What you can see on the Tossa de Mar webcams
From high on the far side of the bay, the walls of the old town run down to the end of Platja Gran, with buoys dotted across the water in front. Turn the other way and you are looking down on the smaller beach of Mar Menuda and its rocks, close enough to count the towels on the sand and see how hard the waves are breaking. Another camera, set up for the town's tourist office, frames the old town from across the water and is at its best after dark, when the walls are floodlit. A 24-hour time-lapse lets you wind back through the day.
Tossa de Mar webcam: the Vila Vella over Platja Gran
This live camera is on the Gran Hotel Reymar, on the Mar Menuda side of the bay, and looks south-west across the water to the old town. The whole Vila Vella fills the centre of the frame: the rocky headland, the pines, the battlements and round towers, and the white houses of the town climbing the hill on the right. At the foot of the walls lies the end of Platja Gran, the main beach.
In the foreground, the bay is scattered with buoys, which makes it easy to see how much swell is running and whether the waves are breaking white around the base of the headland. On a clear morning you can also pick out ships on the horizon to the left.
Mar Menuda beach in Tossa de Mar, live
The second camera on the Gran Hotel Reymar looks down from above the hotel's sun terrace onto Mar Menuda, the smaller of the two beaches on Tossa's bay, and out to the open sea. On the left runs the strip of sand with its boats and sunbathers, then the dark rock stacks at its end; out to the right, a rocky islet sits in the water.
It is a wide-angle lens, so the horizon curves, but it shows more than any other camera in Tossa about the sea itself. You can watch the waves rolling onto the sand, count the swimmers and see whether the water by the rocks is calm enough for snorkelling. In the morning the camera looks almost into the sun, and the bay turns to sheets of silver.
Tossa de Mar old town from across the bay, live
This live stream comes from a camera set up for Tossa de Mar's tourist office and broadcast on YouTube. It looks across the water at the Vila Vella, the walled medieval town on its headland, and the framing changes through the day: close in on the rocks, walls and towers, or pulled back to take in the bay and the lights of the seafront.
It is the camera to watch in the evening. After dark the walls are floodlit and their reflections run across the bay, while the promenade lights trace the curve of the beach. By day it is good for seeing how the sea is breaking on the rocks at the foot of the headland.
The Vila Vella, a walled town on the sea
The Vila Vella is the only fortified medieval town still standing on the Catalan coast. Its battlements, turrets and round towers date mostly from the end of the 14th century, the whole enclosure was declared a national monument in 1931, and a working lighthouse now stands where the abbots' castle used to be. British film fans may know it without realising: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, the 1951 British film with Ava Gardner and James Mason, was shot here, and a statue of Gardner now stands up among the walls.
When to watch Tossa de Mar
Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland all year round, so 9am on the cameras is 8am at home. The bay opens to the south-east, which puts the sunrise over the sea and the morning light full on the walls. In winter the beaches are almost empty and the stone turns gold in the low sun; in July and August the sand fills by late morning. An easterly storm sends the swell crashing around the foot of the headland.
Around Tossa de Mar
The GR 92 coastal footpath passes through the town: about 12½ miles (20 km) north to Sant Feliu de Guíxols, or 9 miles (14 km) south to Lloret de Mar. El Codolar, a small cove tucked behind the walls, is the third of the town's beaches.
Visiting Tossa de Mar
Platja Gran is about 380 metres (1,250 ft) long; Mar Menuda, across the bay, is roughly half that. Girona airport is about 15 miles (25 km) away as the crow flies. On days with waves, check the lifeguards' flags before going in.
