Today we visit a very special creek of the Costa Brava. Cala Montjoi, in Roses village, located in the Natural Park of Cap de Creus, is a sheltered coin of the coast rather lonely, yet has one of the most beautiful and quiet beaches along the coast.

The beautiful Cala Montjoi, in Roses, Girona Costa Brava

The cove has also the attraction to host the award-winning chef Ferran Adrià’s Foundation. The point is that Cala Montjoi, about 300 meters long, has a landscape beauty that is very difficult to resist. Rather away from any major population center, it is connected with Roses only by a local road about 7.5 km.

El Bulli, former Ferran Adrià restaurant, world-wide awarded. Today it plans to host El Bulli Foundation, a gastronomical research center.

The creek, broad, flat and at the bottom of a valley and a stream, is protected by the strong Tramuntana wind which comes from the north. So it has historically been a good place to anchor boats. The sand is half-thick and has the same dark color that has the rocky landscape around the cove. Under the blue clear waters you can see a rich seabed, much appreciated by divers.

Cala Montjoi is a broad beach, very suitable for families

We know that this wonderful place was inhabited since before 976, the year we get the first written evidence of it. Although it is possible that even where now stands an old typical Catalan ancient home (mas), called the Montjoi del Baix, alongside the stream that comes down to the cove, were located an ancient Roman villa and a medieval fortification. Not surprisingly the etymological origin of Montjoi is clearly latin: Monte Gaudi (Mount Joy).

Cala Montjoi is protected to the north, by the end of the Ferrera rocky cape and a few kilometers beyond by the magnificent Norfeu cape, which serve as protection against marine streams arriving from Gulf of Lion.

Sunset in Cala Montjoi, Roses

The mountain that can be seen in the north is the Morisca, a talaya of 182 meters which is quite impressive for its immediate proximity to the sea. It was the subject of dispute between the villages of Roses and Cadaqués for control of another two creeks near Cala Montjoi, of undeniable beauty: Cala Pelosa and Cala Jòncols.

On the left side of Cala Montjoi, and next to the sea, you'll find the Morisca mountain

Cala Montjoi, despite its quiet, has a set of good services for the bathers, who will find deckchair, kayak rentals and paddleboats, a bar and a dive center.