"i love escala" La Escala by catherineneill

with the family i worked for as an aupair we went to escala for 3 weeks. i think its perfect for young families - its small, lots of restuarants, a small beach. it used to be an old fishing town, and its a shame its so commercialised, but its still very small. if you want some more lively action there is a long promenade which leads to a bigger resort, Riells, which has a more typical package holiday feel.there are markets on a sunday here and you will NOT be able to walk along the promenade in less than half an hour. fantastic beaches further out in a tree lined area, looks a bit like i imagine hawaii to be (athough ive never been)
although i was stuck with the children pretty much all of the time, i did get to go out a few times at night. shops sell all the same tourist tack you get everywhere. after 3 weeks i was going crazy in the same house as the whole family. we ran out of activities after about a week. locals very friendly and helpful, more like a village feel than a normal costa holiday

this place is gorgeous, about a 15 minute bike ride away from escala. plenty of fantastic beaches, great waves. good day out. also some ruins of some description, ruinas de ampurias, i never got a day off to see them, but apparently theyre quite good. area was very safe for the children as there were no cars and they could go on ahead on the bikes.

take a trip to montgo. i had 2 screaming children so i walked the whole way from escala to mongo in the midday sun (dont worry they were covered) it took an hour. do not do this, get a taxi or something. everyone was laughing at me. but mongo is beautiful, white washed houses on a hill which you can see from escala itself. well worth a visit. in fact, there are plenty of nice small towns in the villages. obviouly, if you are there for a longer break i would recommend going to barcelona.

• Pros:small, quiet, good for families
• Cons:tourism ruined village, may get bored, not much night life