Postcards From Sitges – Our Autumn Getaway

Postcards From Sitges – Our Autumn Getaway

At the end of November, my husband and I travelled without the children for the first time. Woohoo! Since my parents spent a week visiting us (ahem… rather their grandchildren anyway) we booked a last last last minute getaway: literally a few days before traveling. Like in the old days, how romantic. Picked Barcelona, as we wanted to make sure if there’s no good weather – although we craved some Mediterranean sunshine – there’s still things to do. And of course Barcelona is probably my favourite European city. Since I lived in Spain for a few years, I need my annual doses of Spanish sunshine. This time we decided though to stay in Sitges instead of the town. We just wanted to relax, take long walks by the seaside, sleep till late. And of course eat lots of tapas, paella and churros.

I have only been to Sitges in summer and and would not really recommend it, to be honest. They call it “little Ibiza” for the summer club life and the endorsement of the gay community, but I personally think that it’s a little bit degrading for Ibiza island. In summertime, Sitges becomes rather a little San Antonio (the town on Ibiza island which is mostly associated with clubbing). It’s a bit too dirty, too busy and too loud. Ibiza isn’t only about parties and drugs. Anyway, in wintertime though, Sitges is lovely! After the the holiday makers and the clubbers are gone – it’s very pleasant.

The restaurants and shops as restaurants are open (it’s actually a commuter town of Barcelona given the great transport links), but the tourists are gone. The weather is nice (20-22C during late November), still mostly sunny and it’s got a fantastic long promenade for long walks.

We stayed in a 4* hotel close to the old town, called Hotel La Niña and it was a good choice. It’s a bonkers little hotel overlooking the sea (we booked rooms with sea view) pretty reasonably priced, good sized rooms, comfy bed, close to all the restaurants. The lobby’s decoration is very amusing. Can’t complain, really: the staff was nice, it was impeccably clean, we had a little balcony and the breakfast was absolutely fabulous with really good coffee and was available till 11 AM. Just what we wanted. Here’s a little video summary of our stay:

So we had two beautiful bright sunny days and a cloudy one, but even then, there’s things to do around: long walks on the promenade, shopping or visiting a few museums and galleries. Like the Casa de Bacardi – (Senor Bacardi, yes THAT Bacardi was born in Sitges and emigrated to Cuba in the 1930’s) and Museo Maricel. Sitges has also got a picturesque old town to potter around and great places to eat. Like the very first beach bar of Spain: the original El Chiringuito (opened in 1913) Just sit there, watch the waves, smell the salty air, drink wine and eat olives and some bread.

Food is naturally fabulous in Spain, even for vegetarians there’s a lots of great tapas dishes to eat. I love Spanish kitchen – one of my favourites, but there are so many other options, there’s lots of lots of bars, restaurants and cafes to choose from. I was really surprised how lively the old town became at dinner time.

Next time we would probably go for the golf hotel, so hubby can play (and I can have a spa treatment at the same time), and it’s not impossible that we book another out of season long weekend in Sitges, because the flights to Barcelona from London are relatively cheap, frequent and it’s just under two hours flight time.

If you want to check out my other travel posts about Spain, read about Ibiza here: 10 best children friendly beaches on Ibiza