Hotel guide · S'Agaró, Catalonia
Hostal de La Gavina
A grand house on the headland at S'Agaró, on the Costa Brava, with gardens under the pines and a pool raised above the sea.
Hostal de La Gavina at a glance
- Where
- S'Agaró, between the beaches of Sant Pol and Sa Conca
- Category
- Gran luxe (GL), Registre de Turisme de Catalunya
- Rooms
- 74 rooms and suites, on the Catalan tourism register
- Eating and drinking
- Four restaurants: Candlelight, Garbí, El Barco and La Taverna del Mar
- Address
- Plaça Roserar, s/n, 17248 S'Agaró
Facts checked
01Is it for you?
Is Hostal de La Gavina right for your stay?
- Why choose it
- The setting and the house: a headland above the bay of Sant Pol with the coastal path at its foot, and rooms furnished one by one, in silk, antiques and Murano glass, rather than to a single scheme.
- Who it suits
- Couples and families who want a classic seaside hotel with a pool over the bay, a spa and a choice of restaurants, and the coves, villages and vineyards of the Empordà within a drive.
- What to consider
- It is a period house and keeps some period formality: rooms differ a good deal in style, size and outlook, and Candlelight asks for smart-casual dress. For the sand, Platja de Sant Pol is a couple of minutes' walk down the hill.
02The hotel
The hotel and its rooms
S’Agaró was planned as a garden city by Josep Ensesa i Gubert and the architect Rafael Masó, in the Catalan Noucentista style. The Hostal de La Gavina, the Senya Blanca and the houses around them form one architectural ensemble, listed as a Cultural Asset of National Interest. The Ensesa family still runs the house, and its name is the seagull’s: gavina, in Catalan.
Rooms and suites
Every room is furnished in classic Mediterranean, Imperial or Elizabethan style, with silk upholstery, Murano glass lamps and marble bathrooms, some with a bath and some with a rain shower. The Classic rooms look over the gardens, and the Classic with terrace rooms add a balcony over the gardens and the main terrace. The Superior rooms face the sea, with whitewashed walls, red-tiled floors and a balcony over the water. The Junior Suites have a king-size bed, a separate sitting area and a terrace looking across the umbrella pines to the sea; the Suites look over the sea or the gardens and have hydrotherapy baths; and the Royal Suite, in the Louis XV style, is mahogany and gilding over a marble floor, with a terrace of its own.
For more room, the two Garden Suites — one bedroom and 50 m² indoors, or two bedrooms and 90 m² — each have a terrace and a private garden, and can be joined into one. Families have the Family rooms, two bedrooms with balconies, one with a double bed and one with two singles, and the self-catering Family Residence: two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room over the sea, with a third bedroom off its courtyard.
On the practical side: Girona–Costa Brava airport is about half an hour away and central Barcelona about an hour, by the hotel’s own reckoning, and we arrange the transfer. Children under 14 use the spa and its indoor pool between 1 and 2 pm. If parking, a particular outlook, a bed configuration or step-free access matters to you, tell us when you enquire and we will confirm it with the hotel for your dates before anything is booked.
At the hotel
Facilities
- The Garbí pool, 25 metres long and raised above the bay of Sant Pol, with loungers along its length, cabanas to hire and the Blue Bar at its far end
- The spa, with an indoor pool and a separate jacuzzi looking over the bay, a sauna and a steam bath, and Valmont facials and Germaine de Capuccini body treatments
- A gym with Technogym equipment
Eating and drinking
Candlelight, which still carries the name of the hotel’s gastronomic director, Romain Fornell, is the fine-dining room, reached by a marble staircase: chef Oriol Fernández runs its kitchen day to day, reinterpreting classic dishes beside his own, with a cellar of more than 200 wines. It serves dinner from Tuesday to Saturday, and out on its terrace, to a piano, in the summer months. Garbí, beside the pool, is the lunch restaurant — rice dishes, fresh fish, grills from the Josper oven and salads — and El Barco and the Gavina Terrace, under plane trees at the top of the gardens, share an easier menu of tapas, salads, pasta and grilled fish from late morning to midnight. La Taverna del Mar, the hotel’s seafood restaurant, stands on the beach of Sant Pol, a couple of minutes’ walk down the hill.
Breakfast is a buffet in Vila d’Este, with eggs cooked to order and a terrace in good weather. Bar El Barco, panelled like a ship, opens in the afternoon, and Club Garbí, beside the pool, is the late-night bar from Thursday to Saturday.
03Location
Where Hostal de La Gavina is
Hostal de La Gavina stands on the headland at S’Agaró, in the municipality of Castell-Platja d’Aro, between the bay of Sant Pol and the beach of Sa Conca. The map shows it with both beaches and the camí de ronda, the path that runs along S’Agaró’s cliffs from one to the other; Sant Feliu de Guíxols, with its Benedictine monastery, is a short way down the coast. For the region, see our Catalonia page.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Hostal de La Gavina
Platja de Sant Pol
Camí de Ronda
Platja de Sa Conca
04Planning
Planning a stay with Avelia
Hostal de La Gavina can be the whole of a stay on the Costa Brava, or the Costa Brava nights of our Catalonia Experience. Before any payment, we send a written proposal with a quoted trip price and what it includes — such as your room, private transfers from Barcelona or Girona, a private boat along the coves with a skipper, and a day in Girona and Dalí's Figueres — and refine it with you. Once you approve the proposal and complete the agreed booking requirements, we confirm your arrangements. We coordinate the details and support you while you travel.
How we choose hotels. For their size and character before their brand, and for how they suit the way you travel. No hotel is on our list simply because it sits on a preferred-partner programme. More in our story
Peace of mind
Financially protected. When your stay is part of a package trip, your payments are covered against our insolvency by a guarantee with AXA. A hotel booked on its own is not a package. Plan with peace of mind
Experiences we can arrange
- A private boat along the coves of the Costa Brava, with a skipper, subject to availability
- Walks on the coastal paths, from S’Agaró to Sant Feliu de Guíxols or further along the coast, with a guide on request
- Visits and tastings at Empordà wineries, subject to availability
- Days out to Girona, Dalí’s Figueres and the fishing villages up the coast
- Private transfers from Barcelona or Girona, and onward through Spain
Start planning your stay
A room over the sea, a Garden Suite with its own garden, or the Family Residence: tell us your dates and who is travelling.
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