Mas Maria: Costa Brava area

Mas Maria

My family and I thoroughly enjoyed this amazing island of peace. The house is wonderfully equipped, the garden is beautiful, the pool magnificent and the location is superb to get to the many beautiful stretches of coastline.

I also want to say renting this past summer given the many travel restrictions was a challenge that the team at Charming Villas managed. A great level of service and attention. I will surely use them again to rent in this wonderful area.

MV - London

Beautiful accommodation. We were met by the owner who was friendly and extremely helpful. The house was perfect in it’s preparation and made for a comfortable stay for our party of 6 adults. The bedrooms are well proportioned and beds comfortable. There are plenty of nooks and crannies to shelter from the sun both inside and out, and the garden is beautifully maintained.
The kitchen is rather small and short of storage for provisions but this is really a minor issue. The Hi Fi in the games room did not work, but we considered this a bonus as the youngsters would have then been able to play their music, which in turn would have detracted from a very peaceful stay in an amazing historical building. We had fun trying to guess the profession of the owner from the assortment of books on the shelves!
Escala is very near and has everything. The Old Town was for us the nicest part for pottering or eating out. Girona was amazing, but perhaps slightly more than 30 minutes away unless travelling very late as the roads are pretty busy. (August)

Kieran - UK

This is a lovely and unique villa.  Hands down the best part is the pool, garden and outdoor space.  The pool is clean and glorious with views of nearby hills, surrounded by lounge chairs, other seating, good selection of pool toys, ping pong table in the shade, and mini fridge nearby to keep cold drinks.  We also loved the sun room with views of the pool / garden, and lower level billiards room.  Bellcaire d"Emporda is a pretty, off the beaten path small town and good home base for day trips. 

GH – USA

Villa Mas Maria is a beautiful villa situated in a small village with a small grocery shop and an incredible restaurant (looks basic from outside but food is outstanding). The villa is gorgeous - a kind of modernised medieval structure - with loads of space including a games room, a fantastic pool (great fun for all ages as it's really deep!) and loads of outdoor space around the grounds of the villa. The owners were very hospitable and welcoming on arrival and the villa was spotless.

Local places worth visiting include Figueres; the Costa Brava beaches and large supermarkets are all a decent drive away but easy to get to. The only downside is the daily battle with ants - we can see why Dahli was so obsessed with them in his artwork as they were a tenacious presence.

We would definitely recommend this villa to friends 

CV - UK

'Charming' stay at Mas Maria

We had a wonderful stay at Mas Maria. The house is gorgeous and very well decorated. We spent many hours by the huge pool and in the evening had great fun playing snooker and cards with our teenage children. There were two terraces where we could have our evening meal and we also had a couple of BBQs. At lunch time we sat in the shade around the huge stone table in the garden.
The shops in the village are very handy and you can find almost everything there at very reasonable prices (including fresh bread in the morning and even frozen fish and prawns if you do not have time to venture out to the larger supermarkets). There is also a good butcher and we ate out on a few occasions at the village restaurant, l'Horta, which was good and reasonable.
For the larger supermakets, the Carrefour at Escala is a 5 minute drive away and has a great fresh fish and meat counter. Otherwise we liked to shop at Toroella de Mongri, a lovely little town near Estartit and a ten minute drive away, with vegetable, meat and fish shops and a great pastry shop that sells delicious almond biscuits.
For beaches, we went with the children to the sandy beach as L'Estartit for pedalos and sea kayak but the town itself is not up to much. We only really went to Escala to shop as not particularly charming. The beaches near Begur and the town itself are spectacular and really worth the visit (leave early to be able to park). The kids loved snorkling in the pretty coves and you can eat at the edge of the water). The children went diving with Grassi Sub, based in Escala. Really great and safe (small groups and the owner is Swiss and speaks French and English).
We also visited Cadaques, which I would really recommend (it was actually easy to get to and parking was fine, despite the warnings) and is only a 45 minute drive. We also did the Dali Museum at Figueras which even the teenage kids enjoyed and we spent a day in Barcelona (an easy 90 minute drive).
The two weeks went by far too quickly and I would highly recomment Mas Maria.

SBA - Paris, France

We really enjoyed our stay at Mas Maria. You could quite happily lock yourself away there to enjoy the pool, garden and terraces. The accomodation is set in a peaceful square next to a medieval castle with views over farm land. The house itself has lots of character, dating back to the time of the neighbouring castle. The owners have done a great job rennovating the property, giving it a homely feel but with some great touches such as the cellar games room. There is a long list of sites to visit - the Dali triangle (a warning, the Figueres museum is very very busy), Empuries Romano-Greco ruins, Ciudad Iberica, Banyoles, Cadaques, Girona, the coves near Begur and much more. Our experience of Charming Villas Catalonia has been very good. The owners of the villa were especially helpful when we arrived and very friendly.

ED- UK

We very much enjoyed our stay at Mas Maria. We travelled 2 families with 3 small children. It is a large villa with ample space. Nicely decorated throughout. The outside area is very nice and well maintained. The villa is located in the middle of a little village, directly opposite the castle. The village is not very busy and generally feels very authentic (not many tourists). Would highly recommend Mas Maria.

DM – UK

A great escape

The Mas Maria Villa was extremely luxuious and well equipped to a high standard. Bedrooms were spacious and comfortable. The pictures on the website do not do justice to the fabulous size and the quality of the design of the rooms and the terraces. The pool and gardens were a big hit with all the family and the layout of the garden design ensured sun traps and shade if desired throughout the day. The games room and table tennis were extensively used but the ability to relax and read some fantastic books in the lounges was also appreciated. The surroundings were stunning with the back of the villa view of the mountains and countryside with the bonus of the front residing in the square and Church, very rustic and quaint. The mini supermarket is a five minute walk away and offers all the basics to a quality standard. A 10 minute drive away offers more extensive supermarkets with very affordable prices. We often shopped for the fresh fish, quality meats, wines and vegetables to cook in the kitchen or BBQ. We did visit L'Horta for a delicious meal in authentic surroundings just next to the mini supermarket. The beaches are extensive offering plenty of room to stretch out, enjoy some tapas or swim in the sea. Nearest is an 8 minute drive away, 10 mins for the really pretty coves. As far as activities, we went to Aqua Brava near Roses (40 min drive) for the kids to have some fun. I would recommend Cadaques very pretty fishing village and if you enjoy the works of Dali and Picasso (his old residence is now a ceramic shop on the sea front),this is a joy to visit. Dali's house is a couple of kilometres out of Cadaques and gets very busy but worth a trip. A trip to Barcelona is a must and offers a faster pace of life and scenery. I would definitely recommend staying at Mas Maria to anyone who enjoys great scenery, friendly people and enjoyable culture and cuisine. Charming Villas was a professional company with prompt service and their ability to select fantastic and unique properties provided us with the great escape that we craved.

EO – UK

We had a great time at Mas Maria, the villa is really beautiful inside and out. Our teenage boys loved the swimming pool (pool toys provided), badminton, ping pong, snooker etc all of which were available in the villa or in the garden outside. I loved the fact that the villa was on the edge of a village, so we could shop for bits and bobs without having to get in the car. We also had one of the best meals of our trip at the restaurant in the village - L'Horta. From Mas Maria it was an easy drive to the beaches at L'Escala and we also went on trips to the water park at Aquabrava and up to Cadaques. We only booked one week, but we were sad to leave and could easily have spent one more week at this lovely villa.

MH- Hong Kong