Tossa de Mar is the Costa Brava at its most compact: a small beach town, a steep headland, fishing boats pulled up on the sand, and the stone walls of the Vila Vella above the water. It is a resort, but it has a real old town at its core, which gives it more texture than the bigger holiday strips along this coast.
The walled Vila Vella is the reason to come. Its towers and lanes climb from the beach to the lighthouse on the headland, with views back across Platja Gran and down into the smaller cove of Es Codolar. You can wander the walls, drop into the old lanes, then be in the sea ten minutes later.
There is more here than the postcard view. The Els Ametllers Roman villa shows that Tossa was settled long before modern tourism, while the coastal paths south and north lead into pine-covered cliffs and rocky coves. For a spare day on the Costa Brava, Tossa is an easy yes: old stone in the morning, beach in the afternoon, seafood after sunset.