The quirky ‘Venice of Spain’ loved by locals and unknown by most Brits

THERE are many famous canals in the world.

Egypt has the Suez, there’s the Canal du Midi in France and they also attract tourists to Venice, Oxfordshire and even Birmingham.

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But Costa Brava, Spain?

No, me neither.

Ninety miles north of Barcelona, nestled under the foothills of the Pyrenees, near a wealth of beautiful sandy beaches, hides Empuriabrava.

With 15 miles of canals and 5,000 private jetties, it’s one of the largest man-made inhabited marinas in the world.

And one of the best kept secrets too.

Who knew that around 50 years ago, the Germans had drained a swampland in the North of Spain and turned it into their go-to holiday destination — one where they could park their yachts right outside their house?

Not me. And who knew that it was one of the go-to places for Catalan and Spanish holidaymakers, and increasingly — up until recently — the Russians, who were snapping up swathes of property there too?

Not me again.

But what a place to visit on holiday. This is not your average “steeped in history, cobbled street, traditional Spanish village”.

Far from it.

There’s very little authentically Catalan about it at all.

Instead, this is where you come to gawp at how the rich spend their money on posh yachts and even posher villas with plunge pools on the canal front.

Little electric tourist boats for hire buzz up and down the main canal channel all day — a perfect way to spend an afternoon eying up how the other half live and planning your life post-lottery win.

And there are enough bars and restaurants to cater to every tourist’s taste.

There are three beautiful, shallow, sandy beaches which, despite it being the height of summer, were in no way bustling like other Spanish, packed-like-sardines resorts.

‘Culture fix’

And it’s surrounded by beautiful national park, so you’ve got the best of both worlds.

We were at Casa Chula — a lovely two-bed Airbnb — right on one of the canals, with the bonus of a plunge pool and expansive terrace.

It was expensive for the week but, with carefully chosen cheap Ryanair flights to either Perpignan, Girona or Barcelona — and the majority of meals eaten in — it was no more costly than an all-inclusive week for four somewhere cheap and possibly not all that nice.

When your two children are seven and ten, all they want to do is swim in the pool, do countless handstand competitions and play 42,000 games of Uno anyway. Bliss.

It would have been sensible to hire bikes for the week, as taxis are expensive and buses are scarce.

But we still managed several trips out to eat and plenty of time spent on the beach.

There’s also a really nice mini golf course and it’s worth visiting the tourist office for a weekly update of all the markets, talks, walks and live music taking place.

You are surrounded by some beautiful classic Spanish villages — Roses is right next door and Cadaques, just up the coast, is home to the incredible Dali House Museum — a culture fix right on your doorstep.

In short, if you want a Spanish town with a difference — where you can fly from the UK on a cheap flight and be in the pool by lunchtime — then Empuriabrava is the place to be.

Yacht or not!

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