Starting at Blanes to the south and ending at Cadaques in the North, the Costa Brava offers purchasers natural beauty, proximity to the great city of Barcelona, historic medieval villages, world-famous restaurants like 'El Bulli' at Roses, innumberable excellent sporting opportunities including world famous golf courses and ski-ing in the Pyrenees.

Girona/Costa Brava airport now has four flights a day from London Stansted. There are innumerable fights from almost everywhere in the UK to Barcelona, and local train services are excellent, as is the road network. English is widely spoken, but it is a big asset if you speak a little Spanish. No-one expects you to speak the local language – Catalan.

Although cooler in winter than the Costa del Sol further south, it is also cooler in summer with daytime temperatures around 30c. Lunch on the terrace is a year round option except perhaps in December and January. The atmosphere is also very different, more sophisticated. Incomers are of many nationalities, usually retired or soon-to-retire professionals. Generally they are well travelled, fairly well-off, and sociable, but there are no foreign 'ghettos' as occurs further south, so no English restaurants, pubs and bars. Eating out locally is however an inexpensive, and therefore frequent, pleasure.

This is not a travel guide. Our aim in telling you about the main towns and resorts of the Costa Brava, is to try to give you a feel for what would be the right area for you. When making a buying decision, do make sure that you are clear about what you want. Some parts of the Costa Brava die out of season. That may not matter if you don't plan on being here out of season, but can be soul-destroying otherwise.