According to Visit Cadaqués, Santa Maria church is open every day from morning to evening, with no exact hours published, and we found no source mentioning an entrance fee. Mass is on Sunday at 10. From the terrace you see the village, the bay and Cala Nans lighthouse.
Santa Maria church is the highest point of the old town of Cadaqués and you can see it from the whole village. According to Visit Cadaqués, the village's tourism website, it is open every day from morning to evening, and we found no source mentioning an entrance fee. This guide covers how to walk up without getting lost, what you see from the terrace in front of it, when Mass is held and the story of its organ, one of the oldest in Catalonia.
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Opening times and entry
Visit Cadaqués says the church is open every day, from morning until evening. It gives no exact hours, and the parish does not publish visiting hours online. The official information we read mentions no entrance fee.
For guided visits and for the parish office, which works by appointment, the contact details are on the culture page of visitcadaques.org. Checked in October 2026: if you are going at a specific time, confirm there first.
Mass
According to Visit Cadaqués, Mass is held every Sunday at 10 in the morning, and on Saturdays at 8 in the evening only in July and August. During Mass the church is not a place to sightsee: if you want to look around calmly, avoid those times.
How to walk up through the old town
The old town sits on a rocky hill with the white church at the top. It was once walled and its gateway, whitewashed, still survives. The streets are narrow, steep and paved with slate, and the whole ensemble is protected as a cultural asset of national interest.
The Visorando guide describes an easy way up. Start at Plaça del Doctor Trèmols, the square with four trees at the start of the beach. Just past the Els Pescadors restaurant, turn left following the signs for "Església – Casc Antic". Climb nine steps, go under some arches and at the junction turn left into Carrer del Doctor Callís. At the next junction, go up Carrer Curós, lined with bougainvillea, which ends at the church and its terrace.
To come down a different way, the same guide suggests going straight along Carrer de l'Església with the church on your left, passing Carrer d'es Call on your right and heading down Carrer Bellaire to Carrer de la Unió. Wear shoes with grip: it is slate and it is steep.
What you see from the terrace
Visit Cadaqués sums it up: from the top you see the village, the bay, the islet of Cucurucuc and the small Cala Nans lighthouse. Visit Costa Brava speaks of a panoramic view of the bay. It is the village's natural viewpoint, because nothing in the old town stands higher.
Before going in, look at the bell tower. At its base there is a sundial with a line in Catalan: "Jo sense sol, tu sense fe, no som res", that is, I without sun and you without faith are nothing. According to Catalan Wikipedia, the mechanical clock was installed in 1670 and in 1681 the town council decided to whitewash and raise the tower so it would serve as a landmark.
If the façade looks more yellow than the houses around it, it is not the light. According to 3Cat, it was last painted about 30 years ago, and in 2026 the town council and the parish were preparing a fundraising campaign to repaint it.
Inside: the altarpiece and the organ
The first thing you see on entering is the main altarpiece, Baroque and gilded, dedicated to the Mare de Déu de l'Esperança. It has its own story, told in our guide to Pau Costa's altarpiece. Visit Cadaqués adds a little-known fact: in 1938, during the Civil War, a partition wall was built in front of the altar to protect it, and the rest of the church was used to hold prisoners of war.
The organ is the other treasure. It was built by the organ maker Josep Boscà, who began it in 1689; Visit Cadaqués gives 1689-1691 as the years of work and Catalan Wikipedia says it was inaugurated in 1690. Both sources agree it is one of the oldest organs in Catalonia. According to the Pipe Organ Map inventory, it lost its metal pipes in the Civil War, and Gerhard Grenzing restored it from the eighties onwards.
Concerts
The church is one of the venues of the Festival Internacional de Música de Cadaqués. The 2026 edition, the 53rd, ran from 28 June to 21 August, according to the Surt de Casa listings. The organ has also had concerts of its own within the Els Orgues de Catalunya series, such as Andrés Cea's on 14 August 2021. We found no organ date for 2026: check the festival programme before a summer visit.
Checked
Data checked in October 2026 against: Visit Cadaqués (culture page), Visit Costa Brava (Santa Maria de Cadaqués), Catalan Wikipedia (Santa Maria de Cadaqués; Conjunt històric de Cadaqués), Visorando (walk from Cadaqués to Cala Nans lighthouse), 3Cat (the church façade, April 2026), Pipe Organ Map (organ of Santa Maria de Cadaqués) and Surt de Casa (53rd Festival Internacional de Música de Cadaqués; Els Orgues de Catalunya series 2021).
Quick questions
Do you pay to see Santa Maria church in Cadaqués?
The official information we read mentions no entrance fee. Visit Cadaqués only says it is open every day, from morning until evening.
What time is Mass at Santa Maria?
Every Sunday at 10 in the morning, and on Saturdays at 8 in the evening only in July and August, according to Visit Cadaqués.
How do you walk up to the church from the beach?
From Plaça del Doctor Trèmols, following the signs for Església – Casc Antic, along Carrer del Doctor Callís and then Carrer Curós, which ends at the terrace.