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Best mountains of Catalonia

Catalonia is not only beach but also mountain and nature. When you are at Barcelona, you can notice it because you are surrounded by them and because you can either go down the street to go to the sea or go up to the mountain. The first one, which can attract your eyes, is the one you can see from the rambla de catalunya street – you can't miss it because it has a church on the top and it is lighted during night time.

This mountain is Tibidabo and except the church, there is also a theme park for kids (a good thing if you have children) and a great view on Barcelona (a great thing if you like taking photo) but around this city and in Catalonia, there are much more.

Nature is very incredible in its natural state and mountains represent its great strength. It is very nice to get sometimes off the city and to breathe fresh air, I like a lot because it allows me to recharge myself with new energy, to enjoy a nicely walk and the landscapes are a gift for my eyes.

The most famous one near Barcelona is Montserrat and its natural protected park in Bages region – a real treasure. At the top, you have the sanctuary and benedictine monastery dedicated to the Virgin of Montserrat and you can visit the area – from Barcelona, you have 3 choices:

  • by train. Take the FGC train (R5, direction Manresa-Baixador) at espanya metro station (L1/L3), get off either at aeri Montserrat station and take the cable railway or at monistrol de Montserrat station and take the express train.
  • by bus. Take Julià bus at plaza dels països catalans (near sants metro station)
  • by car. Get out of Barcelona by going up the avinguda diagonal street, take B-23/E90 and then the freeway A2 until Martorell, after N11 and after C1411 (paid parking).

Once there, there are a lot of things to do like hiking, climbing... check out its official website to know more.

Except Montserrat, it exists other beautiful natural areas where you can take beautiful shots but you need a car to go there – the best is to use an interactive map like google map or via michelin to visualize the road and below it is my list of favorite places:

  • Núria valley is located at eastern Pyrenees and the only way to get there it is to take the express train or walk beside the Núria river (map Barcelona – Queralbs).
  • Cadí-Moixeró natural protected park is located at Saldes area and it is a mountainous group of impressive relief (map Barcelona – Gresolet).
  • The mountainous massif of Montseny nature park is located at the pre-coastal of Sierra Catalan and the most higher is Turó de l’Home with its 1700 m (map Barcelona - Santa Fe del Montseny).
  • Noguera Ribagorzana river which crosses the narrow pass of Monrebei in Sierra Montsec (map Barcelona - La Clua y Sant Esteve de la Sarga).
  • Garrotxa natural volcanos park in and around the Olot area with its famous Croscat volcano which misses it a quarter (map Barcelona – Olot).
  • Aigües Tortes national park of Catalan Pyrenees where you can walk inside a nicely Sant Nicolau valley (map Barcelona – La Vall de Boi).
  • Montnegre nature park at the catalan coast of Maresme which provides shelter for an impressive biological richness (map Barcelona - Sant Martí del Montnegre).
  • Cardó valley is a little treasure at Rasquera area which hides its beautiful cliffs and wood landscapes (map Barcelona – Rasquera).

Like you can see, I put between bracket the origin and the closer destination because normally, you have to park your car and use your feet to go to those natural treasures – for instance (map Barcelona – Gresolet) so the origin is Barcelona and the closer destination is Gresolet.

In some places, you can take the RENFE train to reach the destination but you may need to do a lot of changes – for more information, check out its official website.