Walking the Camí de Ronda: The Coastal Paths I Send Guests On

What the Camí de Ronda actually is

The name means the patrol path, and that is exactly what it was: a route worn into the cliffs so that people could keep watch over the water and move from one fishing cove to the next. It is not a single groomed promenade but a chain of segments, some paved and gentle, some narrow with steps cut into the rock. That variety is the charm. You are never walking past the coast, you are walking through it, close enough to feel the spray on a windy day.

Come prepared and it asks very little of you. Shoes with some grip, water, and a swimsuit underneath your clothes, because you will want to stop at a cove you did not plan for. Mornings are kinder than midday in summer, both for the light and for the heat, and the path is at its most beautiful in that first soft hour before the beaches fill.

The stretches worth your morning

Around Begur, the walk from Sa Riera to Aiguablava is my first recommendation for almost everyone. It threads above a run of coves, dipping down to the sand and climbing back into the pines, with Aiguablava waiting at the end as a reward of turquoise water over white. It is scenic without being punishing, the kind of stretch that suits both serious walkers and a family that wants to swim halfway through.

A little further south, the path linking Calella de Palafrugell to Llafranc and on to Tamariu is the one I walk when I want to feel like a local rather than a visitor. Calella is all whitewashed arches and fishing boats, Llafranc a gentle curve of bay with a small harbour, and Tamariu the quiet jewel at the end, a pine-framed cove that has kept its calm. Three villages, one coastline, and a path that makes them feel like a single afternoon.

For something shorter and more elegant, the stretch at S'Agaró from Sant Pol to Sa Conca runs above the rocks past white villas and clipped gardens, a tidy, almost ceremonial walk that ends at a fine beach. And if you want drama, give an evening to Tossa de Mar, where the medieval walls of the Vila Vella fall straight to the sea and the path circles beneath them. Each stretch has its own mood, so I match the walk to the day rather than the other way around.

Walk first, then let me cook

The best version of a Camí de Ronda day ends not in a crowded restaurant but back on your own terrace. You come home with salt on your skin and that good tiredness in your legs, and the last thing anyone wants is to change clothes and queue for a table. So I build the evening around the walk instead. While you are out on the path, I am at the market and the fishing port choosing what is freshest, and by the time you return the kitchen is already busy.

After a long walk I like to keep it relaxed and unhurried, a table of things to share rather than a formal procession of courses. A spread of tapas suits the mood perfectly: small plates that arrive in waves, cold beer or local wine, and conversation that drifts as the light goes. You set the pace, I keep the dishes coming, and the coast you spent the morning admiring quietly finds its way onto the table.