Lloret de Mar

Every year, Lloret receives 12% of all visitors visiting Catalonia and more than 40% of all tourists visiting the Costa Brava. In terms of hotel beds, Lloret de Mar is the sixth biggest sun and sand destination in Spain and the largest in Catalonia. 50 percent of the hotel accommodation offering is centered in hotels with three stars or higher, while 64 percent of the Costa Brava’s five-star and luxury hotel accommodation is concentrated in the town. In 2013, Lloret de Mar’s hotel portfolio included 30,000 hotel beds and over 120 locations, with 13,000 in three-star hotels and 11,000 in four and five-star hotels.

Lloret de Mar has around 120 hotel businesses with a total capacity of 30,000 hotel beds. The average stay is 5 days, and the occupancy rate is 60%.

TOURISM SEALS

The sports tourism destination (Destinació de Turisme Esportiu – DTE) certificate is a specialist seal awarded by the Catalan Tourism Agency (Agència Catalana de Turisme – ACT) to tourism destinations equipped for various types of sports and which stand out for their offering of high quality resources and services for elite, professional, and amateur sports people, as well as tourists interested in sports activities. Lloret de Mar has been designated a Sports Destination since 2006, owing to a high-quality and diverse sports offering focused in a single sports area in the town center, flanked by the hotel and commercial area, and just 800 meters from the beach.

The venue was awarded the Government of Catalonia’s Family Tourism Destination seal in 2010.

TOURISM MODEL FOR THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Lloret de Mar has reinvented itself as an urban beach tourism attraction in recent years. “Urban beach” is a new coastal destination concept in which the natural attractions of sun and sand are supplemented by a variety of added values associated with the area, such as its history, inhabitants, traditions, customs, cultural heritage, and a diverse offering of leisure, tourism, and services.

Lloret de Mar developed its first Strategic Tourist Plan in 2010, bringing together a decade of effort centered on cooperative initiatives between public agencies and the commercial sector that started in 2003 with the establishment of the Lloret Turisme tourism marketing organisation. The plan is currently in implementation, with two key goals: on the one hand, to choose one of the Tourist Destination Reconversion Plans promoted by the Spanish government in collaboration with the Government of Catalonia, designed to achieve the reconversion and comprehensive modernization of mature destinations of international standing and potential; and, on the other hand, to consolidate its strategic products (urban beach, sports tourism, and business tourism). The first goal was met in March 2014, when the Pilot Plan Agreement for Lloret was signed with the Catalan government.

Lloret de Mar has a coastal Mediterranean climate, with temperatures that are usually substantially lower owing to the thermal action of the water as a moderator. However, it should be noted that the Mediterranean is a warm sea all year, which implies that the distinctive temperature moderation is more visible in winter than in summer. The summer dry season typically lasts three months, with the most rain falling in the autumn months.

Lloret de Mar has a total area of 48.9 km (30.4 miles), 9 km (6 km) of shoreline, and 27 km (17 mi) of woodland. It is bounded on the west by Vidreres and Maçanet de la Selva, on the east by the Mediterranean Sea, on the north by Tossa de Mar, and on the south by Blanes.

There is a tourist office at the Bus Station and on Av. de les Alegries, which you may pass on your way into Girona from the airport. Hotels provide a very comprehensive free street map of the town that includes all significant places.

WI-FI

Free at McDonald’s, Burger King, and several pubs, among other places. Ticmovil established itself as the Lloret internet. It is quite costly for short periods of time, but it becomes less expensive by the month. It suffers from the issue of weak Lloret coverage, and even in buildings where one side receives it but the other does not. The signal strength fluctuates from broadband to dial-up to no signal, indicating that there is still potential for improvement. Two computer and laptop repair shops are within a few minutes’ walk of the bus station’s NE corner (on Loreto and on Grandos). There are plenty free hotspots can be discovered, and some hotels also provide free internet access.

Internet access is provided at a variety of internet cafes for about €1 per hour. Most places charge 25 cents to print a page, such as a Ryanair ticket home, however one establishment costs €3. These establishments frequently feature phones so you may contact home or locally for a reasonable fee.

THE POST OFFICE

On De L’Oliva near De Vicenc, it has been renovated and is set to reopen in late October 2010. There is one about a 15-minute walk away in Fenals (Pere Codina I Mont, near Valenti Almirall).