Gastronomy and wine tourism

The grape harvest has always been a festive event. Since ancient times, grape harvesting has been conceived as a ritual, either because of its Mediterranean roots or because of the camaraderie generated among teams of grape pickers. Although the process is mostly mechanised nowadays, picking grapes from the vine is still a reason for celebration, and there are many towns and cities in the regions of Barcelona that organise harvest festivals where everyone is welcome. So get your diary out!

With over 100 kilometres of blue Mediterranean coastline, it is easy to understand why the municipalities of Costa Barcelona have such a close relationship with the sea. The origins of many villages, towns and cities in Maresme, Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat and Garraf, lie in fishing, maritime trade and shipbuilding – origins that for many of these places are by no means a distant memory. Along this stretch of coastline, fishing remains one of the main industries – a fact that you can see for yourself, if you visit any of the seafood auctions that take place on the region's quaysides every day.

Barcelona is the land of wines. More than 2,500 years ago, the Romans and Iberians cultivated vines to produce the favourite drink of the gods, a drink that has shaped the landscape and culture of the regions of Barcelona. Just a stone’s throw from the city, you can enjoy three DO (Designation of Origin) wine areas that offer such a wide range of activities and experiences that you’ll want to keep coming back to try them all.

When the warm weather arrives, new colours are added to the palette of the regions of Barcelona's gastronomic landscape. The ochres, browns and blacks of winter dishes give way to more vivid colours, with green taking on a leading role. Greet spring with some of the healthiest and most nutritious foods in the Mediterranean diet.

Some believe that gastronomy is a landscape placed on the table, a surprising statement that could not be more true in the counties of Barcelona. With an enormous diversity of crops and a prodigiously rich coastline, an infinite number of products await discovery every day of the week in the markets and, more specifically, at a host of traditional gastronomic festivals.

The Grand Tour of Catalonia is an itinerary of more than 2,000 kilometres inspired by the great journeys popular among young European nobility in the mid-19^th century. It has been designed as a single thirteen-day itinerary or in five sections of between five and seven days. The fact that it is divided into stages allows you to plan short getaways and take advantage of however many days you have available. Below we propose three routes to travel by motorhome on which you can discover the best landscapes in the Barcelona region.