Picturesque coastal town of Cadaqués explores new tourism options to avoid evolving into 'theme park'

There is only one way into one of Catalonia's most picturesque seaside towns and a unique landscape of Costa Brava.

Famous for its white-painted façades and its church rising by the sea, Cadaqués is now exploring new tourism options to avoid becoming a "theme park," as councilor for tourism Núria Duran told the Catalan News Agency (ACN).

The city council has requested a new study to determine how many tourists the seaside town can welcome, to stop over-occupancy, and to avoid becoming just a place to spend the day. Their goal is to welcome "sustainable and quality" visitors.

In fact, Cadaqués is also the entry point to one of Catalonia's most famous natural parks, Cap de Creus, which sees limited road access during the summer season.

During winter, the coastal town is home to 2,800 inhabitants, but once the summer holidays and the good weather start, the municipality's population increases to around 30,000 people.

"You like it or not, we are becoming a theme park, and this is also affecting the housing crisis that we are going through," Duran told ACN.

Aside from the housing crisis, there are only two ways to access Cadaqués: by sea or by a winding one-lane road that passes through the Cap de Creus natural park and is next to many cliffs.

In one year, the town can receive around 1.8 million vehicles. And once travelers reach their destination, they cannot find a place to park and decide to return home, or just park wherever they can.

"This is ruthlessness," Isma Vila, councilor for mobility, told ACN. To try to avoid the traffic jams and the parking situation, the council will now install parking information panels on the road going from Roses to Cadaqués.

"In summer and during the holidays, people travel to Cadaqués at rush hour, and it affects the road and ends up causing many traffic jams," Vila said.

The idea is also to improve the road, in case of an emergency, especially of wildfires, as "a lot of the time there are trucks, buses, or cyclists causing traffic jams, and we are very worried in case there was any catastrophe," he added.