Today Catalonia is an Autonomous Community within Spain and occupies an area of 31,930 square kilometers. Every year millions of tourists flock to the seaside resorts without realising that, a short distance from the sundrenched Mediterranean beaches, there are places of great artistic interest, historic buildings and landscapes which are equally well worth seeing.

Catalonia has a great variety of landscapes within a small area - mountains on the Pyrenees (at the border with France), green hills in the north of the country, agricultural planes on the west and beaches on the east. Catalonia is surprisingly green, covered by large forests of mainly oak and pine. Inland the high Pyrenees rise to almost 3000 metres and travelling towards the Mediterranean takes you through the largest zone of volcanoes on the Iberian Peninsula – an excellent area for walking and cycling. The Pyrenean foothills tumble into the sea forming rocky cliffs and hidden beaches with many lovely villages inland and dotted along the coast.

This typical mountainous topography of Catalonia is the main reason for an incredibly distinct cuisine, hailed by many as the best and most refined in Spain. Almost each valley and comarca (county) has its own special dishes and sauces, having kept the recipes secret for centuries. A rich legacy of more than a thousand years of great architecture remains – from the highest density of fine Romanesque buildings in Europe to the splendour of Gothic churches and palaces in proud cities like Barcelona and Girona.