Girona City Stopover – Where to Stay & Eat
Our Girona city stopover allowed us just one night in the city, before heading south to Barcelona-El Prat airport later the following day.
We therefore needed a hotel that was close to the bus and train stations, and still within easy reach of the attractions and restaurants that the city has to offer. We were also on a budget, so we wanted to keep the price down to around €50.
Girona City Stopover – Lazy afternoon on the High Street
After making a shortlist of 3 or 4 hotels that fit our bill, we finally settled on the Hotel Margarit. This small hotel is centrally located in Girona, next to the Onyar river, and close to the steps leading up to the old city walls.
After arriving at the central bus/train station, we reached the hotel with just a 10-15 minute walk.
Hotel Margarit – Ideal for a short Girona city stopover
Hotel Margarit was very reasonably-priced at €51 per night (including the €1 city tax). Breakfast was extra at €8.50 per person.
Our room was clean and comfortable, with a bright and spacious bathroom. To save time, we took our breakfast in the hotel and we were not disappointed. They offered us a buffet of cheeses, hams, fresh crispy bread and sweet pastries, with fruit, yogurts and cereals.
Everything we needed to set us up for a day in the city.
During our Girona city stopover, we checked out 3 restaurants we had earmarked before the trip. Unfortunately, the Restaurant l’Alqueria – which came highly recommended – was closed for refurbishment.
In Girona, many restaurants do not open till late evening
Towards the evening, we located the other 2 restaurants and checked their opening times. This being Spain, people tend to eat late and its not always easy to find a restaurant that opens before 8 pm. We arrived at the 8de7 restaurant at precisely 8 pm, but it was still closed, with not even a sign of activity inside.
This made our restaurant choice easy – we would try the Curcuma restaurant (if they were open…)
Curcuma Restaurant – Small pretensions, Big delivery
The Curcuma restaurant is a little gem of a place, hidden away in the backstreets of the Barri Vell (old quarter) of Girona.
It took us a while to find it, but at least it was open for business at 8:30 pm. We were given a table in a very modern and stylish room, and introduced to their menu.
This is one of those restaurants where the menu descriptions are so tantalizing you just want to try everything. In our attempt to do this, we selected a good variety of offerings from the menu, and shared everything between us.
This included Xupa xups de formatge (goatcheese lollipops), Croqueta XL Curcuma, Llonganissa organya (organic catalan sausages), Patatas bravas, Vedella teriyaki (veal), and Magret d’anec xocolata cervesa (duck breast in chocolate beer).
We finished off our meal with a “tasting” assortment of deserts, and a local digestif offered to us on the house. Our bill for 2 came to €53, including a bottle of local wine and sparkling water.
Rambla Restaurant
On our second day in the city, before leaving Girona by train, we checked around the main high street for somewhere to eat.
Again, the 8de7 restaurant was late opening, so we went in search of other eating options around Llibertat street.
After a short wander around, we chose a table outdoors at the Rambla restaurant. There, we enjoyed their daily selection of tapas accompanied by a few glasses of red wine. Very good value, at around €10 per head for the food.
Girona city stopover … and yet another food pic – we like the Spanish tapas…
This would be the last meal of our Girona city stopover. From here we were heading to Barcelona El Prat airport, for a flight to the Canary Islands, where our main vacation would begin.
Girona was nevertheless a great start to our trip. A picturesque, charming and inexpensive city, well-worth a longer visit. Even though we didn’t actually kiss Lleona’s bottom, we will be back…
If you enjoyed Girona city stopover, check out our Short Breaks & City Stops. You may also like:
