Spain Guide
Catalunya
The Catalan Pyrenees
You don't have to travel far from the coast nor Catalunya's three largest cities before you reach the foothills of the Catalan Pyrenees, the easternmost stretch of the mountain chain that divides Spain and France. From Barcelona, you can reach Ripoll by train in under three hours. The area northwest of here has been extensively developed with skiing stations; during summer, it's also quite busy, particularly in the valleys leading to Camprodon.
Following the Freser valley north from Ripoll brings you to Ribes de Freser, start of the stunning private train line up to Núria (a combination of shrine and recreation centre). Farther north, by the French border, Puigcerdà has the only surviving train link with France over the Pyrenees, while nearby the peculiar Spanish enclave of Llívia lies wholly enclosed within France.
For serious Pyrenean walking – and a wider range of scenery, flora and fauna – head farther west, beyond La Seu d'Urgell and the adjacent duty-free principality of Andorra, which mark the middle of the Catalan Pyrenees. Although more tampered with (by hydroelectric projects in particular) than the Aragonese peaks to the west, the mountains here offer some of the best trekking in the whole range. The Noguera Pallaresa valley, the Val d'Aran and the superbly scenic Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici are all reasonably accessible, offering easy hiking as well as more specialist routes.
A complication for anyone intent upon seeing more than a small part of the Catalan Pyrenees in one go, even with their own transport, is the geographical layout of the region. The Val d'Aran, in the northwestern corner of Catalunya, has an east– west orientation, as do the Cerdanya uplands, but most of the other valleys run north– south, with few lateral roads, which means that connecting between them on two or four wheels is not always easy. Determined hikers can follow various passes between the valleys; otherwise, you'll need to backtrack a bit out of the mountains before venturing up a new valley.