Pineda de Mar: four beaches, a Roman aqueduct and trains to Barcelona

Pineda de Mar is a seaside town of about 30,000 residents on the Maresme coast, roughly 50 km north-east of Barcelona, and it works best as a base for families and for anyone who wants a real town with a flat promenade, four beaches and a direct train to Barcelona. It is a poor match if you are looking for old-town atmosphere or nightlife: the sights are modest and spread out, and the beach front is the main event. Pineda carries the Family Tourism label, which fits how it is used. It is part of our Costa del Maresme map, and this guide helps you decide where to stay and what to expect.

Quick facts

• Where: municipality in the comarca of Maresme, province of Barcelona, Catalonia, on the coast between Calella and Santa Susanna.
• Residents: 30,071 in 2025, on 10.74 km² of land, at an altitude of 10 m (Idescat).
• Distance to Barcelona: about 50 km according to the town’s access page, and about 55 km according to its overview page (Visit Pineda).
• Airports: Barcelona El Prat and Girona-Costa Brava; the town itself puts Girona at roughly 45 to 50 km.
• Beaches: yes, four town beaches (Poblenou, Els Pescadors, La Riera and Els Pins), all within the town limits.
• Language: Catalan and Spanish; the tourist office on Plaça de Catalunya 1 handles visitors.
• Markets: Fridays on the promenade and Wednesdays on Avinguda Hispanitat, both 8 am to 2 pm (Visit Pineda).

Where to base yourself

Pineda stretches along the shore, so the real choice is which stretch of sand you want outside your door. The beaches are listed by the town as four separate areas with different characters, and that is a better guide to the town’s districts than street names.

Poblenou

Poblenou is the beach the town calls the most exclusive, and it has space for pets and is marked as a dog beach. There is an adapted playground here, open all year, which makes it practical if a child in your group has disabilities. A Wednesday market takes place on Avinguda Hispanitat in the Poblenou area, so you can shop on foot.

Els Pescadors and the centre

Els Pescadors, the Fishermen’s beach, sits near the train station, so it is the most convenient base if you plan day trips to Barcelona or along the coast without a car. The town describes it as popular with young children. The centre, the promenade and the Friday market are close, and this is also where the tourist office is, on Plaça de Catalunya.

La Riera and Els Pins

La Riera lies between Poblenou and Els Pescadors, and the tourist board describes it as quiet with a relaxed family atmosphere and shaded gardens for walking. Els Pins, at the northern end beside Santa Susanna, is the wild one: pine trees, a protected dune area, picnic areas and a nudist area, with water sports on offer. Staying near Els Pins gives you space and green surroundings, but it is the furthest from the station.

Things to do

Pineda is more a beach town than a sightseeing town, but there is a real Roman story here, and a few historic buildings in the countryside behind it.

The Roman aqueduct

The best-known sight is the Roman aqueduct. Wikipedia says four arches survive of a Roman aqueduct over the Pineda river, and a holiday listing from Jet2holidays says it probably carried irrigation water to a large villa in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The Diputació de Barcelona heritage inventory has a separate record for the Can Cua aqueduct and archaeological site in Pineda, and a signed walking route, SL-C-101, called La Vall de la Riera de Pineda, is linked from that record. We could not read the inventory text itself, so we give no dating for Can Cua beyond that.

Can Cànoves and the Tower of Sant Jaume

The same Jet2holidays page describes Can Cànoves as a well-preserved stone manor house from the 13th to the 15th centuries, about 0.5 km from the aqueduct, and the Tower of Sant Jaume as the best-preserved fortification in Pineda from the era of pirates, about 0.8 km from the aqueduct. Treat the opening arrangements as unknown and ask at the tourist office before making a trip for either.

Routes and activities

The tourist board lists guided and self-guided cultural routes, including “From the land to the sea”, a route in the centre and a route to the origins of Pineda. Sports routes include a stage of the Camino de Santiago along the coast (Via Marina). For leisure, the listings include a tourist train, an escape room, a nautical base and a water sports centre, plus the Fundació Tharrats d’Art Gràfic as the main cultural venue.

Beaches and places nearby

Four beaches are listed by the town. Blue Flag status is renewed every season and the pages we read give no year, so we do not state it as a fact; check the current season’s list. The services below come from the Maresme tourist board.

• La Riera: assisted bathing from 11 am to 6 pm, every day; showers, toilets, a beach bar, a restaurant, sunbed and umbrella rental, and an access runway with an adapted chair.
• Els Pins: wide, surrounded by pines, with a protected dune area, picnic areas, a beach bar and a restaurant.
• Els Pescadors: close to the station, with a mini beach club and a baby centre listed.
• Poblenou: the dog beach, with the all-year adapted playground.

The tourist board gives no beach lengths or sand descriptions for any of them, so we give none. Calella is the nearest larger resort in one direction, and the town’s neighbours listed by the tourist board include Santa Susanna, Calella, Sant Cebrià de Vallalta and Tordera. Read about Calella if you want a bigger resort next door, or look at Blanes at the other end of the same train line.

Other town guides nearby: Malgrat de Mar (about 5 km in a straight line), Lloret de Mar (about 15 km in a straight line), Tossa de Mar (about 22 km in a straight line).

On CostaMap near Pineda de Mar: Calella Lighthouse (4.2 km) · Castle of Santa Florentina (9.8 km) · Lluís Domènech i Montaner House-Museum (10 km).

Food and drink

We found no official source that describes a local dish or a protected product for Pineda itself, so we will not invent one. What the tourist board does show is a town with beach bars, restaurants on the promenade and several grill and seafood places. The practical food experience is the Friday promenade market and the Wednesday Poblenou market, both from 8 am to 2 pm, where you can buy fruit, vegetables and picnic food for the beach.

For a meal out, the sensible approach is to walk the promenade at lunch time, check what is on the board, and eat where the Catalan families are. We do not name individual restaurants, because we have no source that rates them for this guide.

Where to stay

The tourist board lists a mix of hotels and campsites, among them a two-star hotel near the sea, a larger hotel on the front and a campsite. Pineda is also a town people live in, so rental apartments are common. We have no verified price levels, so compare dates yourself and pay attention to three questions instead.

First, how close do you want to be to the station? If you plan to use the train for Barcelona, a base near Els Pescadors is simplest. Second, do you want a quiet beach or a lively one? La Riera and Els Pins are calmer, and the centre has the markets and bars. Third, will you have a car? Parking zones in the town are mapped by the town hall as a PDF, but the map gives no prices or capacities, so ask your host about parking before you book. There are no affiliate links in this text.

Getting there and around

By air, the town names Barcelona El Prat and Girona-Costa Brava as its airports. The town gives no journey times by road or bus, so check a live planner for the day you travel.

By train, the town’s page says the station is served by the line it calls C-1, with trains every 30 minutes in both directions: towards Maçanet and Blanes in one direction, and towards Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat in the other. The page gives no journey time; schedules are on the Renfe site. Bus lines connect Pineda with neighbouring towns, Barcelona and both airports, according to the same page, with schedules on barcelonabus.com.

By car, the town lists the N-II, the C-32 motorway (exits 122 and 124) and the AP-7 connecting to the N-II. A tourist information point is open in the Renfe station in July and August, and the main office on Plaça de Catalunya has its own opening hours for the season, so check those on the day.

Inside the town, the flat layout between the station, the promenade and the markets makes walking easy, and the beaches are strung along the shoreline.

Best time to visit

Pineda is a beach town, so late spring to early autumn is when the beaches and their services are at their fullest: the assisted bathing hours listed for La Riera, for example, apply to the bathing season. The markets run on Wednesdays and Fridays. We give no climate numbers because we did not read a climate source for this town; the national and Catalan weather services publish forecasts and climate data for the area. We also give no festival dates, because the sources we read list none.

Outside summer, the tourist office hours are shorter, the beach services are reduced, and the town feels like what it is, a place where about 30,000 people live. That suits walkers on the routes behind the town more than it suits sunbathers.

FAQ

Is Pineda de Mar a good base for Barcelona?

It can be. The station has trains every 30 minutes in both directions according to the town, and the town puts Barcelona at roughly 50 to 55 km. The page gives no journey time, so check a timetable.

Which Pineda de Mar beach is best for families?

The town calls Els Pescadors popular with young children, with a mini beach club and a baby centre listed, and La Riera quiet with a relaxed family atmosphere. Pineda also holds the Family Tourism label.

Are there Roman remains in Pineda de Mar?

Yes. Four arches of a Roman aqueduct over the Pineda river survive, according to Wikipedia, and the Can Cua aqueduct and site is recorded in the Diputació de Barcelona heritage inventory.

What days are the markets?

Fridays on the promenade and Wednesdays on Avinguda Hispanitat, both from 8 am to 2 pm, according to Visit Pineda.

Can I take a dog to the beach?

Poblenou is marked as a dog beach on the town’s beach page. Check local rules for the other beaches.

Sources and freshness

Last checked: October 2026. Sources: Idescat, Pineda de Mar in figures (population, area, altitude); Visit Pineda, how to get there; Visit Pineda, markets; Visit Pineda, beaches; Turisme Maresme, Pineda de Mar; Turisme Maresme, La Riera; Turisme Maresme, Els Pins; Wikipedia, Pineda de Mar (aqueduct arches); Jet2holidays, Roman aqueduct (aqueduct use, nearby sights); Diputació de Barcelona heritage inventory.

Main photo: Alberto-g-rovi, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.