Exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia has been a dream of mine for a long while. Last week it finally came true. Let´s dive into all the stunning landscapes and unique experiences from my adventurous weekend in the Catalan Pyrenees.

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A Weekend in the Pyrenees of Catalonia

Visiting the Catalan Pyrenees

The Pyrenees of Catalonia (or the Catalan Pyrenees) are located in the northeastern part of Spain, within the autonomous community of Catalonia. This mountain range forms part of the larger Pyrenees range that separates Spain from France, while stretching from the western end near the border with Aragon to the eastern end, where they meet the Mediterranean Sea.

As the Pyrenees is one of my all-time favorite destinations, I tend to return to this mountain range every season. This year, I had my parents visiting, and we planned a weekend getaway in the Catalan Pyrenees to enjoy hiking together. Even though years ago I loved our skiing trip to Baqueira in the Catalan Pyrenees, this time, hiking in Aigüestortes and visiting the Romanesque churches have exceeded my initial expectations. new to me, before this adventurous weekend in the mountains.

family weekend in the pyrenees of catalonia — *With my parents in the Pyrenees* *of Catalonia*

Which part of the Pyrenees is the best?

The Spanish Pyrenees stretch for more than 400 km along the Spain-France border, encompassing three Spanish regions: Aragon, Navarra, and Catalonia. On the other side, the French Pyrenees are known for iconic places like the Cirque de Gavarnie, but they are more developed for tourism compared to the Spanish side. The Catalan Pyrenees are often considered the best part of the mountain range, home to one of Spain’s national parks, Aigüestortes, and the popular ski resort of Baqueira-Beret. While I love exploring the Catalan Pyrenees, my favorite part of the mountain range is the Aragonese Pyrenees, as it is full of hidden gems and receives fewer visitors. Although I admit that this is more of a personal preference than an objective conclusion, since all the different parts of the Pyrenees are unique.

Tips for planning a trip to the Pyrenees

Unless you have a few holiday weeks to spare, the best option is to plan your Pyrenees trip around one of the three regions (e.g., Aragon, Catalonia, or Navarra). The roads are fine, but they are mountain roads, so traveling between places takes twice as long. To get a quick glimpse of my trips to the Spanish Pyrenees, check out these Highlights on IG. If you have more days for this Pyrenees adventure – check out this 10-Day Pyrenees Itinerary from Madrid, 7-day Pyrenees Road Trip from Barcelona, Aragon road trip itinerary, Weekend in Lleida, Costa Brava Road Trip, or Northern Spain Road Trip Itinerary – all can be easily combined with exploring the Catalan Pyrenees.

romanesque churches vall de boi — *Exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia – Vall de Boi*

Favorite hotels to stay in the Pyrenees

For this weekend we have chosen a budget-friendly Apartamentos Chuandervera in the small town of Laspaules. During my first visit to the Pyrenees, we stayed at Barceló Monasterio de Boltaña. It´s one of the best hotels with SPA in the Pyrenees, with spacious rooms and quite decent prices (considering the quality of the services). During my previous Pyrenees road trip we planned to do more hiking in Aragon, so picked an apartment in Escalona (for some reason it´s not available on booking.com anymore). You can find a few cute boutique hotels in Ainsa, one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Spain, like Alojamientos Ainsa Sanchez and Los Siete Reyes. I also really like these hotels: Hotel Boutique Mediodía & Apartments, Casa Lascorz, and Casa de San Martín.

Books about the Pyrenees

If you are looking for more visual inspiration or historical, practical data on the Pyrenees region, there are a few books you might find handy – Shorter Treks in the Pyrenees, Explore Pyrenees Like A Local or Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees (focused on the French Pyrenees). Planning to read something about the Pyrenees on the road? – Check Footprints on the mountains, Boundaries, The Savage Frontier, Cruel Crossing, and If you only walk long enough. Alternatively, you can pick something from the contemporary Spanish bestsellers or Wanderlust Books.

If you know Spanish, check out: Pirineos. Mas allá de las montañas, Los Pirineos, Leyendas de brujas en el Pirineo fantástico, Pirineos: 50 joyas del arte románico, Pirineos : montaña sublime, and 101 Lugares de los Pirineos sorprendentes.

spanish pyrenees road trip itinerary - tirolina valle de tena zip line — *Read more about Adventurous things to do in Spain*

Unique experiences to book in the Pyrenees

There are a few unique experiences you can book in the Spanish Pyrenees in advance: Via Ferrata K3. Climbing Experience, Pyrenees Paragliding Experience, Ordesa National Park Guided Snowshoeing Tour, and Hot Air Balloon Ride and Breakfast over the Volcanoes of la Garrotxa. Also, you can read more about my hiking essentials in this post.

Weekend in the mountains: Exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia

Day 1 Aiguestortes National Park + Vall de Boi

Hiking Ruta del Planell de Aiguestortes y Estany Llong

Exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia always involves a visit to the regional natural gem – Aiguestortes National Park (the full name in Catalan is Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici).

The main hiking itineraries of the park are ruta de la ribera de Sant Nicolau, ruta de la Marmota, ruta hacia las Agulles d Amitges, ruta del circ de Colomers, ruta de los estanys de la Vall Fosca. To get all the information and a free map, you can drop by one of the Visitor Centers in Boi, Espot, LLessui, Estany Gento, and Senet.

aiguestortes pyrenees hiking — *One of the coolest Spanish National parks – Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici*

The trail I was most excited to check out this weekend in the mountains was Ruta del Planell de Aiguestortes y Estany Llong (it is the famous part of the already-mentioned itinerary Ruta de la Ribera de Sant Nicolau).

First thing in the morning we got to the small village of Boi in order to take an official transfer to the Aiguestortes National Park (it costs around 11 euros both ways / per person). Local authorities limit access to private vehicles, so the only alternative to their transfer is to walk an extra 12 km-long trail one way towards the national park from Parking de la Molina (this route is called Ruta de la Nutria).

In our case, we decided to make a 9,5km hike (with the transfer), instead of the full 22km-long trail (which would consist of both Ruta de la Nutria and Ruta del Planell de Aiguestortes y Estany Llong).

hiking catalan pyrenees spain — *Ruta del Planell de Aiguestortes y Estany Llong*

The natural setting of Aiguestortes National Park is definitely one of the most beautiful landscapes in Spain.

Since we were exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia in October the trail was not crowded (not even close to some hikes near Valencia, like the famous Route of the Hanging Bridges). The route ended with the crystal-clear lake Estany Llong. (At this point, you can return, or walk further towards Portarro d Espot, Estany de Ratera, or Estany de Sant Maurici – there are a few nice lookouts on these extra trails).

The full itinerary of Ruta del Planell de Aiguestortes y Estany Llong took us around 3 -3.5 hours, and mostly it was a pleasant walk ( we could have easily taken kids with us and explored the Pyrenees with them).

The Catalan Cuisine

After our active morning, we headed for lunch to a local restaurant El Caliu Taull in the small town of Taull.

You know how much I love trying local food in the Spanish villages. This time, we enjoyed two gems of Catalan Cuisine – vianda ( also called escudella in Spanish, which is a traditional meat and vegetable stew and soup) and mel i mato (a Catalan dessert made of cottage cheese and honey).

escudella catalán food travel — *Escudella in El Caliu Taull / Read more about the best foods in the Pyrenees*

Romanesque Churches of Vall de Boi

After lunch, I finally got to visit the famous Romanesque Churches of Vall de Boi, an absolute must-stop while exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia (it´s been on my Spain Bucket List for years).

In the area of Vall de Boi, you will find 9 unique churches from the XIth century, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Some of them are not open all year round, but all have something absolutely unique worth seeing.

The best way to make the most of your visit to Vall de Boi Valley is to get a combined ticket inside one of the churches (or online): you can book either 3 churches for 7 euros or 5 churches for 10 euros (per person). We picked the first option. Since the general entrance for each Romanesque church was 2 euros (and for the Taull church with its unique video show – 4 euros) – the combined ticket was worth it.

The first stop was Sant Climent de Taull, where we fell in love with the unique video (its daily hours:: 10.15, 11.00, 12.00, 12.45, 13.30, 16.15, 17.00, 17.45, 18.30.). Afterward, we made a quick stop at another church nearby, Santa Maria de Taull (the only one of the Romanesque churches with a free entrance).

Next, we went back to Sant Joan de Boi (in the village of Boi) to see its unique mural paintings, and then to Santa Eulalia d Erill la Vall, in order to walk all the way up to its best bell tower of the valley. Inside the Santa Eulalia, I was impressed by the copy of the wooden sculptural ensemble of the Descent from the Cross (the originals were divided between the National Museum of Art of Catalonia and the Episcopal Museum in Vic).

romanesque churches vall boi — *Sant Climent de Taull, one of the top Romanesque churches in Vall de Boi*

taull church catalonia spain — *The video-show inside Sant Climent de Taull*

Day 2 Bausen + Uelhs deth joeu + Vielha

Bosque de Carlac

On the second day of our Pyrenees weekend, I decided to add a new location to my list of magical forests in Spain – the enchanted Bosque de Carlac. While my initial plan for the day was Cogost de Montrebei, I could not book a parking one day before and decided not to risk it (since for this hike you can not leave your car outside the official parking area). Luckily, there are lots of epic hiking trails in the Pyrenees to choose from.

So, we ended up testing the hiking trail Ruta del Bosque de Carlac in the tiny village of Bausen. For some reason, I read on the Spanish websites that it was an easy walk. But in my opinion, it was not. My parents also gave me the looks as we walked upwards on the slippery rocks for a while. Essentially, Bosque de Carlac is an intermediate-level 6.5-km-long hiking trail with an elevation level of +275. While it is a circular trail, we have done it clockwise (unlike all of the other travelers we met on the road).

Visiting both Bausen and Bosque de Carlac was such a unique experience: it all looked stuck in time, from the abandoned local houses to the ancient giant trees. This lesser-known hike is definitely making its way to my list of favorite hikes in Spain.

bausen haunted villages — *Abandoned houses in Bausen, The Pyrenees of Catalonia*

The mysterious legend in Bausen

Additionally, the tiny village of Bausen will be a great match for the fans of Spanish legends and mysterious places in Spain, since it has its very own strange local tale from the beginning of the XXth century.

Rumor has it that two locals Francisco and Teresa were deeply in love and wanted to get married, but the local priest requested lots of money to approve their marriage (based on the fact that they were cousins, which the church could not approve of, unless they´d pay the necessary amount). The two lovebirds had no money but got to live together anyway. They had two kids and moved out of Bausen. However, Teresa got sick and died at the age of 33, but the church did not give her partner permission to bury her in Bausen. Nevertheless, the locals helped him to dig up the grave anyway. Teresa was buried against the Church´s word, which was so uncommon for the small-town life of the XXth century.

bosque de carlac — *The enchanted forest – Bosque de Carlac*

Lunch on the road

After hiking in Bausen, we made a stop for lunch at Boixetes de Cal Manel, where we enjoyed two local dishes – olla aranesa (a local meat soup) and arroz de montaña (similar to the rice meal I had in la borda of Andorra last winter).

arroz de montaña catalonia — *Arroz de montaña – a typical dish in the Spanish Pyrenees*

Uelhs deth Joeu

After the lunch break, we headed to Uelhs deth Joeu waterfall, another must-stop while exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia.

This place has easy access since you park nearby. However, I read on the Spanish sites that in summer the area is usually closed for private vehicles and they set a tourist train (please, double-check this, in case you plan to visit during the peak season).

pyrenees waterfall spain — *Uelhs deth Joeu waterfall in the Pyrenees of Catalonia*

From the waterfall, we walked 15 min up the stairs towards Refugi Plan de L´Artiga de Lin. Suddenly the woods transformed into a beautiful valley, surrounded by the Pyrenees on three sides. This surprising discovery was definitely one of the most stunning landscapes I have seen in the Pyrenees so far. So, if you do not mind walking a bit – I really recommend going beyond the Uelhs deth Joeu waterfall.

exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia — *A walk towards Refugi Plan de L´Artiga de Lin*

At this point, we ran out of daytime and went to have dinner in Vielha (also bought a few souvenirs for the family there). Then, returned to the hotel. If we had more time, I would have also visited Termas Baronia de Les – an off-the-beaten-path SPA, which was in use from the Roman times on the Iberian Peninsula.

vielha spain pyrenees — *Walking the streets of Vielha*

5 Comments

Josy A on November 9, 2023 at 5:05 AM

Yeees! I am such a fan of this area! My mother in law grew up in Vall de Boi, so we went back to explore (and hike in places like Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park) It looks like you have just scratched the surface, so I hope you can go back! <3

The hikes are incredible eh!?
Kelly on November 9, 2023 at 7:02 AM

I’ve never heard of this area before reading this! It looks like such a picturesque place to explore. Thanks for letting me know about this place. I’ll be saving this post for a future trip!
Tracey Kifford on November 9, 2023 at 10:24 PM

I’ve never hiked this area, but have driven through it a couple of times – it is beautiful. We always seem to be on the way to somewhere else – I think we need to make it our destination so we can explore some more.
Nikki on November 10, 2023 at 3:21 PM

Wow! This place is stunning. What a fun adventure!
Emma on November 10, 2023 at 6:16 PM

Stunning photos, looks like the perfect place to spend an adventurous weekend away! Loving the idea of the Via Ferrata!

Exploring the Pyrenees of Catalonia: My Adventurous Weekend in the Mountains