Cadaqués was a simple, isolated fishing village in the Cap de Creus (Alt Empordà), which became a privileged tourist destination in the early 20th century. The sloping streets of medieval origin, the whitewashed facades, the bay and the surrounding landscape of olive trees, create a monumental complex where everything seems unusual. Therefore it is not surprising that it attracted the most surreal of Catalan artists, Salvador Dalí, who settled here in Portlligat.

The first documentary evidence of the existence of Cadaqués dates from the early 11th century. Of the old fortified town and the castle only a tower remains now, the Bastion, and a portal with a rebated arch giving onto the beach. In 1444, pirates burned the town almost in its entirety.

Between the 17th and 18th centuries the parish church of Santa Maria was built, in the Gothic style with Baroque elements, which crowns the village. A period of prosperity began at this time thanks to trade with America and the cultivation of wine and olive oil. The neoclassical buildings of the Casino l’Amistat and the Casa Rahola are from this time.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Cadaqués opened itself up to wealthy vacationers from Barcelona and Girona. From this period are the modernista buildings of the Casa Serinyana (1910) and the Casa Pont (1929). In the 1960s, new rationalist style buildings were constructed - the Harnden and Bombelli houses and Casa Milà i Correa - which combined traditional architecture with the new thesis of contemporary architecture.

Cadaqués is no longer an isolated village, but still retains that Bohemian air which made it famous throughout the 20th century. Names such as Eugeni d'Ors, Santiago Rusiñol, Federico García Lorca, Truman Capote, Picasso, Chagall and Miró were attracted to this jewel of the Costa Brava.