The wild coast: seventy kilometres of red cliff, umbrella pine and hidden coves between Blanes and the French border, anchored by medieval Girona inland.

Unlike the high-rise coasts further south, the Costa Brava was protected early: building here hugs the landscape, villages kept their fishermen's scale, and the best houses hide behind pines above private coves. Cadaqués — Dalí's whitewashed village beyond the mountains — remains the coast's spiritual capital; S'Agaró is its Gatsby-era gated jewel; Begur and its beaches, Aiguablava and Sa Riera, are where architecture collectors quietly buy.