Sure, plenty of people venture out of the ‘tourist district’ of El Pins — which has Blanes’ highest concentration of hotels as well as a good number of camp grounds — but they seldom venture any further than the restaurants and assorted eateries along the boulevard.

And that while just one street over from the beach, some real treasures can be found. We’re talking about Passeig de Dintre, which runs parallel to Passeig de Cortils i Vieta — that’s the promenade along Platja Blanes — the beach of Blanes, situated between ‘the rock’ (Sa Palomera) and the harbor.

Next time you walk along that promenade, cross the street at Carrer Ample, about halfway the boulevard. The next street is Passeig de Dintre, to your left, and Plaza Espana, to your right.

At the corner of Passeig de Dintre you see Café Terrassans. This is Blanes’ favorite tapas bar — and once you’ve eaten there, you know why.

Guidebooks — which tend to copy each other — will tell you the tourists sit outside while the locals sit inside. To a certain extend that is true, but really… where you sit is up to you. Plenty of locals sit outside as well — and a good many tourists like the atmosphere inside. We like it either way: outside or inside, the experience is unforgettable.

Come when the place is busy (outside siesta hours) for the freshest offerings.

By the way, during the morning hours Passeig de Dintre is the scene of a fresh fruit and vegetables market.

The boulevard that lines Platja de Blanes, the beach between the harbor of Blanes and La Palomera, is lined not with hotels but uninspired, hemi-high rise apartment buildings.

Here and there some of the town’s beautiful old-world architecture still holds out, but you’ll have to venture one block inland to get a taste of authentic Blanes. We’re talking about both architecture and food. Matter of fact, lets take care of the food first, and we’ll cover architecture in a later entry.

Café Terrassans — authentic tapas bar in Blanes.

Parallel to the boulevard, but one block inland, lies Passeig de Dintre. Sundays excepted, each morning this is home of a fabulous fresh fruit and vegetables market. When the market is over the place gets cleaned up and become the terrain of pedestrians and terraces.

The most popular terrace is the one at Café Terrassans — an authentic tapas bar frequented by locals and tourists alike.

Calamares a la Romano is the most popular of its many specialties, but the 50+ item tapas menu (in six languages) includes many other seafood and non-seafood items.

Service is efficient and friendly, though it can and does drive some first-time visitors to despair. It takes a while before you catch on to the system, and this process provides locals and tourists alike with many wonderful people-watching episodes. (Hint: the waiters have already noticed you. Simply relax and wait for one them to come and take your order. No need to wave, yell, or otherwise draw attention to yourself :)

Inside you’ll find a large, high-ceilinged dining hall that breathes history. In the cellar of this building one can see remainders of an old city wall.

The name of the cafe itself refers to a union of farm workers whose offices used to be located in one of the rooms above the bar. At the time there were two cafes here. They were merged in 1931. In late 2006, the bar was renovated to bring it up to modern standards. The most eye-catching change is that a section is walled off with floor-to-ceiling glass, in order to provide smokers with a place of their own. Other than that, most of the features that give Terrassans its authentic atmosphere have luckily been preserved.

We highly recommend Cafe Terrassans for its food, drinks, service and atmosphere.

Address & Information

Cafe Terrassans
Passeig de Dintre 31 [Google Map]
17300 Blanes
Catalonia, Spain

Tel: 972 330 081

The beach at La Palomera.

Few things are nicer than to relax on a sunny terrace at or near the beach, nursing a cool drink and the occasional bite to eat.

Yet on our many visits to Blanes we had not found a place that served consistently good cocktails. Until recently, that is.

I highlight ‘consistently good,’ because we did find several spots that served passable drinks. Some were very good indeed. However, we found that on return visits the drinks were quite different — sometimes better, sometimes worse than before.

It got to the point where we just gave up and stuck to drinking Estrella, a very good local beer.

This year, however, we found a spot that quickly has become one of our favorite hangouts. And we’re still wondering how we could have missed it on all our previous vacations in Blanes.

We’re talking about Can Tirol, a terrace-only cocktail bar facing the beach at the foot of La Palomera.

That’s right, it’s not like the place is hard to find or, for that matter, hard to miss. See the bright, lime-green building in the photo above? Yep, that’s Can Tirol.

Can Tirol, as seen from La Palomera

We’ve walked past it hundreds of times, but only this year ventured onto the inviting terrace. Don’t ask us why. It just happened that way.

Now, I love Pina Colada, while my wife is partial to Tequila Sunrise, Sangria, and some other drinks.

You should have seen our faces when we had our first few sips. This was good stuff — the real thing, and generously prepared. When we say generously, we’re referring to the fact that the friendly proprietor of Can Tirol does not skimp on the alcohol. On the contrary, it appears that you generally get quite a bit more than might reasonably expect.

Naturally we tried the place more than once — and kept coming back for more. Each time the drinks were as good as before. Excellent!

Mind you, Can Tirol is a tiny place. There are no seats inside. Instead there is a large terrace, shaded by two huge parasols. The terrace, along with the terraces of the two restaurants right next to it, is about one-and-a-half meters higher than the path along the beach which it overlooks.

The view from the terrace is excellent. To the left you can see as far as the harbor and the hill behind it. To the right you can look at the way past the hotels to the campings. In front is La Palomera — the rocky promontory that marks the official beginning of the Costa Brava.

In between the terrace and La Palomera is a popular beach, dotted with small fishing sloops which to this date are still in use almost every night. Bikini-clad girls, topless women, and handsome hunks complete the scenic views.

Address & Details

Can Tirol
Calle San Andreu de la Palomera 8 [Google Map]
Blanes

Open… most of the day during the weekends, and from somewhere around 4 PM during weekdays or earlier during tourist season.