Portbou

Portbou is in Costa Brava.

Understand

Portbou is located near the French border in the Costa Brava region, and frequently serves as a dropping off point for SNCF trains coming from Cerbère in France. It is quite rugged terrain and because of its location, facing the Gulf of León, suffers strong northerly winds called Tramuntana. In the central part of its municipality it has the cove of Portbou, where most of the population is located.

Tourist office

• 1 Tourist office, Passeig Maritim, ☏ +34 972 125 161. (updated Jan 2024)

Get in

By plane

The nearest airports are Girona-Costa Brava (GRO ^IATA, in Spain) and Perpignan–Rivesaltes (PGF ^IATA, In France)

By train

The RG1 (Rodalies Girona RENFE) stops in the station. Also de R11 (regional service RENFE-Rodalies).

In Figueres Vilafant station (Figueres) you can connect the high speed train connection to Madrid, Barcelona and Paris.

• 1 Portbou International railway station (Estació internacional de Portbou), Carrer Claudi Planas, ☏ +34 972 390 099. The station is a border railway station where all trains have to stop, as those coming from/going into France have to change gauge from 1,668 mm (5 ft 5+21⁄32 in) Iberian gauge to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge. Between Portbou railway station and Cerbère railway station in France, both track gauges run through the Balitres tunnel. (updated Jan 2024)

By car

Portbou

• From France: The A-9 from Montpellier and Perpignan to the Spanish border. Than the AP7 until Figueres.
• From Barcelona and Girona: The AP7 until Figueres.
• From Figueres take N-260 to Portbou.

• From Perpignan you can take the D914 to Portbou. From Port Vendres Its a local road full of curves.

By boat

• 2 Portbou Marina, Passeig de la Sardana, s/n,, ☏ +34 972 39 07 12, +34 625 969 225, portdeportbou@gencat.cat. It has a capacity of 297 moorings for boats up to twenty meters in length. It usually has spaces for passing boats. It has a beach ramp, repair and maintenance services, changing rooms, fuel supply, parking and a hibernation berth with a lifting gantry that also attracts fishing boats. The mouth has a width of 40 m and a draft of 10 m, with an internal draft of 1 to 10 m. (updated Jan 2024)

Get around

See

Memorial Walter Benjamin Portbou

• 1 Memorial Passages to Walter Benjamin (Near de Cemetery). Is a work by Dani Karavan that consists of different parts.Description: First passage: the tunnel. A corridor on a steep slope with 87 steps leading from the square of the entrance to the cemetery to the sea. It is a narrow metal staircase sandwiched between rusted iron plates 2.35 m high in a corridor that, like a tunnel, has been dug into the slope. When 75% of the route has been covered, a piece of glass gets in the way and prevents you from following the route. In the background, a swirling sea, as close as it is inaccessible. And in the glass, a quote that challenges the weight of the past and memory: "It is a more arduous task to honor the memory of anonymous beings than that of famous people. The historical construction is dedicated to the memory of those who have no first name". Below the quote, Walter Benjamin's name. Karavan selected this quotation from Benjamin from the preliminary works of theses On the Concept of History (1940). As you go down the tunnel, the sea and the mountains of Cap Cerbère appear. Every September 26, the date of Benjamin's death, the shadow passes by his name, which is the signature of the quote. Second passage: the wall. When climbing the stairs of the tunnel, a slice of blue sky suggests freedom. A railway track reminds us of a railway that takes us to a wall of stones embedded in a bank. It can't go from there. Third passage: The olive tree. Following the circuit path that goes to Colera, a steep and rocky path opens up that leads from the cemetery esplanade to the other elements of the Karavan Memorial, which are behind it. The artist has integrated his work into this natural path, which is the path to the back entrance of the cemetery, the non-Catholic part. The path leads to an old olive grove of native vegetation where fate, the wind and the sun, have left their mark on the sinuous forms. A tree used repeatedly by Karavan as a sign of human resistance and reconciliation. The narrow platform with few steps at the foot of the olive tree invites you to pause in the landscape and observe the olive tree, the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. And in the background, the view of the old border crossing. This step of the Memorial vindicates one of Karavan's leitmotifs: "olive trees should be our borders", as he did at the 1976 Venice Biennale, representing the State of Israel. Fourth Passage: The Milestone Platform of the Passages. The path, narrow and rocky, leads to a small esplanade with a square platform of 16 m2 with a stone cube in the middle that invites you to pause. The esplanade is open to the sea and the horizon. However, a metal wire fence, similar to those used in concentration camps, stands between the walker and the horizon, it is the old cemetery fence, which Karavan has left intact. On the central cube, one can sit there, listen to the wind, the birds, the trains, it is a place for reflection. The tour ends at the cemetery, where Benjamin is buried in a mass grave and in the symbolic grave of Walter Benjamin where the official acts are held and where today a plaque recalls the last letter he wrote in this town expressing his will to die- there. (updated Jan 2024)
• 2 Cemetery, C. Pujada del Mirador, 6. There is a sculpture and a commemorative plaque dedicated to the German philosopher, essayist and literary critic Walter Benjamin, who was born in Berlin to a Jewish family. Considered a master and linked to the Frankfurt school, he died in Portbou in 1940 in strange circumstances. On the one hand it is thought that he committed suicide by overdosing on morphine after crossing the Franco-Spanish border fleeing the Nazis, and on the other hand it is thought that he was killed by Franco's police and even the journalist Stuart Jeffries in his article Did Stalin Killers liquidate Walter Benjamin (The Observer 8 July 2003) claims that he was killed by the Stalinist police. Also in the cemetery, the Freemason cemetery is a must-see. (updated Jan 2024)
• 3 The parish of Santa Maria de Portbou, C. de l'Església.. Church built at the expense of the railway company, on the esplanade of the station. It is not known when it was consecrated, but it must be assumed that it was already consecrated in 1882, because on that date the first vicar was appointed by the bishopric (updated Jan 2024).
• 4 Main Square (Plaça major), plaça major. Going down from the church, in the Plaza Mayor, where there is a stone fountain, dated 1955 and decorated with the town's coat of arms: two bull boats in the harbor and a crown. (updated Jan 2024)
• 5 Font dels Ninots. Near the church, between Carrer Colera and Carrer Mercat, there is a square decorated with the Font dels Ninots, built in 1922 by J. Albareda and E. Pastoret (updated Jan 2024).
• Portbou Station
• 6 Dolmen of Coll de la Farella, Coll de la Farella. It is an ancient corridor tomb, with a trapezoidal chamber (updated Jan 2024)
• Claper Beach
• La Platja Gran, les Tres Platgetes and Platja del Pi (the latter nudist)
• 7 The Walter Benjamin Route in Portbou. an itinerary that starts at the foot of the stairs that give access to the station and that follows the footsteps of the German philosopher through the town. Antiga Font de França, Panell de la Ramble, Centre Civic, Memorial. (updated Jan 2024)
• The Port of Portbou, located to the south of the bay of Portbou, next to Punta de la Gatillepis, at the pass of the Puig del Claper and Puig del Falcó mountains between the ridge and the urban center of Portbou. It is a large port, with 297 moorings.

Do

Hiking

• The GR92 starts in the city.

Local routes

• Route Portbou to Querroig mountain
• Walter Benjamin trail from Banyuls to Portbou
• Retreat and paths of exile

Beach

• 1 Platja del Pi (It can be accessed on foot from the N-260 road and also by the Camí de ronda from Portbou,). located between cliffs, 500 m north of the town. It faces south, so it is very protected when the strong northerly wind blows. It has a length of 45 m and a width of 10 m, composed of dark pebbles. No services available. Nudism is common there. Its beautiful seabeds make it ideal for diving. (updated Mar 2024)
• 2 les Tres Platgetes (It is accessed by the Camí de ronda, from the Petita de Portbou beach). located between cliffs, about 200 m north of the town. It is oriented to the southeast, protected from the north wind. It has a length of about 100 m and a width of 20 m, of thick, dark-colored sand. (updated Mar 2024)
• 3 Platja Petita. It has a length of 90 meters and an average width of 30, of dark pebbles. It can be accessed on foot from the Gran beach, and on the north side begins the promenade that skirts the coast and allows you to reach the Tres Platgetes beach and the Pi beach. (updated Mar 2024)
• 4 Platja de Portbou. is an urban beach located next to the promenade. It has a length of 239 m and an average width of 18 m, of pebbles and a very steep entrance to the water. The beach has lifeguard services, access walkway, children's area, showers and toilets. There is also a sailing school, a diving center, kayak rentals and, on the promenade, numerous restaurants. (updated Mar 2024)

Eat

• Restaurant el Jovent , Carrer Francesc Ribera, 16
• Restaurant Espanya, Passeig de la Sardana, 5
• Restaurant L'Àncora, Passeig de la Sardana, 3
• El Racó de la Mar, Carrer de l'Escultor Frederic Marès, 2
• Bar Restaurant Casa David, Plaça del Mercat, 2
• Bar Restaurante Andrés, Carrer de la Unió, 2
• Bar Restaurant Riky, Passeig de la Sardana, 9

Drink

• Bar Restaurant Casa David, Plaça del Mercat, 2
• Bar Restaurante Andrés, Carrer de la Unió, 2
• Bar Restaurant Riky, Passeig de la Sardana, 9