Village
Palamós is a seafaring town in the Baix Empordà, in the province of Girona, founded in 1277 by order of King Peter III the Great next to the castle of Sant Esteve, built over Roman remains, as the new royal port of the Empordà after the silting up of the old port of Torroella de Montgrí. The town suffered the assault of the Turkish fleet of Barbarossa in 1543, plague in 1652 —the origin of an annual pilgrimage to the hermitage of Bell-lloc— and French attacks in 1694 and 1809. In the Civil War, its port, loyal to the Republic, was bombarded from sea and air, and two bunkers from that period are still preserved. Today it is a fishing port famous for its prawns, with a historic quarter, a fish market and the Museu de la Pesca. It has 18,933 inhabitants (INE 2025).
Monument
The castle of Sant Esteve de Mar stands on a cliff in the municipal district of Palamós (Baix Empordà), between the beach of la Fosca and the cove of s'Alguer, and only a few tower bases and stretches of wall survive; in 2015 the town council consolidated the remains. It was built over a Roman villa that in turn occupied an Iberian settlement, and it is first documented in 1063. In 1277, already in the 13th century, its lord sold it, together with its lands, to King Peter the Great for 7,500 Barcelona sous, with the royal aim of having a port on the Empordà coast; from that project the town of Palamós was born. In 1484 it passed to Galceran de Requesens, first count of Palamós. The war of the remences almost completely demolished it, and between the 16th and 17th centuries it was converted into a farmhouse.
Monument
A castle declared a bien cultural de interès nacional (a cultural property of national interest), located in the municipal district of Palamós, near the town of Vall-llobrega, in the area of Vila-romà. 000 sous to the heirs of Pere Alemany, and in 1279 King Peter II acquired from the bishop the territory of Palamós that depended on this parish. Two inventories of the castle survive, from 1320 and 1411, describing a hall, three chambers, a cellar, a pantry, two kitchens, a porch and a stable. In 1371 Peter III the Ceremonious incorporated it into the Crown of Aragon. The fortress had a short life: in 1812, during the French occupation, it was blown up, and since then its walls have been gradually collapsing.
Monument
The Iberian settlement of El Castell in Palamós was a settlement of the Indigetes people located on the small peninsula of El Castell, east of Castell beach, with origins in the 6th century BC and its greatest splendour during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Excavated between 1945 and 1955, it was declared a bien de interés nacional (a property of national interest) in 1996. In the 4th century BC it was fortified with a wall reinforced by two square towers, and the rectangular dwellings were arranged in stepped terraces following the topography of the promontory; remains of columns and voussoirs suggest a possible Hellenistic temple at the highest point. During Romanisation it saw new expansion until its gradual abandonment from the 1st century BC onward. The preserved structures, in good condition, have made it possible to reconstruct its layout.
Monument
A historic group of small fishermen's huts of the 18th and 19th centuries in a sheltered cove south of Palamós, one of the last examples of this kind of architecture on the Costa Brava.
Nature
Cala Estreta is a natural beach included within the natural interest area of Castell-Cap Roig, in the municipal district of Palamós, considered one of the most emblematic on the Costa Brava for its scenic value. It is 46 metres long and 12 metres wide on average, with coarse sand and crystal-clear waters, and preserves a small fishermen's shelter restored in 2010; the only nearby buildings are houses surrounded by woodland, and it has no services apart from a summer beach bar. It forms part of a group of four coves linked by the coastal path — Estreta, d'en Remendon, de Roca Bona and del Cap de Planes — facing which, one kilometre away, lie the Formigues Islands. Nudism is common there, and the weekly monitoring by the Catalan Water Agency certifies excellent quality.
Nature
Castell beach, in the district of Palamós, is one of the least developed on the Costa Brava thanks to the coastal wetland that forms at its far end, fed by the Aubi stream since its course was diverted northward in 1924. The lagoon preserves reed beds and a small dune with marram grass, and is home to fauna typical of river mouths, with eels and grey mullet, and migratory birds such as the great ringed plover, the Kentish plover and the common snipe. Classified as developable land, popular pressure led to a municipal referendum in 1994 that declared it non-developable, a ruling that became final in 2001; since then the Generalitat has bought the land and, in 2003, the area was incorporated into the PEIN Castell-Cap Roig protected area.
Nature
The Illes Formigues are a group of sixteen islets located 1300 metres from the punta d'en Canet, between Palamós and Palafrugell, in the Baix Empordà, administratively divided between both municipalities since a 2011 court ruling. They are of igneous origin (granodiorites and alkaline granites), have almost no vegetation and are covered by the sea during storms; they serve as a refuge for gulls and cormorants. A lighthouse on the islet of Formiga Gran, with a cylindrical tower on a white house, emits three white flashes every nine seconds. Its seabed, between 9 and 45 metres deep, has numerous underwater caves and colourful gorgonians. Nearby, in 1285, the naval battle of the Formigues took place, in which Roger de Llúria defeated the French fleet of Philip III.
Activity
Weekly market of Palamós, with more than a hundred stalls selling food, clothing and footwear on avinguda de Cataluña. Its origin dates back to 1279, when King Pedro III the Great granted the town the privilege of holding a weekly market, recorded in the municipality's founding Carta Puebla.
Activity
The main festival of the town of Palamós in honour of Sant Joan, held every year between 23 and 26 June, with a week of popular events, concerts and fireworks.
Activity
Annual gastronomic campaign centred on the Palamós prawn and other seafood, with special menus in the town's restaurants. The star product is the red shrimp (Aristeus antennatus), the main catch of the local fishing fleet; the Palamós Fishermen's Guild and the town council promote the Gamba de Palamós Guarantee Mark to ensure its origin and quality.
Monument
A museum devoted to fishing and seafaring culture, with an adjoining gastronomic space where former fishermen give show-cooking demonstrations using seafood from Palamós.
Curiosity
An old mill of les Gavarres in the municipal district of Palamós, listed as an asset of ethnological interest.
Historical milestone
The bailiff general of Catalonia, Astruc Ravaia, granted in 1279, in the name of Pere the Great, the charter that created the portus regalis of Palamors; the king offered land free of servitude and a weekly market on Tuesdays that is still held.
Food and drink
A red prawn of the species Aristeus antennatus, caught by the trawler fleet in the deep fishing grounds off the port — especially around the Fonera trench, or Palamós canyon, exploited since the motorization of the fleet, around 1930, made it possible to reach depths of more than 400 meters — and auctioned every afternoon at the fish market; its sweet flesh and juicy head have made it the most prized seafood on the Costa Brava. It has held the Gamba de Palamós guarantee mark since 2009. After decades of fleet growth and overexploitation of the resource, since 2013 a fishery management plan, a pioneer in the western Mediterranean, has been in force.