Empúries

Address:C/ Puig i Cadafalch s/n. 17130 L'Escala
Telephone:972770208
Price: 3.00 €

Enjoying a fabulous setting on the seashore, the ruins of Empúries – an ancient Greek city and a later, Roman, settlement – comprise one of Spain’s most important and engaging archeological sites.The Greek settlement has been extensively excavated, and foundations and streets give a good idea of the layout. Much less of the Roman city has been unearthed, although intact mosaics and columns clearly mark out individual buildings. A beautifully presented museum (admission free with site ticket) houses all the finds from the site, including funeral urns, coins and jewellery. There’s also an award-winning twenty-minute audiovisual exhibition, offering a neat potted history of the development and decline of the cities.


You can cover everything in half a day, and still have time for a dip at one of the beautiful beaches below the site. Parking is free with your admission ticket. An audioguide, available in English, is worth shelling out an extra amount.


The first city that the Greeks founded in the area – known as the Palaiopolis, or old city – was in the early sixth century BC on the site of Sant Martí d’Empúries, then a small island and now joined to the mainland. Shortly afterwards, they built a new city, or Neapolis, nearby, known as Emporion (literally “Trading Post”), which grew thanks to flourishing trade with tribes around the Iberian peninsula.


In 218 BC, at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, a Roman army, commanded by Scipio, landed at Emporion to block the Carthaginians, and effectively began the Romani- zation of Iberia. In 195 BC, Marcus Portius Cato established an army camp at Empúries, nucleus of the city that was founded anew in around 100 BC. Under Emperor Augustus, the Greek and Roman settle- ments were united under the name Municipium Emporiae. However, whereas Roman settlements such as Barcino (Barcelona) and Gerunda (Girona) flourished, Emporiae declined and was abandoned in the third century AD.

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Empúries Map

  • Apartments(32)
  • Villas(124)
  • Hotels(13)
  • Beaches(19)
  • Music Festivals(1)
  • Feast days(2)
  • Sights(2)
  • Museums(4)
  • Scenic viewpoints(1)
  • Defence towers(1)
  • Buildings(4)

How to arrive to Empúries?

How to arrive from:
Alex Rigola was in Empúries and tells the story:
Ruins of Empúries

Empúries Photos

Vista aèria de la zona del jaciment arqueològic d'Empúries, Costa Brava

Foro de Ampurias, en l'Escala, Costa Brava

Mosaïque dans le Musée Archéologique d'Empúries, Costa Brava

Excellent kept greek and roman mosaics on Empuries Archeological Site, in l'Escala

Sito archeologico Empuries

Watch more pictures of Empúries

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