I’m hiking from Cadaqués to El Port de la Selva at Spain’s most eastern point, in the Costa Brava region that stretches north of Barcelona to the Spain-France border. The area is flanked and characterised by dramatic scenery, including the Pyrenees mountains and its wild coast. Everything in between is just as lovely with rolling hills topped with medieval towns that lead to forests, vineyards and stone-built villages.

On this trip, I took an offshoot of the Camí de Ronda, a historic coastal path that runs the length of this coastline, which can be walked in sections, stopping at the coves and small towns that stud the route.

Back in the pretty fishing village of Cadaqués with its whitewashed houses and cobbled streets, I am introduced to the world of Catalan surrealist artist Salvador Dalí who holidayed in the town as a child and made his home here in the neighbouring hamlet of Port Lligat.

Case in point: on entering, I am given a small fright when greeted by a life-size taxidermy polar bear.

Touring the house with a guide on a small group tour, I learn how it’s been left as is since 1982 when Dalí fled, after his wife and muse Gala died. Exploring the warren of rooms filled with antiques and unusual objects, it’s not hard to imagine the parties Dalí had here, guests lounging on the lip-shaped sofa by the pool flanked by swan-shaped fountains.

Digging deeper into the world of Dalí, I visit the village of Púbol, a one-hour drive south and inland from Cadaqués. Here is the Gala Dalí Castle, a 12th century building reimagined by the artist for his wife. Inside the castle, elephant-legged furniture sits alongside lavish tapestries and ceilings are painted with apocalyptic skies.

While the style does have some similarities to the house in Port Lligat, the castle is darker and much more dramatic – the latter which I find out is symbolic of their relationship: Gala insisted Dalí could only visit with her handwritten permission, her affairs throughout their marriage well documented.

Not simply a museum in his honour, the project was created in his lifetime by Dalí himself to house his work.

An artwork itself, the deep burgundy building with a glass dome is dotted with gold sculptures and topped with his much-loved eggs.

Housing around 1,500 of his works, it’s overwhelming at points, sometimes hard to know where to look. Looking up there’s a massive ceiling fresco depicting Dalí and Gala ascending toward the heavens, in another direction there’s an optical illusion of Hollywood star Mae West created from furniture.

Outside in the courtyard I find a black Cadillac, water raining inside when a coin is inserted. It truly is a theatrical experience that can’t be likened to any other museum or gallery I have visited.

Half an hour south of here, in the hills that surround Girona, is a similarly madcap yet showstopping experience. Inline with the region’s burgeoning health and wellbeing offering, it’s possible to enjoy a ‘mindfulness concert in the sky’, featuring Tibetan bowl and hang drum music. All this while floating in a hot-air balloon at two thousand feet above Garrotxa, with the Bay of Roses and the Pyrenees as a backdrop.

I am sitting down for dinner at Esperit Roca, the new restaurant from the Roca brothers, the masterminds behind El Celler de Can Roca, twice named the world’s best restaurant.

In the concrete-and-glass-fronted restaurant, three rocks sit on my white tablecloth, each representing one of the brothers who head up cuisine, wine and desserts respectively. The drama starts as one is lifted to reveal three flavours of butter, laid out like sweets, concealed inside. A globe appears with five amuse bouches from around the world flying off to each side. The six courses of creativity complete with an El Celler classic for dessert, the Rainy Forest in which the waiter sends a cloud across the table which proceeds to rain across the cake on the plate.

It’s a short, steep walk up the hill to bed, at the accompanying Esperit Roca hotel, a contemporary minimalist space built into a former castle.