica de Sant Feliu, 220 m, about 3 min, along Carrer dels Manaies, Pujada del Rei Martí.
2. Basilica de Sant Feliu
about 3 minutes of walking from the start
The other big church, down at the north end where the ground finally lets go. Go once round the outside before you go in. Whoever assembled this took what was lying about, and the outside is where that shows.
Next: Església de Sant Pere de Galligants, 200 m, about 3 min, along Pujada del Rei Martí.
3. Església de Sant Pere de Galligants
about 6 minutes of walking from the start
The far north tip of the level, out past where the Old Town stopped, on the other side of the stream it is named after. It is the only thing on this route that had room to spread sideways, and it used all of it. Look at the front from across the little square.
Next: Banys Àrabs, 120 m, about 2 min.
4. Banys Àrabs
about 8 minutes of walking from the start · inside open Mon–Sat 10:00–18:00, Sun 10:00–14:00
Small, easy to miss, off a lane you will already be walking. Do not stop in the first chamber. The thing everybody remembers is one further in, and I am not going to tell you what it is.
Next: Torre de Sant Domenec, 500 m, about 8 min, along Passeig de la Reina Joana, Passeig de la Muralla.
5. Torre de Sant Domenec
about 16 minutes of walking from the start
The east edge of the level, and the only stretch of it where you go along the top of the defences instead of underneath them. Get up at one end and stay up: the ways back down are further apart than you would like. Town on one side, open country on the other.
Next: Pont de Pedra, 660 m, about 10 min, along Passeig de la Muralla, Carreró de la Torre dels Socors, Carrer Nou del Teatre, Pujada del Pont de Pedra, Pont de Pedra.
Lunch break
La Fábrica, Carrer de la Llebre 3, about 100 m off the route, open Mon–Sun 09:00–16:00.
An old carpenter's workshop on the Carrer de la Llebre, now a cool café with stone walls, opened by a retired pro cyclist and his wife. More on what to eat in Girona.
6. Pont de Pedra
about 25 minutes of walking from the start
The wide one, the one the whole city crosses without looking. Stop halfway and turn upriver. That row of houses standing in the water, painted every colour anybody had to hand, is the picture that ends up on the postcards, and this is the spot it is taken from.
Next: Pont de les Peixateries Velles, 300 m, about 4 min, along Pont de Pedra, Pont de les Peixateries Velles.
7. Pont de les Peixateries Velles
about 30 minutes of walking from the start
One of the crossings, and by a long way the busiest. Go early or go late; around midday you will be queueing for the chance to stand still on it. It is iron, it rings under your feet, and it is the only thing on this level that answers back.
Next: Museu d'Història dels Jueus, 260 m, about 4 min, along Pont de les Peixateries Velles, Carrer de l'Argenteria, Carrer de la Força.
8. Museu d'Història dels Jueus
about 34 minutes of walking from the start
Its door is on the Carrer de la Força, and you will be on the Carrer de la Força whether you plan to be or not. Everything round about is the reason to come. This is the room that explains it. Do the outside first and the inside second: that order matters.
Back to the start: Catedral de Girona, 190 m, about 3 min, along Carrer de la Força, Pujada de la Catedral.
Every stop counts from the street; the hours are for going inside. Opening hours from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors. Check before you go.
After the walk
The rest of Girona.
This loop is 8 sights. The Old Town is 91 streets, and I have opinions about all of them. Every street of the Girona Old Town, with what to eat and where.
Cobble Gobble is a walking game for iPhone: every street is a line of dots you collect by walking it, and the phone stays in your pocket. Your first city is free.