Shopping in Girona is always a great idea because it has numerous bustling markets, while streets like La Rambla de la Llibertat and Carrer de la Cort Reial are a like an outdoor gallery where you can take a stroll, stop for a coffee and buy whatever you fancy.
The best months for shopping in Girona are May, during the flower festival, October, when the streets are filled with craft markets during the San Narcís festival, and Christmas, when you’ll find special opportunities to buy certain products, especially local food.
Selected shopping streets
Rambla de la Llibertat
This is Girona’s most important shopping street and was first built in the 13th century to house a market that started at the old Pont de Pedra. Its vibrant shopping and celebratory-like atmosphere is unlike anywhere else in the city.
La Rambla de la Llibertat is named after the Llibertat tree that was planted here in 1869 after the Glorious Revolution. The street still retains highly characteristic architecture that reveals its medieval origins, such as the colonnades that support a series of low roofs where you’d once have found the city’s most important traders.
Today, La Rambla doesn’t depend on shopping alone and it’s become a lime tree-lined avenue with banks and several bars and restaurants, making it an essential place to visit for tourists and locals alike.
What’s more, every Saturday morning La Rambla is taken over by its flower stands, which show off the brightest colours and finest scents of Girona’s natural world.
After taking a stroll and admiring the shop windows, there are two other places that are well worth seeing: stop off at the Modernist façade of Casa Norat, and wander a little off La Rambla to visit Colmado Moriscot, one of the most picturesque shops in Girona, which sells local spirits and every other drink you could imagine.
Ultònia
Carrer Ultònia is another shopping street that has become a popular meeting point for friends and family. As well as having clothes and accessory shops, it’s full of pretty bars and restaurants where you can have lunch, dinner or simply stop for a vermouth, a tradition that is still going strong in this Catalan city.
Calvet i Rubalcaba
The Calvet i Rubalcaba area is home to the famous Mercat del Lleó, one of the most popular markets in the city, as well as other shops. Since 1944, this municipal market has sold goods from dozens of stands housed in a closed building but in times past the square was where farmers and countryfolk would traditionally meet once a week to sell the finest produce from their land.
For hundreds of years, this space outside the city walls welcomed the very best seasonal produce; it’s all still available today, sold inside the municipal building at the food stands, which open from Monday to Saturday.
It’s a unique place to buy meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, dried fruit and nuts, and spices.
Cort Reial
This cobbled street in the centre of Girona is an essential stop on your shopping route, especially for tourists, as there are a large number of souvenir shops, and fans of travel and the mountains.
That’s because Carrer de la Cort Reial is home to Ulysses, one of the most famous bookshops in Girona. It focuses on travel books, guides to cities and countries, and books on mountaineering and nature.
Its shelves are lined with books that are perfect for adventurers, and also many of the items you might need to set off on the journey of your dreams.
Argenteria
This pedestrian street is partly a continuation of La Ramba de la Llibertat and has numerous shops, with a particular focus on jewellery, watches and silver accessories that carry on the tradition of the silver guild that gave the street its name.
The Tarlá is another attraction that makes this Vía de Argenteria unique. The Tarlá is a mechanical acrobat who sits on a thick pole that spans the street above people’s heads and performs acrobatics, spinning around the pole.
According to legend, there were several outbreaks of the plague in Girona between the 14th and 17th centuries and this street was so badly affected that its inhabitants hid in their houses, sealing off the doors and windows. And things stayed that way until a clown appeared outside, performing tricks to cheer up the residents. Today, the Tarlá puts on a show to commemorate this event every 27 August.
Plaza de Catalunya
This square spans the Onyar River and is one of the prettiest in Girona; it’s a great place to go shopping and have a coffee or aperitif at one of the surrounding bars.
One of the most surprising attractions of Plaça Catalunya takes place every Sunday when it hosts the biggest collectors’ market in the city. From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. it’s filled with stands selling books, postcards, stickers, watches, coins and even old furniture to the delight of collectors who come here to track down that missing piece they’ve been searching for.
It’s well worth visiting, even if you’re not planning to buy anything.
Selection of shopping centres
Espai Gironès Shopping Centre
Espai Gironès is one of the most popular shopping centres in Girona. It has all the most famous Spanish and international clothing, footwear and accessories brands under one roof and is a magnet for young people and families.
It has supermarkets and a wide range of the best-known chain restaurants. Espai Gironès also has a cinema if you’d like to put the finishing touch to your day.
Mas Gri Shopping Centre
This shopping centre is on the outskirts of Girona and although it only has a few stores, the ones it has are huge. It also has plenty of parking spaces making it a great option if you don’t want to go to the city centre. Stores located here include MediaMarkt and Decathlon, where sports fans will find everything they need.
Girocentre
Girocentre is basically the land of El Corte Inglés. The stores that you’ll find behind the shutters here include a Hipercor and several of El Corte Inglés’s best-known departments.
The shopping centre is on Avinguda de Barcelona, close to other El Corte Inglés shops. It has a car park
