Village
Roses is a municipality of the Alt Empordà, on the north coast of the Gulf of Roses, south of Cape Creus, which since 1960 has undergone rapid tourist growth, rising from 3,287 inhabitants to 20,365 in 2025. The earliest settlements date back to the Upper Palaeolithic, and around 3000 BC the dolmens of the casa quemada were built. In 333 BC families from the Greek colony of Massalia settled at San Pedro de Roda and later on the plain, giving rise to the name Roses, whose remains are preserved in the parade ground of the present-day citadel. In 216 BC a Roman expedition under the command of Scipio landed here. A seafaring town set above the bay, it retains the Ciutadella, with Greek, Roman and medieval remains, and a long seafront promenade beside Cape Creus.
Village
Santa Margarida is a residential and boating district of Roses (Alt Empordà, Girona), built in the 1960s over the former aiguamoll wetland at the mouth of the Grau, with fifteen kilometres of navigable canals. The census district of Santa Margarida i el Salatar has 2,445 inhabitants (2025).
Monument
The castle of la Trinitat rises to the east of the town centre of Roses, next to the lighthouse, about 60 metres above sea level. Its name comes from an 1508 hermitage that was demolished, together with a defence tower, when the fortress was built. It was the emperor Charles V who ordered its construction, before the Ciutadella de Roses; the works, directed by the Castilian engineer Luis de Pizaño, began on 2 January 1544 and were finished in mid-1551, well into the 16th century. Star-shaped with four points -named Roses, Sant Pere de Rodes, Medes and Trinitat according to their orientation-, it preserves its sloped walls and remains of the garrison quarters, the prison and the church on the upper terrace. It is declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
Monument
The Ciutadella de Roses is a 16th-century Renaissance fortification, with later modifications, located to the northwest of the town of Roses and overlooking the bay of the same name. Despite the popular name ciutadella (citadel), it is in fact the walls of the old town of Roses, whose remains are preserved within it; only at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th did it come to actually play the role of a citadel with respect to the new settlement, which had been moved outside the walls but never had its own defences. For this reason the also popular name of the Muralles (Walls) is more fitting. The enclosure preserves remains of thirteen centuries of occupation, among them the Greek city of Rhode, a Roman villa and a Palaeochristian and Visigothic necropolis.
Nature
The dolmen of la Creu d'en Cobertella, declared a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection) in the category of archaeological zone, is the largest megalithic monument in Catalonia, dating from between 3500 and 3000 BC. It is a Middle Neolithic gallery grave, known since medieval times as Petra Coaperta (1214) and Petra Cooperta (1233), formed by a long trapezoidal chamber of granite slabs, with an antechamber, and a narrow passage of which only the marks of its placement in the rock remain. It stands in the Casa Cremada area, on flat but elevated ground. Its chamber measures 3.90 metres long by 3.20 metres wide internally and up to 2.45 metres high, with the entrance facing south-east. It was excavated in 1943 and restored in 1957 by Francesc Riuró.
Monument
The Norfeu tower stands at the highest point of the cape of the same name, 169 metres above the sea, and was part of the defensive system of the Gulf of Roses built from the mid-16th century onwards around the citadel of Roses. It was built around 1604 with a circular floor plan and large diameter, with two storeys and an artillery parapet, to watch over the neighbouring coves against corsair watering stops and to make it harder for fleets blockading the port to find shelter. During the Reapers' War (guerra dels Segadors), before the 1645 siege, the garrison of Roses, loyal to Philip IV, also called it the King's Tower. Only the first storey survives, up to about 6 metres high; its interior, formerly a cistern, was reused for agricultural purposes after being blown up by the French in the second half of the 17th century.
Nature
On the summit of puig de les Muralles, north of Puig Rom and east of the town of Roses, one of the best-preserved Visigothic enclosures on the whole Iberian Peninsula survives: a fortified castrum with two rectangular towers beside its entrance gate and a double wall filled with earth and stone. It was discovered in 1946 by Lluís Pericot, Francesc Riuró, Miquel Oliva and Pere de Palol, and its occupation dates from the second half of the 7th century to the first quarter of the 8th century, until the arrival of the Muslim troops. From its height, this ancient settlement already made use of its strategic position as a natural lookout over the bay of Roses.
Nature
Puig Alt is a 492-metre mountain in the municipality of Roses, in the comarca of the Alt Empordà, on the northern coast of the Gulf of Roses and south of Cap de Creus. From its summit, turned into a viewpoint, there are 360-degree views stretching from Portbou to the Gulf of Roses and, on clear days, as far as Canigou.
Nature
Platja de la Pelosa is a fine-sand cove with a good anchorage, much frequented by sailors cruising the Cap de Creus coast, in the municipality of Roses, next to Cala Montjoi. Its fishing waters were the subject of a dispute between Roses and Cadaqués until, in 1674, the Riera de Jòncols was fixed as the boundary between their territories. Beside the beach stands the Barraca de Cala Pelosa, a 17th-century fishermen's hut, rectangular in plan with whitewashed stone-and-mortar walls, with two hearths and a kitchen inside, today used as a meeting place for local fishermen.
Nature
An unspoilt cove of Roses, located 18 kilometres from the town centre and within the Cap de Creus Natural Park, at the start of the wildest stretch of this coast, surrounded by steep cliffs and rugged scenery. It is 190 metres long by 51 metres wide, with an irregular, steep seabed that makes it suitable for scuba diving, and a beach made up of sand, gravel and pebbles. Being hard to reach, accessible only by an unpaved track, it remains little visited, which makes it a sought-after spot for those who prefer tranquillity, as well as being highly valued by sailors cruising this coast.
Nature
A broad cove in the Cap de Creus Natural Park, seven kilometres from Roses, separated from Cala Jóncols by Cap Norfeu, with clean waters and a wooded setting surrounded by Pyrenean mountains. Its rather enclosed crescent shape gives it calm waters with little swell or wind, though somewhat dark; the beach, of coarse sand and gravel, is 305 metres long by 31 metres wide. It can be reached by car, and in summer boats run from Roses several times a day; the GR-92 and the coastal path both pass through it. Beside the cove stood, until 2011, Ferran Adrià's restaurant El Bulli, which reopened in 2023 as a museum, El Bulli 1846. The writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán asked in his will for his ashes to be scattered in this cove.
Nature
Punta Falconera is a headland on the coast of Roses (Alt Empordà), on the Costa Brava, located at the southern end of the Cap de Creus peninsula and at the northern end of the Gulf of Roses, where it marks the start of the protected stretch of coast toward Roses, accessible only on foot. It separates Cala Montjoi, to the east, from the coves of Canyelles Grosses and Canyelles Petites, to the west; its name alludes to the historical presence of falcons and kestrels, and today a pair of peregrine falcons nests there. The headland's pronounced projection makes the coast sandy to the east and rocky to the west. It is a protected area of great natural richness, integrated into the Cap de Creus natural park, with Aleppo pine, stone pine and holm oak, and rosemary as the most abundant shrub.
Nature
Roses beach, in the Alt Empordà (Girona), is a long beach of fine white sand, gently sloping and well protected from the tramontana wind; it is the most urban and family-friendly beach of the bay. It runs along the town's seafront, between Port Nou and the Riu Grau channel.
Nature
Semi-urban beach of fine sand and intensely blue waters, also known as Canyelles Grosses, sheltered from the tramontana. It takes its name from the l'Almadrava development, which together with Canyelles and Santa Rosa de Puig-rom forms a population entity of Roses (Alt Empordà). Nearby, on the Puig Rom hill that closes the bay of Roses on that side, a Visigothic castrum is preserved.
Nature
The badia de Roses is the main bay of the Costa Brava, located at the northern end of the Gulf of Roses, between the Poncella point, below the Trinitat castle, and the mouth of the Mugueta, the southern boundary of the Santa Margarida development, within the municipality of Roses, to which its entire area belongs. It is bounded by the Roses lighthouse, at the Bateria point, and the Santa Margarida lighthouse, at the mouth of the Muga. It takes its name from the town of Roses, the main built-up centre, although since the tourist development that began in the 1960s almost the entire bay has been urbanised; it is often mistakenly confused with the larger Gulf of Roses.
Activity
Roses harbour, one of the largest on the Costa Brava and a usual starting point for sailing to the coves of the Cap de Creus, is located at the eastern end of the bay, at the start of the nature park, a few metres from the town centre. Managed by Ports de la Generalitat, it offers good protection against the strong winds of the area; its entrance channel has a depth of 6 metres and is 70 metres wide. Originally a fishing port, the marina area grew in importance over time, especially after the 2004 expansion. Three piers organise the whole: the Perola pier, to the north, separates the marina from Punta beach; the Comercial pier separates the marina and fishing basins; and the Llosa pier, to the south, separates the fishing port from dels Palangrers beach.
Activity
A catamaran or tourist-boat trip along the coast of the Cap de Creus Natural Park as far as Cadaqués and Portlligat.
Activity
Cala Jóncols is an unspoiled beach in Roses, with a wild landscape and rugged cliffs, located 18 km from the town centre within the Cap de Creus Natural Park, between Roses and Cadaqués. Its seabed, irregular and rugged, makes it ideal for scuba diving, with a diving centre specialising in introductory dives and guided dives. The beach, made of pebbles and sand, measures 190 metres long by 51 wide, and is reached by an unpaved track that keeps it isolated and little visited.
Activity
The Festa Major of Roses (Alt Empordà, Girona) is celebrated on 15 August. As well as concerts and open-air dances, the programme includes classical music, habaneras, sardanas and giants, and on that same day the Oikoumene ecumenical mass is celebrated. It is one of the most crowded festival programmes on the north coast of the Alt Empordà.
Activity
One of the most popular carnivals on the Costa Brava, with three parades of floats and troupes through the streets, the arrival of His Majesty Carnestoltes, and the burial of the sardine on the beach.
Activity
Diving centres active since the 1970s run trips from this beach out to the seabeds of the Cap de Creus Natural Park.
Curiosity
Civil War galleries and bunkers dug into the Punta Falconera headland to watch over and defend the bay of Roses, accessible from the cala Jòncols.
Curiosity
A steam merchant ship sunk on 8 March 1939 in the Bay of Roses after striking an underwater mine, killing all 27 crew; the wreck lies broken in two pieces at a depth of 60 metres.
Curiosity
Cap Norfeu is a limestone peninsula that juts two kilometres into the Mediterranean between the bays of Jóncols and Montjoi, southeast of Cap de Creus, in the municipality of Roses and within the Cap de Creus Natural Park, under full land and marine protection. Its coastline, carved by the tramontana wind and the sea, forms cliffs and caves, with rocky islets of fanciful shapes such as the Cavall Bernat and the Gat. At its highest point, 169 metres, stand the remains of a watchtower built around 1604, which formed part of the defensive system of the Gulf of Roses and came to be known as the torre del Rei; its role was to protect the watering points of the nearby coves from corsairs. Today its first floor still stands, up to about six metres high.
Nature
A natural cave on the Norfeu peninsula formed of shafts and passages on several levels, surrounded by a popular legend that a family of enchanted women lives there.
Nature
A megalithic tomb with a curious name, located around the Rodes massif, a witness to the prehistoric occupation of the Roses area.
Nature
A standing stone located beside the ruins known as Casa Cremada ('burnt house'), a place name that in itself suggests a lost story of fire or destruction.
Historical milestone
The Siege of Roses of 1808 was an episode of the Peninsular War in which the fortified town, defended by the Spanish army and supported by sea by the British navy, resisted the Napoleonic advance before falling. General Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr laid siege to its fortifications on 7 November 1808, and the stronghold, defended by miquelets and volunteers in the citadel and the Trinitat castle, capitulated twenty-nine days later, on 5 December. Roses remained in French hands until the withdrawal of Napoleonic troops from Spain in 1814; before leaving, the French blew up the Trinitat castle and the walls of the old town, known as the Ciutadella de Roses.
Food and drink
Red prawn caught by the trawler fleet in the submarine canyons off the bay and auctioned at the port fish market; its slow growth in deep, cold water gives it a sweet, firm flesh much prized throughout Catalonia.