Els Caçadors

Should You Book Els Caçadors?

If you are planning a trip through the Alto Ampurdán region of the Eastern Pyrenees, Els Caçadors earns a booking based on two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmand awards (2024 and 2025) and a Google rating of 4.4 across 503 reviews. At the €€ price range, it is the strongest value-for-quality option in Maçanet de Cabrenys for a special meal, and the hotel-restaurant format means seats are not infinitely available. Book ahead rather than assuming a walk-in will work, especially in summer and autumn when Alto Ampurdán tourism peaks.

The Space: What You're Sitting In

Els Caçadors occupies the basement of the hotel that shares its name, and the room does something that many rural Spanish restaurants do not attempt: it holds two design registers at once. The structural shell is old — vaulted ceilings and stone walls that speak to the building's age and the weight of the Pyrenean landscape above. Against that, the room is fitted with designer-inspired lamps and white furnishings that read as considered and deliberate rather than accidental. The result is a dining room that feels appropriate for a celebration without feeling stiff. For a date, a family milestone, or a business dinner with a client who values context over flash, the room delivers. It is not a white-tablecloth formality venue, but it is clearly a step above a casual dinner stop.

For special occasions specifically, the basement setting helps: the room has enclosure and intimacy that a terrace or open-plan restaurant cannot offer. Sound carries differently in vaulted stone spaces, which tends to keep conversations contained and the atmosphere grounded. If you are choosing between dining here and eating at a more generic restaurant in a larger town nearby, the physical setting alone justifies the detour.

The Cooking: Traditional Cuisine with an Unexpected Turn

The menu at Els Caçadors is grounded in the traditional, regionally inspired cooking of the Ampurdán, the fertile coastal plain and foothills that stretch between Girona and the French border. Ampurdán cuisine draws on the produce of both the land and the nearby Costa Brava — local meats, wild mushrooms from the Pyrenean slopes, pulses, and preserved goods have historically defined the table here. What makes Els Caçadors worth a second look is that the kitchen has chosen to complement this regional foundation with a selection of dishes from the Far East. That is an unusual choice in a small Pyrenean town, and according to Michelin's own notes, it works as a contrast rather than a confusion. The Bib Gourmand, which specifically recognises good cooking at a fair price rather than technical ambition for its own sake, signals that the kitchen delivers on the plate without overreaching. Specific dishes are not confirmed in our data, so ask the team on arrival what is in season and what is currently on.

Why Els Caçadors Matters Here

Maçanet de Cabrenys is a small municipality in the foothills of the Eastern Pyrenees, positioned in the Alto Ampurdán comarca roughly between Figueres and the French border. It is not a dining destination in the way that Girona is, and it does not have the density of options that a larger town would offer. In that context, Els Caçadors functions as the anchor restaurant for visitors doing the Alto Ampurdán properly: people on walking routes, travellers using the area as a base for the Cap de Creus natural park, or anyone driving the back roads between Girona and the Pyrenean passes. For those travellers, having a Michelin-recognised kitchen attached to the local hotel is a genuine advantage. It means you can stay, eat well, and not drive back down to Figueres or Girona for dinner. For other dining options in Maçanet de Cabrenys, or if you are organising the wider trip, see also our Maçanet de Cabrenys hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide.

The Bib Gourmand recognition matters in this context because it is specifically calibrated for places that give value at accessible prices. In a rural Pyrenean setting where the alternative is often a basic menu del día or a long drive, a Bib Gourmand kitchen is a meaningful signal. For comparison, Michelin-recognised traditional cuisine at a similar price tier elsewhere in northern Spain includes Cave à Vin & à Manger - Maison Saint-Crescent in Narbonne and Auberge Grand'Maison in Mûr-de-Bretagne , both operating in small-town or regional contexts with similar positioning.

Booking and Practical Details

Booking difficulty is rated Easy, meaning you are not competing for scarce reservations weeks in advance under normal conditions. That said, a hotel restaurant in a small Pyrenean town has limited covers, and peak season (July through September) and long weekends tied to Spanish and Catalan public holidays will fill the room faster than the baseline suggests. If your travel dates are fixed, booking a week out is sensible rather than relying on availability. No website or phone number is confirmed in our current data, so contact via the hotel directly using the address at Urbanización Casa Nova, 17720 Maçanet de Cabrenys, Girona.

Price range is €€, which in a Bib Gourmand context typically means a full dinner for two with wine stays well under what you would spend at a comparable-quality urban restaurant. Dress code is not formally specified, but the room's design register and Michelin recognition suggest smart-casual is appropriate. Clean, put-together clothing fits the space without requiring formal attire.

If you are looking at larger-canvas Spanish dining in the same trip , Girona's El Celler de Can Roca is roughly an hour south and operates at a completely different tier , plan that separately. Els Caçadors is not competing with three-Michelin-star destinations; it is the right answer to the question of where to eat well tonight in the Alto Ampurdán.

Quick reference: Bib Gourmand 2024 & 2025 | €€ price range | Easy to book | Hotel-attached basement dining room | Maçanet de Cabrenys, Girona.

How It Compares