Cunit: Breakwater Beaches, a 2.7 km Promenade and the R2 Sud Train

Cunit is a coastal town in the Baix Penedès, in Tarragona province, and a sensible base for a beach holiday built around shallow water and sand rather than nightlife. Its 2.5 km of seafront is cut by seven breakwaters into small bays, which suits families with young children. The old village sits slightly inland and has a Romanesque church and a few farmhouses, but sightseeing here is modest. It is part of our Costa Dorada guide, and you can add Barcelona by train.

Quick facts

• Where: Cunit, Baix Penedès comarca, Tarragona province, Catalonia. The town hall is on Carrer Major.
• Residents: 16,385 (1 January 2025, INE).
• Beach: yes, in town. The coastline is about 2.5 km long and split into seven breakwaters. Cunit Ponent is 1,400 m and Cunit Llevant 1,100 m (Costa Daurada tourist board).
• Seafront promenade: 2.7 km, for walking, skating or cycling (Cunit tourist office).
• Train: Cunit station is on the Rodalies R2 Sud line towards Barcelona. The station opened in 1971 (Cunit tourist office).
• Language: Catalan and Spanish.
• Market day: Thursday, with about 35 stalls on Carrer de Joaquim Mir (Markets in Spain).

Where to base yourself

Cunit is a small town, so the choice is less about districts and more about how close you want to be to the sand. Three simple options cover most trips.

Near the seafront

The streets close to the promenade suit families who want to walk to the beach with a pushchair and a bag of toys. The Costa Daurada tourist board lists car parking, showers, toilets, beach bars and play areas on both beach sections, so you can manage a day on the sand without much planning. This is also where you will meet most of the summer crowds.

Around the station and town centre

The tourist office is at Carrer de Francesc Macià 3, and the centre has the shopping street and most services. If you plan to go to Barcelona or along the coast by train, a stay between the station and the sea saves you a car. The Thursday market is a short walk from the station, about 10 minutes according to Markets in Spain.

Old village and the hills

The older core and its farmhouses lie away from the shore, towards the Puig de Tiula hills. It is quieter and better for walkers than for beach days, but you will walk or drive down to the sea.

Skip Cunit as a base if you want a lively evening scene, big museums or a long list of sights. It is a calm seaside town, and the bigger names are in Barcelona, Sitges and Tarragona.

Things to do

Most visitors come for the beach. The rest of the town fits into a half day and works best on a cooler or windier day.

History in a small town

The Cunit tourist office lists traces of settlement going back to around 3700 BC at the Cova de Sant Antoni, and an Iberian rural farm, the Poblat del Fondo d’en Roig, active in the 4th to 3rd century BC. Treat them as background for archaeology fans, not a destination.

The medieval story is easier to see. The castle was donated between 1131 and 1162 by Count Ramon Berenguer IV to Dalmau de Cunit. No remains of the original survive, and the present building was already in ruins early in the 20th century. The parish church of Sant Cristòfol grew out of a 12th-century Romanesque church that was rebuilt in the 18th century. The current church dates from 1762, and the apses of the old church now serve as the sacristy.

Hostal La Diligència was built in 1571 as the village inn for travellers and stands 550 m from the beach (Cunit tourist office). The railway line from Barcelona to Calafell opened in 1882, the first tourist developments went up in 1960, and the seven breakwaters that now shape the beaches were built in 1979.

Walking

The town has four signposted nature routes in the Penedès Marítim area: Cunit de Sud a Nord, the Ruta de l’Avenc, the Ruta de les Masies and the Ruta Poblat Iber. The tourist office describes them as short and simple with few slopes, and warns of rocky sections. Lengths are only given in a separate leaflet, so pick one up from the office or check the route page before you set out.

Festivals

The summer Festa Major is held in July for Sant Cristòfol, the patron saint, and lasts four days with concerts, a mass and a fire run (correfoc) with the town’s dragon figures. A winter Festa Major honours Sant Sebastià in January. The Carnaval began in 1988 and runs for almost two weeks, with a main parade of floats and costumed groups on the Saturday. Check the town agenda for the exact dates of the year you visit.

Beaches and places nearby

Cunit has two beach sections, divided by Carrer de l’Estació in the town centre.

Platja de Cunit Ponent

This section runs from the Calafell boundary to Carrer de l’Estació and takes in the first three breakwaters. It is 1,400 m long. The Costa Daurada tourist board describes the sand as fine and golden, sloping gently into warm, calm water, and says the Catalan Water Agency rates the bathing water as excellent. It has a flat entrance, boardwalks, an accessible toilet, lifeguard and first aid post, showers, drinking fountains, footbaths, toilets, beach bars, sunbeds, play areas, volleyball, beach football and pétanque.

Platja de Cunit Llevant

Llevant runs from Carrer de l’Estació to the Cubelles boundary, from breakwater 4 to 7, and is 1,100 m long. The tourist board calls it the most northerly beach on the Costa Daurada. The services are similar to Ponent, and the page also lists an amphibious wheelchair for people with reduced mobility.

The breakwaters are the point of these beaches. The Cunit tourist office describes half-moon beaches of fine sand with shallow, calm water, which is why parents like them. The flip side is short, enclosed bays rather than one long open stretch.

Towns along the coast

Calafell, to the south-west, has its own long beaches and an Iberian citadel, and you can read about it in our Calafell guide. Cubelles lies just beyond the Llevant end of the sand, and our Cubelles guide covers it. For a bigger-town day out, El Vendrell, Sitges and Tarragona are all covered on CostaMap: see El Vendrell, Sitges and Tarragona.

Other town guides nearby: Torredembarra (about 21 km in a straight line), Castelldefels (about 30 km in a straight line).

On CostaMap near Cunit: Railway Museum of Catalonia (8.4 km).

Food and drink

Cunit sits on the edge of the Penedès wine country, and the tourist office highlights both sea and land: fish dishes and local produce. The dishes it names are all cremat de rap, a garlic-based monkfish dish; arròs caldós de peix, a brothy fish rice; and xató, the signature dish, a salad of endive, salted cod and olives with a hazelnut-based sauce. For dessert look for garrofí, a sweet made from carob, which grows across the comarca.

On the wine side, the local grape is xarel·lo, and the town hosts a xarel·lo wine day, the Xarel·lada, which was first held in 2013. In February, some restaurants run xató menus during the Jornades del Xató, though dates change, so ask at the tourist office.

The Thursday street market is mostly clothing, footwear, leather goods and jewellery (Markets in Spain), not a fresh produce market, so it is better for browsing than for a picnic. For ingredients use the shops on the town’s commercial street, which the tourist office has a guide to.

Where to stay

This is a town of modest scale rather than large resorts. The first tourist developments went up here in 1960 (Cunit tourist office). The tourist office keeps an accommodation page, which is the best place to compare what is currently on offer without relying on prices from a guide.

A few practical rules apply. Book early if you plan to come in July or August, when the beaches are busiest. If you rely on the train, stay between the station and the sea. The beach sections list car parking among their summer services, so check where you will leave a car before you arrive.

Getting there and around

The simplest way in is by train. Cunit station is on the Rodalies R2 Sud line, which runs along the coast between Sant Vicenç de Calders and Barcelona Estació de França. On weekdays, Rodalies lists one train every 15 minutes at peak hours and every 30 minutes off-peak on the Sant Vicenç de Calders to Estació de França section (Rodalies de Catalunya). Timetables change, so check the current times before you plan a day trip.

The railway has been here since 1882, and the station opened in 1971. The town hall mentions the C-31 road and a bus 310 service to Barcelona that Cunit, Calafell and Cubelles want improved.

The town is small enough to walk. The 2.7 km seafront promenade works for walking, skating or cycling, and the Hostal La Diligència is 550 m from the beach. If you are flying in, plan on getting to the R2 Sud line or hiring a car, since distances from airports were not confirmed in the sources used for this guide.

Best time to visit

The beach services are summer services, so June to September gives you the full set of lifeguards, beach bars and sunbeds. July is also when the Festa Major takes over the town for four days, which is fun if you like fire runs and noise, and less so if you want to sleep. For quiet walks and the nature routes, the shoulder months suit better, but do not count on beach services then.

The Carnaval, the winter Festa Major and the xató and xarel·lo events give the town a few reasons to visit outside beach season.

FAQ

Is Cunit good for families with young children?

Yes. The Costa Daurada tourist board describes both beaches as having a flat entrance, gently sloping sand and calm water, and the beaches have lifeguards, play areas and showers in summer.

Is there a train from Cunit to Barcelona?

Yes. Cunit is on the Rodalies R2 Sud line, which runs between Sant Vicenç de Calders and Barcelona Estació de França. Check the current timetable on the Rodalies site.

How long are the beaches in Cunit?

Cunit Ponent is 1,400 m and Cunit Llevant is 1,100 m, according to the Costa Daurada tourist board. The seafront promenade is 2.7 km long.

When is the market in Cunit?

The street market is held on Thursdays on Carrer de Joaquim Mir, with about 35 stalls (Markets in Spain). Check locally for any change.

Is Cunit a good base for visiting Barcelona or Tarragona?

For a quiet beach stay with day trips by rail, it works. For several full days of city sightseeing, a base in the city saves time.

Sources and freshness

Last checked: October 2026. Sources: INE, population figures; Costa Daurada, Platja de Cunit Ponent; Costa Daurada, Platja de Cunit Llevant; Cunit tourist office; Cunit tourist office, heritage; Cunit tourist office, routes; Cunit tourist office, gastronomy; Cunit tourist office, festivals; Cunit tourist office, map; Ajuntament de Cunit; Markets in Spain, Cunit Street Market; Rodalies de Catalunya, R2.

Main photo: Jorge Franganillo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.