Part of the Costa del Maresme guide · Middle: Sant Pol de Mar to Caldes d’Estrac

The middle Maresme is the stretch of coast north-east of Barcelona between Sant Pol de Mar and Caldes d’Estrac, with Canet de Mar and Arenys de Mar in between: about 9 km of beaches along the railway, with the hills of the Montnegre behind. It is a coast of smaller towns rather than big resorts, known for Modernista houses, a working fishing port, hot springs and food, and every coast town has a Rodalies R1 station. This guide covers each town and the inland villages behind them, the beaches, what to do, where to base yourself, getting there and a two-day route.

Updated 7 November 2026 · How CostaMap researches its guides

At a glance

• Where the middle of the Maresme comarca in Barcelona province, from Sant Pol de Mar, next to Calella, to Caldes d’Estrac, next to Sant Vicenç de Montalt.
• Towns Sant Pol de Mar, Canet de Mar, Arenys de Mar and Caldes d’Estrac; inland Sant Cebrià de Vallalta, Sant Iscle de Vallalta and Arenys de Munt.
• Best for car-free beach trips from Barcelona, Modernisme, a fishing port and fish auction, thermal baths, Picasso in Caldes and walks in the Montnegre.
• Getting there the Rodalies R1 from Barcelona stops in all four coast towns; Barcelona Airport is about 48–56 km away in a straight line.
• On CostaMap guides to Sant Pol de Mar, Canet de Mar, Arenys de Mar and Caldes d’Estrac, the Domènech i Montaner House-Museum, the Castle of Santa Florentina and a campsite.

Map of the middle Maresme

The places between Sant Pol de Mar and Caldes d’Estrac that have a CostaMap page. Click a marker to see the place in the panel.

Towns and villages

From north-east to south-west, starting at the Calella end. Descriptions are from catalunya.com, the official tourism site of Catalonia, unless another source is named. The three inland villages are reached from the coast towns below them.

Sant Pol de Mar

An old fishing village of white houses, narrow quiet streets, rocky coves and sandy beaches, with about 5,200 inhabitants. The Ermita de Sant Pau, a Benedictine monastery at least since 955, stands on the headland above the station and gives the best view of the coast towards Barcelona. In the village are the late-Gothic church of Sant Jaume and the Museu de Pintura, with works by Ramon Casas and Joan Miró (catalunya.com). In August the Firamar fair recalls its seafaring life. See our new Sant Pol de Mar guide.

Sant Cebrià de Vallalta

Inland from Sant Pol, at the foot of the Montnegre massif, among pine and oak woods. Sant Cebrià is known for strawberries and mushrooms, and keeps scattered farmhouses that make it, in catalunya.com’s words, “an agricultural reserve by the sea”. Sant Pol was its maritime quarter until 1599. Walk the path of the Coll de Can Benet up to the Turó Gros for a view over the coast. The Strawberry Festival in spring and a mushroom and chestnut fair in September are the main dates (catalunya.com). A town bus links it with Sant Pol.

Sant Iscle de Vallalta

A small village of about 1,400 people further up the Vallalta valley, between the Montnegre and the Corredor. Its best-known spot is Dones d’Aigua, a place on the stream where, according to legend, water nymphs live, and which is also an entrance to the Montnegre i el Corredor Natural Park for walks and mountain-bike routes. The stream has natural pools for bathing in summer (catalunya.com). Buses run to Sant Pol and Calella.

Canet de Mar

Canet’s calling card is Modernisme. Lluís Domènech i Montaner, architect of the Palau de la Música, spent long periods here: his house is now the Lluís Domènech i Montaner House-Museum, which also serves as the tourist office and runs a Modernista route with seven guided itineraries. On the Pedracastell hill above the town he rebuilt the Castle of Santa Florentina. Other stops are the 16th-century church of Sant Pere, whose bell tower is nicknamed the Pubilla de la Costa, and the Neo-Gothic Santuari de la Misericòrdia. Canet has about 14,200 people and, catalunya.com notes, 14 hotels with 900 beds and four campsites (catalunya.com). See our Canet de Mar guide.

Arenys de Munt

The inland twin of Arenys de Mar, about 3.4 km up the Sobirans valley, from which the sea town split off. Its riera is one of the few urban sandy stream beds still kept, lined with plane trees and the heart of village life. The 16th-century church of Sant Martí keeps an altarpiece by the Renaissance poet and painter Pere Serafí,, and a sapling of the Gernika tree grows at the Can Jalpí castle-house. It is known for bobbin lace and d’en Roca cherries (catalunya.com). Town buses connect it with the train at Arenys de Mar.

Arenys de Mar

The largest town of the stretch, with about 15,000 people and the port of most of the Maresme’s fishing fleet, which also holds a marina. From Monday to Friday at four in the afternoon the fishermen’s guild holds the fish auction at its fish market (catalunya.com). The parish church of Santa Maria has one of the best-preserved Baroque altarpieces in Catalonia, by Pau Costa; the Museu Marès de la Punta shows bobbin lace. On a hill above the town, the cemetery opened in 1868 has Modernista tombs with sculpture by Josep Llimona and Venanci Vallmitjana; the poet Salvador Espriu, who called the town Sinera, is buried there (catalunya.com). The Can Titus baths have used mineral-medicinal water for more than two hundred years (catalunya.com). See our Arenys de Mar guide.

Caldes d’Estrac

Caldetes, as everyone calls it, is the smallest town of the stretch, about 1 km² with some 3,100 people, and it exists because of its hot springs: the Romans named it Aquae Calidae. Its spa in the centre is the only publicly owned one in Catalonia. From the late 18th century it was one of the most fashionable summer resorts of the Catalan upper class, and the mansions of that time still line the Passeig dels Anglesos. The Fundació Palau holds about seventy works by Picasso collected by the poet Josep Palau i Fabre (catalunya.com). See our new Caldes d’Estrac guide.

South-west of Caldes the coast continues into Sant Vicenç de Montalt and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, covered in the Mataró to El Masnou guide.

Beaches and coves

Mostly long beaches of golden sand beside the railway, with small rocky coves around Sant Pol. Lengths are from the spain.info (Turespaña) beach sheets.

Things to do

Where to stay by town

All four coast towns have a station on the R1 line, so you can base yourself in one and reach the others by train.

Getting there and around

A two-day route

By train or car, south-west to north-east, with a night in Canet de Mar or Sant Pol.

FAQ

Other areas of the Costa del Maresme

Sources and freshness

Checked 9 November 2026. Catalunya.com (Agència Catalana de Turisme) on the Maresme and the towns of Sant Pol de Mar, Sant Cebrià de Vallalta, Sant Iscle de Vallalta, Canet de Mar, Arenys de Munt, Arenys de Mar and Caldes d’Estrac; on the Domènech i Montaner House-Museum, Santa Florentina Castle, Arenys de Mar cemetery, the Fundació Palau, the Arenys fish auction, the Fishermen’s Sant Pol walk and the GR 5. Spain.info (Turespaña) beach sheets for Les Escaletes, La Platjola, Can Villar, La Murtra, Les Roques Blanques, La Picòrdia, La Musclera and Els Tres Micos. Map data, stations, beach names and straight-line distances: OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Not confirmed: opening hours and prices of the Caldes baths, the museums and the castle, current train timetables, lifeguard seasons and Blue Flags. The Barcelona provincial tourism site and the town hall sites could not be reached when we checked. Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Arenys from the Pietat path by Enric (CC BY-SA 4.0); Sant Pol beaches (CC BY-SA 4.0), Canet beach and promenade, Arenys harbour, La Musclera and Mataró marina (CC BY 3.0) by Alberto-g-rovi; Sant Pol views by miki (CC BY-SA 3.0); Caldes by Pere López Brosa and Els Tres Micos by Friviere (CC BY-SA 4.0); Santa Florentina and the Casa Museu by jordi domènech (CC BY-SA 3.0); Canet avenue by Enfo (CC BY-SA 4.0); Calella by Mari0T (CC BY-SA 3.0).