Like any small Spanish beach town worth its salt, Sitges boasts the usual attractions; yellow sun, yellow sand, blue sea, blue sky and a pink church. Hey, wait a minute, a pink church? Is this a hint that there's more to the place than sun loungers and the ubiquitous grilled sardines? Indeed it is, because Sitges has a past - and a present - that is just a little bit unexpected.

The flamingo-coloured Sant Bartmeu I Santa Tecla is, by coincidence not intent, rather symbolic of the town that prides itself on being the most gay-friendly in Catalonia - a sort of Spanish Brighton, only with sand and nice weather. In fact, Sitges welcomes all types of people - jet-setters, honeymooners, the retired, families with children and young people looking for fun. We sought it out as a brief respite from the hum and buzz of Barcelona, just half an hour's train journey around the Costa Dorada.

But the gay community has really taken Sitges to its heart and who can blame them. Picture-perfect by day, with shady cervecerías for that vital pick-me-up after a few gruelling hours on the beach, by night it can be a vibrant hot-spot.

Carrer del 1er de Maig, just off the seafront, is nicknamed Carrer de Pecado (Sin Street to you and me) because of its 10 or so bars which keep the place jumping into the early hours of the morning. Fun-seekers of all ages and proclivities drink, bop and generally 'large it' to a wide range of music (only some of it deeply dubious 'Europop') which swirls into a cacophony on the street outside. In February, there is carnaval , where revellers parade though the narrow streets, led by drag queens and party animals in outlandish costume, who come from all over Europe.

If you want a peaceful evening though, the beachfront twinkles with the lights of small seafood restaurants and tapas bars, from where you can hear the cheery chinking of glasses of cava - and the waves lapping.

So how, we wondered, did this wee town end up with such a split personality? It turns out that Sitges has spent more than a century welcoming groups that mainstream Spain hasn't been exactly fond of.

In the 1890s the artist Santiago Rusiñol settled here and invited the avant-garde art world to hang out and paint. Sitges responded to this bohemian invasion with laissez-faire aplomb and soon grew fond of its slightly eccentric children. Rusiñol's studio-cum-house, now the Museu Cau Ferrat, is well worth a visit. There is something unsettling about blinking out of 1,000-watt sunshine into a small house two minutes from the beach, and trying to adjust to the gloom, only to realise that you are staring at Picasso drawings and El Greco paintings, as well Rusiñol's own work.

This artistic legacy is reflected in the shops that line the twisting, narrow streets of the town's centre. There are quirky little boutiques, craft shops and, of course, galleries exhibiting the works of the latest generation of artists to settle here. Some of these shops have a kind of happy, hippy- dippy feel with hand-dyed fabrics and psychedelic prints that hark back also to Sitges's second renaissance in the Sixties.

Then, people came here to swing, man, away from the gaze of the, like, uptight Spanish authorities. It was a place where anything went, where inhibitions could be left at home, and the free-love society flocked here to chill out in the heat. There are still two nude beaches (one now exclusively gay), about 20 minutes walk from the far end of the main beach.

We're not old enough to remember swinging (well, that's our story) so we stuck to the quiet, crescent-shaped, most emphatically non-nude Platja de Sant Sebastia. A couple in their sixties sat behind us and though, naturally, I find eavesdroppers to be the lowest of the low, I just couldn't help but overhear when they started to reminisce about the old days.

Her: 'Do you remember, I bought my first bikini to come here.'

Him: 'That's right.'

Her: 'My parents weren't at all pleased. My father was furious.'

Him: 'That's right.'

Her: 'We had some fun that summer.'

Him: 'We did.'

Her: 'Mind you, I was young and slim in those days.'

Him: 'You said it.'

Her: (Silence.)

We decided to move before things turned ugly and found a shady bar run by an Antonio Banderas lookalike from where we could admire a statue of Rusiñol - still the town hero. It was set in a tiny, lush garden, filled with glorious flowers, where bees buzzed and birds chirped. The area was enclosed by ornate wrought iron - easy on the eye but discreetly protective.

Ah, we thought, as we sipped our ice-cold Estrella beers, that's the real symbol of Sitges.

Fact file

EasyJet flies from Luton to Barcelona, with fares from £37.50 one-way. Phone 0870 6000 000 or book online.

Four trains an hour run from Barcelona Sants station daily from 6am to 10pm. The journey takes 30 minutes and costs 300-350 pesetas (about £1.25).

If driving from Barcelona, use the the A16 tollway.

The Sitges tourist office is at Carrer de Sinia Morera (93 811 76 30).

A gay-friendly guide, Plano Gay de Sitges, is available in restaurants, bars and shops around the town.

Museu Cau Ferrat opens Tues-Sun, 10am to 9pm, June-September and 9.30am-2pm at other times.