Fresh Summer! Places in the Pyrenees where you can swim and hike
If the heat makes you sweat, the sand on the beach gives you hives and you can't stand the idea of having to sleep in front of the fan, don't worry, I have the solution! Take note, these are some of the getaways in the Catalan Pyrenees that will most refresh your summer. Here are four places in the Pyrenees full of charm and where you can bathe in rivers and natural pools.
La Seu D’Urgell (Alt Urgell)
Located in the heart of the Pyrenees, from La Seu d'Urgell you will have access to a multitude of leisure activities, adventure sports, landscapes, hiking and also cultural events.
Just half an hour from La Seu you have the Coll de Nargó pools, where you can take a dip and cool off. You will find them on the road that goes towards Sallent.
If you prefer not to move too much, in Seu d'Urgell itself you will find the Parc Olímpic del Segre, where you can go rafting all year round, canoeing, open-kayak and hydro-sleigh. Guaranteed fun for everyone!
Canyoning is also very popular in La Seu and surrounding areas. It will allow you to cool off while you do some hiking along the rivers and discover the fauna and flora of the Pyrenees. Take a look at SB Canyoing activities.
For those of you who like to walk through the mountains and take spectacular photographs, visit the Cadí Moixeró Natural Park and the Alt Pirineu Natural Park.
If you add to all this that you have a huge shopping center called “Andorra” just 8km away, there is no doubt that La Seu d’Urgell is a great plan!
You can stay at the Hotel Andria, located in the heart of La Seu. A beautiful modernist building where tradition and charm mix with professionalism and comfort. A hotel where you will sleep like a fairy tale and eat even better: its restaurant is one of the most traditional establishments in the Catalan Pyrenees.
Cerdanya
With one foot in Catalonia and another in France, La Cerdanya is a peculiar place, with its own personality, full of charming small towns and activities to do as a family.
You can ride a horse, row on the Puigcerdà lake, visit the Pyrenean towns with the vintage Yellow Train, take a quad route, play golf, go on excursions... All of this surrounded by a landscape that is a little reminiscent of Switzerland, with meadows full of cows and high, green mountains.
Don't miss the excursion from Meranges to Lake Malniu. A very simple walking route, which you will do in just half an hour and which will take you to one of the most charming corners of the Pyrenees. If it's sunny when you get to Lake Malniu, don't hesitate to take a dip!
The Hotel Del Prado, in Puigcerdà, is a good base of operations for exploring Cerdanya (both Catalan and French). A very family-friendly hotel, with an outdoor pool and five minutes from the commercial area of Puigcerdà.
Ribes Valley (Ripollès)
Very close to Ripoll you will find several places where you can swim in summer. The most notable is the so-called “Ruta dels 7 Gorgs” that begins in Campdevànol and passes through seven spectacular waterfalls.
The first of these jumps, the Gorg de la Cabana, has been so crowded in recent years that the town councils of Campdevànol and Les Llosses have drawn up an agreement to control its capacity on the days with the greatest impact on visitors. But it is still worth a trip to see it.
The Hotel Els Caçadors is 12 minutes from Campdevànol, in Ribes de Freser. An excellent option to visit this region since the rack train leaves from Ribes de Freser to Núria, where you will have endless excursions to do -- of all levels. In Núria, there is also the Leisure Park where the little ones have a great time.
Also near Ripoll, you will find the Riera de Vilardell waterfall and two other pools in Sant Joan de Les Abadesses: the Torrent del Coll del Pal and the Gorg de Malatosca - a beautiful walking excursion with one more waterfall! how amazing! All of them can be done on foot and are an excellent option to cool off on a hot summer day.
In Sant Joan de les Abadesses is the Hotel Les Planes d'en Grau, a completely renovated farmhouse from the 14th century and located in a beautiful environment, which was owned by the Monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses.
Choose this hotel if your intention is to visit both the Ribes-Ripoll valley and the Camprodon valley; Or in other words, if you would like to swim in both the places mentioned above and those that come right below.
Camprodon Valley (Ripolles)
Ripollés is a place full of excursions and you can see it because I needed two sections to cover all the good ideas and routes that you can do in summer.
In this second section, we go to the other Ripollés valley: the Camprodon valley, beautiful at any time of the year! There you can visit beautiful towns such as Camprodon, Setcases, Molló and Beget, take walking routes through the Pyrenees, ride horses and, of course, bathe in very charming and very cool natural places! Precisely very close to the town of Beget you have the Basses de'n Correveu, in the Salarsa stream.
Are you curious to know what a ski resort is like without snow? Following the road that goes towards Setcases you will reach the Vallter ski resort (the easternmost one in the Catalan Pyrenees). Its chairlift is open in summer so you can go up to the top of the station and take routes on foot once there.
Where can you stay near Camprodon? Here you have three excellent options for your getaway to the Pyrenees:
- In Camprodon, the Hotelet del Bac is a small charming hotel with only 9 rooms, ideal for disconnecting in the middle of nature
- Very close to Camprodon, in Llanars, is the Hotel Spa El Grèvol, a fabulous hotel for a family getaway.
- A little further north, in the bucolic town of Setcases you have the Hotel La Coma, a family hotel, recently renovated in 2016 and with beautiful exteriors designed for family leisure.
- And in the beautiful town of Molló, you will find the Hotel Calitxó, a mountain hotel, very familiar, surrounded by tranquility and nature.
Fotos por orden de aparición: Ian Mackenzie, Roberto Lumbreras,
Herbert Ortner, Ruben, Alberto G Robi, Pedro Luna Guillen, A Chilling Soul, Monster1000.
