Catalunya, on Spain's north-eastern coast, has long been a favourite of British holidaymakers, with most people heading off to the coastal resorts of the Costa Brava (the beautiful 'wild coast' which has now become quite developed in certain areas) or on short breaks to Barcelona. But there are still pockets of seclusion to be found with unique hotels, exquisite cuisine and lively villages that put the more obvious attractions of the region in the shade.

PARADOR DE AIGUABLAVA
Plaza d'Aiguablava, 17255 Begur (00 34 972 622 162; fax: 972 622 166). Situated at Aiguablava, 146km north of Barcelona on the Punta d'es Muts peninsula, this hotel is the seaside flagship of the government-owned parador hotel chain. It is a stark white structure like a Cubist ocean liner, uncompromisingly modern in style. The rooms are airy, spacious and plainly but comfortably furnished, and all have sea-facing balconies. There is a large swimming pool surrounded by sun-loungers, and steps through the pines down to a secluded sandy cove. There are three beachside restaurants, or you can eat in the hotel's more formal dining room, where the menu aspires to Catalan cooking. £

MAS DE TORRENT
17123 Torrent, Girona (00 34 972 303 292; fax: 972 303 293; www.mastorrent.com). The family-owned five-star Mas de Torrent is a hotel of the first order. Part of the Relais & Châteaux group, it takes its name from the word masía, Catalan for farmhouse. Built in 1751, the main building contains a series of public rooms and 10 guestrooms furnished with richly decorated antique beds and every imaginable comfort, from state-of-the-art bathrooms to VCRs and CD players. The other guest rooms occupy new buildings designed in the same style as the main house, and are set among exquisite landscape gardens of orange groves and olive trees. Each guestroom has the bonus of a private garden. Every bit as gorgeous as the hotel is the Catalan food served in the restaurant or on the terrace, which looks towards the medieval hill town of Pals. There is a swimming pool, a pelota court and tennis courts. ££

PARADOR DE CARDONA
08261 Cardona (00 34 93 869 1275; fax: 869 1636). A massive hill-top castle which is also a four-star parador. The oldest part of the building, the Minyona tower, dates back to the second century, but the hotel is reassuringly 21st-century in its comforts (top-notch marble bathrooms, air-conditioning, well-sprung mattresses), even if there is a certain contrived, though stylish, faux-medievalism about its décor. £

PARADOR DE LA SEU DURGELL
Calle Sant Domenec, 6-25700 La Seu d'Urgell (00 34 973 352 000; fax: 973 352 309). Just under 100km north of Cardona, at La Seu d'Urgell in the Catalan Pyrenees, is another parador, this one incorporating a 14th-century cloister, once part of the adjoining Romanesque church (now local government offices). Unlike the parador at Cardona, however, this is the only part of the hotel that is old: the rest is new-built, albeit in traditional style, using the dark stone prevalent in the region's vernacular architecture.The other critical difference between this parador and the others mentioned is that it is three-star. So, although it is perfectly decent and comfortable (though the rooms are very poorly sound-proofed), it's also perfectly ordinary. Don't eat in the hotel's over-lit dining room, but where the locals go: Cal Pacho, La Font 11 (00 34 973 352 719), for superb steak. £

GIRONA
Spend a day in Girona, about 30km inland from the coast. Undeservedly overlooked by tourists, it has an old town with walls to walk along; some ruined 12th-century Moorish baths that house an exhibition of film stills related to bathing (Janet Leigh under the shower in Psycho; Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in ass's milk). There is also a monumental cathedral with a splendid baroque façade and the largest Gothic nave in the world; a labyrinthine Jewish quarter; and best of all the Tapiz de la Creación, which should be seen, however uninterested in medieval textiles you believe yourself to be. Housed in the cathedral's treasury (an otherwise unexceptional collection of reliquaries and holy pictures), it dates back to 1100 and illustrates the creation of the world using both biblical and mythological iconography.

CARDONA
West from Girona there are a number of pretty medieval towns and villages (Besalú, with its fortified bridge and ramparts, is especially attractive), but head for Cardona (85km north-west of Barcelona). Beyond the castle, with its cloister, courtyards and ramparts, the other sights in Cardona are the salt mountain, the Montanya de Sal, and mine. Established in Roman times but closed in 1990, the mine is now open to visitors, and there are guided walks through its galleries and tunnels. Back in the town there is also a Museo de Sal, run in her front room (you have to ring the bell) by an elderly woman whose father worked in the mines and who carved models in salt.

LA SEU
Best known as the site of the Olympic canoeing championships in 1992, when Barcelona hosted the Games, it is a bustling working town with a handsome if austere stone cathedral from the 12th century the oldest in Catalunya. Its cloister is remarkable, as is the ancient (circa AD840) church of Sant Miquel behind it. The arcaded streets are essentially medieval too, especially around the Saturday food market, where there are carvings and strange stone devices for measuring corn dating back to the 1300s. La Seus charms may be discreet, but they grow on you.

HIKING
Visit the landscapes to be found in the two national reserves that flank La Seu: Cerdaña to the north and the Sierra del Cadí to the south, one of the last wildernesses in Europe. The scenery here is breathtaking, not just in its grandeur but in its variety: jagged shafts of rock that shift in colour from pinks to yellows to dour greys; dark, densely forested slopes and, in the valleys, vivid green pasture, almost luminously bright. Villages are few and far between, but you can find a basic lunch at a café in Tuixén.

You can hike in the Cadí (the GR7 and GR3 trails are accessible from La Seu) but the paths are difficult, rocky and vertiginous, so driving is the easier if less eco-friendly option. Be warned, though, the descents are steep, and not all the roads are paved.

AIRPORT
El Prat airport is located approximately 10km south of Barcelona.

AIRLINES FROM THE UK
The following airlines fly direct to Barcelona from the UK: British Airways (0845 773 3377; www.british-airways.com) flies from Gatwick, Heathrow and Birmingham; Iberia (020 7830 0011; www.iberia.com) flies from Heathrow and Manchester; British Midland (0870 60 70 555; www.flybmi.com) flies from Heathrow; and easyJet (0870 6000 000; www.easyjet.com) flies from Luton and Stansted.

Summer months can be very hot, great for lounging by the sea or the pool, but not ideal for exploring. During the tail end of the summer season, the weather is warm enough for the beach, but not too hot for travelling around.

For more information on Catalunya, visit Catalunya's Tourist Database website at www.gencat.es. For information on the paradors, visit www.parador.es.