Ciutat de Mataró

The sandy shelf of Platja del Varador stretches into a calm stretch of the Mediterranean, protected from northern winds by the rising spine of the Catalan Coastal Range. Here along the Maresme shore in Mataró, swimmers gather for the Ciutat de Mataró, an open water sea swimming race named after the city that hosts it. Held in late September, the event is organized by the Federació Catalana de Natació, bringing together open water athletes directly on the town's urban shoreline. The race charts a 2,000-metre course in the sea, marked out with bright sighting buoys along the promenade in front of the local nautical club. Navigating the marked circuit gives participants an expansive vantage point of the coastline as they turn around each buoy.

The competition welcomes both federated and non-federated swimmers, with categories beginning at fifteen years old. In past editions, the gathering has drawn around three hundred participants across several courses, ranging from shorter 400-metre sprints up to 2,000-metre and 4,000-metre challenges. That inclusive spirit has long defined the event. In one past edition, organizers invited participants to bring food donations on race day to support the local Food Bank. The water quality at Platja del Varador is regularly monitored by the Catalan Water Agency, which classifies the bathing conditions as good. That dependable standard ensures that athletes can focus entirely on their pace and stroke throughout the 2,000-metre course.

Mataró's seafront: the club breakwater and El Varador beach

For 2025 the CN Mataró club announced the 2,000-metre Travessia Ciutat de Mataró on the seafront promenade just in front of the club, with start and finish next to the club's breakwater. The announced 2025 course was to be marked with buoys and watched over by boats and specialised staff. The 2025 programme listed medals for the top three of each category, with special trophies for the overall winners, the best local swimmer and the youngest and oldest participants. The 2025 Travessia Ciutat de Mataró was swum over 2,000 metres, with start and finish under the arch installed on the sand. El Varador lies next to Sant Simó beach and has volleyball nets, five-a-side football posts and a sports centre close by. El Varador has golden sand and calm swimming conditions, and the beach is 765 m long and 118 m wide.

The Maresme coast: coastal range and sheltered beaches

The race unfolds along the Costa del Maresme, an expansive shoreline running fifty-five kilometres between Montgat and the mouth of the Tordera River at Malgrat de Mar. Along this coastal strip, fifty-four distinct beaches and sea caves offer a wide variety of sandy shores and sheltered coves for sea swimmers. Beyond the sand, this coast preserves a living relationship with the sea. Arenys de Mar and Sant Pol de Mar are officially designated as fishing villages, keeping traditional maritime customs active along the Maresme coast. The regional fishing trade is primarily centered around the harbor at Arenys de Mar. Modern recreation on the Costa del Maresme is supported by five sports marinas dedicated primarily to sailing and aquatic activities.

One of these coastal harbors is Puerto Balís, which provides boaters with an entrance channel featuring an average depth of 4.5 metres. Across the rest of the marina basin, the water depth ranges between 2.5 and 3.5 metres. Swimmers seeking another race in the area during the same trip can head just five kilometres down the coast to Vilassar de Mar for the VIII Travessia Solidària Nedant Vilassar. The coastal plain was historically defined by seasonal watercourses, which established the periurban boundaries of early settlements. About eight kilometres from the race venue, the Riera de Cabrils begins as a torrential stream on the eastern slope of the Sierra de la Marina. Covering a total length of less than five kilometres, this seasonal watercourse flows through Cabrils and Vilassar de Mar before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea.

Roman Iluro: sea-view baths and dolphin mosaics

Centuries before swimmers began lining up at Platja del Varador, Roman settlers founded the town of Iluro less than a kilometre from the race venue. The route of the ancient Roman road, Via Augusta, is still followed today by the coastal N-II road that runs parallel to the shore. Water and open sea views were central to life in ancient Iluro, where builders erected a lavish Roman bathhouse during the first century BC. Raised on an elevated part of the town, this large bath complex featured two distinct pools specifically designed to look out over the coast and the waters below. Outside the ancient urban perimeter, high-imperial cemeteries were laid out along the banks of the local riera, where families placed burial sites.

Port de Mataró: lateen sails, shipyards, and modern breakwaters

From the eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century, Mataró stood as one of the preeminent maritime centres on the Catalan coast, maintaining thriving shipyards and dispatching overseas trading expeditions across the Atlantic to America. Between 1750 and 1867, the city was even appointed the capital of its own maritime province due to its high volume of commercial traffic and extensive registry of sailors. Traditional shipbuilding was also celebrated in neighboring Arenys de Mar, renowned for its open-air wooden shipyards. The local shipwrights crafted eleven-metre vessels known as laúdes, which are regarded as the structural origin of the Mediterranean falucho. The port at Arenys de Mar was built directly upon the natural reefs of Portinyol, protected by an eastern breakwater 830 metres long and a western arm spanning 480 metres.

In Mataró, coastal erosion posed a serious challenge until a stone breakwater was built in 1965 to halt the alarming retreat of the beach. Inside Puerto de Mataró, the port serves as the base for the *San Ramon*, a traditional lateen-rigged vessel built in 1904. The harbor entrance spans eighty metres wide with a draft of six metres. At the harbour mouth, the Mataró lighthouse sends out four green flashes every sixteen seconds, shining out across five nautical miles.