The island of Portlligat closes the bay of Portlligat, opposite Dalí's house. It covers 8.81 hectares, has four small beaches and, to the south, is separated from the mainland by the ses Boquelles passage, about 30 metres wide, which can be crossed on foot. It has been public since 1995, when the Diputació de Girona bought it.
From the beach at Portlligat, opposite Dalí's house, the sea looks like a lake. The reason is the island of Portlligat, a tongue of rock that closes the bay almost completely. It is among the places in Cadaqués with the most reviews on TripAdvisor, and it has a history few people know: it was in private hands, on the verge of being developed, and since 1995 it has been public. This guide explains what it is like, how to get there and what has been done to give it back its vegetation.
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Why Portlligat looks like a lake
The Cadaqués tourism website explains the name of the place like this: looking at the sea from the beach, the inlet seems completely surrounded by land, like a lake. There are two islands in the bay: Portlligat and, beside it, a smaller one, Sa Farnera.
According to Catalan Wikipedia, the island of Portlligat, formerly called the illa del Correu, is the second largest on the Costa Brava, after the Meda Gran. It covers 8.81 hectares and its highest point is 18.91 metres. It is part of the Cap de Creus Natural Park.
What it is like: a crossing, a small island and four beaches
To the south, the island is separated from the mainland by the ses Boquelles passage, about 30 metres wide and shallow, which can be crossed on foot. To the north, the sa Malrasa passage separates it from Sa Farnera, which covers 0.65 hectares. Further out, some 900 metres offshore, lie the islets of Messina and Petita.
The island has four small beaches: the platja de s'Illa, the largest, 76 metres long; ses Boquelles; Massabous; and the one at the sa Malrasa passage.
The island that was not developed
Catalan Wikipedia sums up its history. In 1962 a private buyer acquired it intending to develop it, but in the end built only a summer house for his family. The tenant farmers who lived there raised rabbits, and the island's visitors included Salvador Dalí, Lucía Bosé and Kirk Douglas.
In 1980 a company bought it, and it later passed to two German owners who again proposed developing it. In 1995 the Diputació de Girona bought it to protect it. The Cap de Creus Natural Park came later, in 1998. The house, occupied first by hippies and then by squatters, was eventually demolished by the Diputació itself.
Removing the ice plant
The remaining problem was botanical. Invasive exotic plants had replaced the native ones, above all the ice plant (Carpobrotus), which came to cover around 80% of the island. In April 2009 the Diputació de Girona and la Caixa announced a project to eradicate it, regulate public use of the island and test restoration methods, according to NacióDigital.
According to Catalan Wikipedia, some 400 tonnes of ice plant were removed over four years, and in 2015 the agaves and prickly pears were removed too. What you see today from Portlligat is the result of that work: an island slowly getting back the plants of the cape.
How to see it
The best window is Portlligat beach: 186 metres of coarse sand and stones, with shallow water and well sheltered precisely by the island, according to Catalan Wikipedia. From there you can see the ses Boquelles passage, on the southern side. It is the same spot where the local version of the legend of the Sant Baldiri chapel places the shipwreck that brought the relics of Saints Abdó and Senén to Cadaqués: Punta des Vailet, next to that passage.
The island is part of the Cap de Creus Natural Park, created in 1998. According to the Town Council's use plan, it was the first combined land and sea park in Catalonia and covers 13,886 hectares, of which 3,073 are sea.
The bay around it
The bay the island closes is also an anchorage. The Town Council's beach use plan for 2025 explains that the Portlligat concession provides for 148 low-impact mooring buoys and a floating pontoon with 66 mooring rings, and that between the bays of Cadaqués and Portlligat there are 885 buoys spread over four zones. These moorings are designed to protect the posidonia seagrass, which is a protected species. Anyone crossing to the island or swimming nearby should stay within the bathing areas and not tread on or pull up anything: it is a natural park.
Checked
Data checked in October 2026 against: Catalan Wikipedia (Illa de Portlligat), the Cadaqués tourist office (visitcadaques.org, Portlligat), NacióDigital (12 April 2009, project of the Diputació de Girona and la Caixa) and the Ajuntament de Cadaqués (seasonal beach use and services plan, 2025).
Quick questions
Can you walk to the island of Portlligat?
Yes: to the south, the ses Boquelles passage, about 30 metres wide and shallow, can be crossed on foot.
Who owns the island of Portlligat?
It is public: the Diputació de Girona bought it in 1995 to protect it, and it is part of the Cap de Creus Natural Park.
What is Sa Farnera?
The small island to the north of Portlligat, covering 0.65 hectares, separated from it by the sa Malrasa passage.