Castello d'Empuries sits just inland from the Bay of Roses, close enough to the Costa Brava to work as a beach detour but old enough to feel like a different world from the resort strip. In the Middle Ages it was the capital of the county of Empuries, and the town still has the heavy stone presence of a place that once mattered.
The main reason to come is the enormous Basilica of Santa Maria, often called the "Cathedral of the Emporda" even though it never became a cathedral. Around it are arcaded squares, narrow streets, remnants of walls and a former flour mill that explains how the town used its canals and irrigation channels.
Castello is also a practical base for the Aiguamolls de l'Emporda, one of Catalonia's best wetland reserves, and for nearby Empuriabrava, the strange marina-town of canals and holiday villas. It makes a good slow day from Figueres or Girona: church first, old town second, birds and marshes in the late afternoon.