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8 nights in the Spanish Pyrenees -- need advice

Hello. My wife and I are traveling to Spain in August, and specifically looking to stay in the Spanish Pyrenees for all, or at least the majority of our trip. We've been to the other major cities in Spain, and while we loved them, we're picturing this trip to be more geared toward hiking and other outdoor activities, while staying in small mountain villages for ultimate relaxation, and hopefully escaping some of the August crowds. We're also considering a night or two at the end of the trip in Collioure, since it's only 2+ hours drive from Barcelona airport.

We will be flying into Madrid and out of Barcelona, so we are looking at a route which possibly involves Zaragoza, or Huesca the first night, then perhaps moving on to Ordesa National Park (stay in Torla?), or going directly to Aiguestortes Park (stay in Boi, Taull, or Espot?). From what we have read so far, and the pictures we've seen, we feel we'd like to spend a good chuck of our time in Aiguestortes, but do not want to hike every single day. We also would LOVE to kayak somewhere in the area, but not through rapids, or go horseback riding, etc. I also like the idea of staying at a refugio, but wonder if that would be too much moving around.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. We're trying to avoid jumping around each night, so perhaps 2-3 areas total for our 8 nights? Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

Posted by
4180 posts

Hi, firstly good on you for visiting the Pyrenees, it's a spectacular place that is really off the radar for most international tourists. Here would be my recommendation of the general route:

Fly in to Madrid
Directly take AVE Train to
Zaragoza (2 nights) rent car here
Drive north with stops at Huesca and Loarre Castle
Jaca (2 night) - trips to Valles Occidentales and Ordesa National Parks
Turn east
Val d'Aran/Vielha (1 night) - trip to Vall de Boí/Aigüestortes National Park
Continue east
Cerdanya valley/Puigcerda (2 nights) - trips to Foix and Vall de Núria
Take the N-260 stoping at Castellfollit de la Roca and Besalú
Collioure (1 night) - enjoy the beach!
Drive down to Barcelona and return car

Of course this is just a rough literary and probably requires some edits and trimming here and there to perfectly fit your interests. Hope this helps!

Posted by
28090 posts

Keep in mind that, picturesque though they are, Puigcerda (and the rest of the Cerdanya Valley) can be quite hot in the summer and Zaragoza almost certainly will be miserably hot. Be sure you have air conditioned lodgings, and don't plan to do any hiking in the immediate vicinty of those towns.

Posted by
4180 posts

Regarding Zaragoza and La Cerdanya, it's really a hit or a miss weather wise, the weather of La Cerdanya has a better chance of being manageable, but Zaragoza has been known to get quite hot during the summers, although I was there last August for a week and did not have any major heat problems (it was around 30c).

Posted by
1194 posts

Hi from Wisconsin,

My wife and I spent 4 or 5 nights in Talarn. You will have to Google it to find it. It is at the base of the mountains north-NW of Barcelona. There were plenty of day trips up valleys into the mountains, most of these roads ended near the Spanish border.

The very small villages in hailed in old tour books were over whelmed by condo constructions during the housing boom of the late 2000's. But the old churches in them are still precious.

East of Talarn along the mountain edge is a wild drive with great views.

Wayne iNWI

Posted by
11570 posts

We drove from the Spanish Basque areas to the French side of the Pyrenees so can’t help with Spanish side. We stayed in Collioure for several days and loved it. It is so picturesque, has artistic history, castle, waterfront. Perfect.
Then we stayed in Costa Brava, finally Barcelona. Collioure would work well for driving to BCN.

Posted by
12 posts

Thank you everyone for weighing in with your thoughts. This has been a challenging trip to plan, in part because there just seems to be so little information out there on this area. My hope is that will be a good thing in the long run. Right now we have 3 nights booked in Ordesa area, with 5 nights remaining. I'm torn between booking all 5 nights in Aiguestortes area, to really slow down and enjoy the area without rushing through, then drive to Barcelona for an afternoon flight home. The other option is to stay 3-4 nights in Aiguestortes area, followed by last 1-2 nights in Collioure. It would be nice to see that area too, but I also don't want to short-change Aiguestortes, considering how much we love the mountains!

Thanks again for your thoughts!