Trying Dali’s triangle in one day

What is the so-called Dali’s Triangle?

When Dalí died in 1989 he made the Spanish State as the only heir of all his properties, that includes his house in Port-Lligat (Cadaqués), the castle he bought for his wife Gala in Púbol and of course the museum in Figueres. The castle and the house were later on opened to the public and became part of the so called Dali’s Triangle including the museum.

The question is, is it possible to visit the three sites in just one day?

Yes, it is possible, but with several conditions, depending on the season and how much stress you can deal with.

1. Check opening timings and availability.

For example Púbol’s castle and the house in Port-Lligat are normally closed to the public in January, February and part of March. Sometimes Púbol is closed on Mondays.

The opening timing is shorter in winter than summer for all of them.

2. Book when necessary

To get into Port-LLigat house, book in advance have to be made, and you have to be there 30 minutes before the entrance time to collect your tickets.

Booking

3. Avoid crowds.

In summer you can be waiting for more than half an hour to get into the museum in Figueres.

It is not the case in Púbol (better check anyway) neither Port-Lligat, because the booking allows you to get in on time.

4. Lunch

Think about the idea of bringing some lunch with you, you may have not much time to sit in a restaurant and wait for the waiter to bring you the coffee. A quick sandwich or some tapas in a small restaurant is also an option.

5. Transport

Forget about buses or trains, there is no way you will finish the tour using public transport.

Renting a car is the only option or taking a taxi, what will cost you an extra (check distances below).

Distances

Púbol to Port-Lligat 62 kms approx 1 hour 20 minutes

Púbol to Figueres 40 kms approx. 50 minutes

Port-Lligat to Figueres 40 kms approx 50 minutes

Time needed for the visits

Dalí’s museum in Figueres 90 minutes

Púbol’s castle 60 minutes

Port-Lligat 60 minutes (+ 30 minutes in advance to collect tickets)

Total time driving 3 hours

Total time visiting 4 hours

Total time 7 hours

If first museum opens at 9-10am and last closes at 5-8pm, there are between 7 and 9 hours depending on the season you are visiting. So you would think it is possible because there is plenty of time. Now is when we go back to the beginning, how much stress you can cope?

Problems you can find on your attempt; traffic jam in summer (and the possibility that before entering the road from Roses to Cadaqués you have someone driving really slow in front of you) and a long queue of people waiting outside the museum in Figueres, plus the fact that you need a place where to park the car. All these keep adding time to your initial 7 hours.

So try to avoid summer, when possible, and get some maps to be sure where you are and where you can park. In the map you will find out why having someone driving really slow in front of you in the road from Roses to Cadaqués can finally get on your nerves. This road is a winding narrow one that goes up the mountain and then, obviously, down. So is pretty difficult to overtake other cars, lorries or buses without feeling you are in danger, and knowing that there is a check timing in Port-Lligat, what means if you are not on time you are going to lose your tickets, makes the road looking even more dangerous. So please, visit first the house in Port-Lligat or either put some extra time in what you suppose it will take you to arrive there. At the worst, you will have some time to stay in Cadaqués and maybe have a quick snack there. Do not forget that the house of Dalí is not in Cadaqués, but in the nearby (1 kilometre north) Port-Lligat, so don’t even think about spending too much time in Cadaqués if you want to keep going.

After all this you may freak out and decided not to do all three at once, but I can assure you this is possible. I have never tried in summer, so I still have my doubts, but we did with some visitors last December, starting in Púbol at 10:11am. After one hour visiting the castle, we headed to Port-Lligat, where we arrived at 12:20pm. Our booking time was at 12:30pm to collect the tickets, fortunately there was no one there waiting so we were able to get in earlier and at 1:30pm we were already on the road direction to Figueres. We had half an hour extra from Port-Lligat so we took a snack in Figueres when we arrived, and there we were, 14:27pm right at the entrance of the museum in Figueres. The museum did not close until 17:45 so we had plenty of time for it. It helps that there was no much traffic on the roads and that there was no one queuing in any of the three museums.

In the map you can see the shortest trip, although some may prefer to take the motorway from Púbol to Figueres (or the other way around) , this allows you to speed on the road. Don’t forget that in the motorway you have to pay at the exit, hoping that there will be no traffic jam at the toll what could happen again in summer and Easter.

Let me know if any of you have finished the triangle without dying on the attempt. Hope this is helpful for your next visit.

This post receives a great deal of traffic from search engines. I would greatly appreciate hearing feedback from you. Is the information in the post useful? A comment would be great, or you can email me at nik@nikduserm.com. Thanks!

If you are interested about a private guided tour of the museum you can also contact us and we will arrange your visit.
More information on the link below.

Dali's Museum guided tour

The 3 tickets of the day

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