Spain Guide
Aragón
The Aragonese Pyrenees
Aragón has the highest and best stretch of the Pyrenees on the Spanish side, offering everything from casual day-walks in the high valleys to long-distance treks across the mountains. There are numerous trails, marked as either GR (Grande Recorrido – long-haul, red-and-white blazes) or PR (Pequeño Recorrido – short-haul, blue-and-white- or yellow-and-white-marked) trails.
The most popular jumping-off point for the mountains is Jaca, an attractive town in its own right, with an important cathedral. From here, most walkers head northeast to the spectacular alpine landscape of the Parque Nacional de Ordesa, with its canyons and waterfall valleys. Northwest of Jaca, the valleys of Ansó, and Echo, offer less rigorous hiking, while southeast of the park, Aínsa, with its picturesque old town, makes another pleasant gateway to the mountains. Still farther east, Benasque provides access to the two loftiest Pyrenean peaks, Aneto (3404m) and Posets (3371m), protected by a parque natural, as well as to the bluff-top cathedral-village of Roda de Isábena. In winter, there's skiing at the well-equipped resorts of Candanchú, Astún, Formigal, Panticosa and Cerler.
There are several possible routes into the region. For Jaca and Ordesa, the most obvious way is via Huesca, the provincial capital, no great shakes in itself but convenient for visiting the great castle of Loarre, Los Mallos sugarloaf mountains or the increasingly popular sub-range Sierra de Guara, whose gorges rank among the country's most labyrinthine landscapes. You can travel by rail through Huesca, Jaca and up to Canfranc just before the Spanish border – though there, sadly, the trains stop. Rail-buses, however, continue into France through the Somport tunnel, while drivers can also cross over the Puerto del Portalet to the east or, east of Ordesa, go through the Bielsa tunnel. All of these are open year-round, except during periods of exceptionally heavy snow.