Aigüestortes National Park: Hiking in the Catalan Pyrenees

You cannot drive into the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park. Private vehicles stop at the car parks outside, and from there you walk in or take one of the licensed 4×4 taxis that run from Boí in the west and Espot in the east. That single rule shapes every visit, so plan the day around which entrance you use and how you get from it to the trailhead.

Aigüestortes is the only national park in Catalonia and has held that status since 1955. It sits high in the Catalan Pyrenees, in a glaciated landscape of nearly 200 lakes, black pine forest, peat bog and granite peaks, and it takes more than half a million visitors a year without ever feeling crowded once you are an hour from the entrance.

I went in on a guided walk from the Boí side, having never heard of the place until a trip to Catalonia put it in front of me. What follows is how to get in, what the rules are, and what you will see when you do.

The park in numbers

The figures that matter for planning are set out below.

The name translates as “winding waters and the lake of Saint Maurice”, and both halves describe what you walk through: braided streams spreading across flat valley floors at the Aigüestortes end, and a single deep lake under two peaks at the Sant Maurici end.

How to get into the park

The two main entrances

Aigüestortes has two main entrances on opposite sides of the range and several smaller ones. Boí, in the Alta Ribagorça, is the western gate and the one that leads to the Aigüestortes plain itself. Espot, in the Pallars Sobirà, is the eastern gate and the one that leads to Estany de Sant Maurici. Each has a Casa del Parc information centre with maps, route advice and weather, and each has car parks outside the boundary.

Getting between the two by road means a long drive around the massif, so pick one side for a day trip. Only a through-hike crosses from one to the other on foot.

The 4×4 taxis

Licensed 4×4 taxis carry visitors from the villages to the trailheads inside the boundary, and they are the reason a short visit is possible at all. On the Boí side the Vall de Boí Taxi Association runs a fleet of nine-seat 4x4s from Plaça del Treio in Boí, next to the church and the Casa del Parc, all year round when the weather allows. They run 8.00am to 7.00pm in summer and 9.00am to 6.00pm for the rest of the year, with shorter winter hours and days when access closes altogether. Fares start at around €5.75 (about $6.70, £4.95) per adult, and the association takes bookings on 629 205 489.

Espot has an equivalent service running to the Sant Maurici side. We left our bus in Boí, took the 4×4 up to the park entrance and walked from there.

Walking in from the car park

You can also walk in, and on the Boí side the route is straightforward. Drive to the La Palanca de la Molina car park on the L-500, about 2 km (1.2 mi) before Caldes de Boí. When that one is full there is a second car park further down the road, which is also where motorhomes go. From the upper car park the Camí dels Enamorats takes about 20 minutes on foot to the start of the Llúdriga route, which then runs about two hours to Aigüestortes.

That makes a full day rather than a morning, and it is a good day’s walking in its own right.

Bikes

Bicycles are allowed as far as the Aigüestortes plateau and no further. There is a bicycle rack at the plateau where you leave the bike and continue on foot, and you must stay on the forest track on the way up. Anything beyond the information points, and any riding off the track, is out. This is the one rule that older write-ups get inconsistently: bikes are neither banned outright nor allowed everywhere.

The park rules

Aigüestortes is a national park run on a leave-no-trace basis, and the rangers enforce it. The rules that catch visitors out are listed below.

1. No private motor vehicles inside the boundary. Park outside, walk in or take a 4×4 taxi.
2. No wild camping anywhere in the park. Sleep in a manned mountain refuge inside, or in the villages and campsites outside.
3. No campfires.
4. No swimming in the lakes or rivers.
5. No taking anything. Plants, rocks, mushrooms, fossils: all stay where they are.
6. No hunting or fishing inside the park.
7. Bikes only to the information points, on the forest track.

Accessible wooden boardwalk routes exist in several parts of the park. If you use a motorised wheelchair you need specific authorisation to bring it in, so contact a Casa del Parc before you travel rather than on the day.

Walking in Aigüestortes

More than 20 marked routes cross the park, running from two-hour walks to five-day traverses and from easy to serious. Walking is the way the park is designed to be seen: rock climbing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and dog sledding all happen here in season, but the trails are what the infrastructure is built around.

We only had two hours, which is enough to understand the landscape and not nearly enough to see it.

Two long circuits link the refuges for anyone with more time.

• Carros de Foc, “chariots of fire”, is the famous one: a refuge-to-refuge circuit that links the park’s mountain huts and is usually walked over several days, with a reputation among Catalan walkers as a rite of passage.
• Camins Vius, “living paths”, is the other multi-day route, following the old working tracks between valleys.

Camping with a tent is not allowed anywhere in the park, so both circuits are walked hut to hut. The refuges charge a modest fee for a bed and a meal, and they need booking ahead, particularly in July and August and at weekends.

Some of these trails need real hill fitness. The weather at this altitude changes inside a day, and the difference between a valley floor at 1,600 m (5,250 ft) and a col above 2,500 m (8,200 ft) is a different set of clothes.

Estany de Sant Maurici and the waterfalls

Estany de Sant Maurici is the lake the park is named after and the largest inside it, roughly 450 m (1,476 ft) long. Sant Maurici sits in pine and fir forest with two peaks standing directly behind it, and the reflection of those peaks in the water is the image that appears on the park’s own logo.

Trails run from the lake up to the Ratera waterfall and on to viewpoints over the valley. Elsewhere the park is full of smaller water: braided streams spreading across the flat at Aigüestortes, waterfalls off the hanging valleys, and lake after lake in the cirques above, almost all of them left behind by the glaciers that cut the place.

Els Encantats

Els Encantats, “the enchanted ones”, are the twin peaks above Estany de Sant Maurici and the park’s most recognisable skyline. The smaller, Petit Encantat, reaches 2,734 m (8,970 ft) and the larger, Gran Encantat, 2,748 m (9,016 ft). Local legend accounts for the pair by turning two men to stone for hunting instead of going to Mass, which is where the name comes from.

Wildlife in the park

The park holds a lot of wildlife and shows very little of it, because almost all of it is genuinely wild and avoids people. Our guide’s advice was the standard advice and it is right: bring binoculars, go at dawn or dusk, keep quiet, and go alone or in pairs rather than in a group.

What lives here divides by habitat.

• In the water: brown trout, frogs and toads, and the Pyrenean brook newt. The Pyrenean desman, a long-snouted semi-aquatic relative of the mole found nowhere outside these mountains and northern Iberia, also lives in the streams. Older guides sometimes call it a muskrat, which is a different animal entirely and not native here.
• On the slopes and meadows: isard, the Pyrenean chamois, along with roe deer, alpine marmots and stoats. The Pyrenean brown bear population, reintroduced to the central Pyrenees, ranges in the wider region.
• In the air: more species than anything else, from golden eagles and bearded vultures to black woodpeckers in the pine forest.

There are vipers in the park. They are venomous rather than poisonous, which matters if you are ever bitten, they are uncommon, and they will only strike if you corner or provoke one. Watch where you put your hands on warm rock and leave them alone.

Where to combine a visit

The valleys on either side of the park are worth a day of their own, and the Vall de Boí is the stronger of the two. Nine early Romanesque churches in the valley, together with a hermitage, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and they are the densest group of Romanesque building in this part of Europe: slender bell towers, barrel vaults and fresco fragments, in villages a few minutes apart. Sant Climent de Taüll is the one everybody photographs.

Both Casa del Parc centres carry information on the valleys as well as the trails, so pick up what you need there.

Getting there and where to stay

Aigüestortes is roughly four hours from Barcelona by road and there is no train to either entrance, so this is a drive. Compare car hire rates for a Barcelona pick-up once your dates are set, and note that you will be leaving the car outside the park anyway. Flights into Barcelona are the usual approach; compare fares across airlines before fixing the trip.

Sleep in Boí, Taüll or Barruera for the western side and the Romanesque churches, or in Espot for the Sant Maurici side. Both are small mountain villages with guesthouses, small hotels and campsites rather than resorts, and both fill in August. Compare rooms when you look for somewhere to stay in Spain, and book early for a summer weekend.

What to pack

Mountain weather at this altitude changes within a day, so pack for more than the forecast. Take the following.

• Hiking boots or other sturdy shoes with grip, because the trails are rock and root rather than path.
• Layers, including a windproof and waterproof outer shell.
• Sunglasses and sunscreen: at 2,000 m (6,560 ft) the sun is harsher than the temperature suggests.
• More water than you think, and snacks, since there is nothing to buy inside the park.
• A paper map from the Casa del Parc, because phone signal is unreliable in the valleys.

Information centres

The park’s information centres are listed below, with their addresses and phone numbers.

Frequently asked questions

Can you drive into Aigüestortes National Park?

No. Private motor vehicles are not allowed inside the park boundary. You park at the car parks outside Boí or Espot and continue on foot or in one of the licensed 4×4 taxis that run from each village to the trailheads.

How much does the 4×4 taxi to Aigüestortes cost?

Fares on the Boí side start at around €5.75 (about $6.70, £4.95) per adult. The taxis leave from Plaça del Treio in Boí, 8.00am to 7.00pm in summer and 9.00am to 6.00pm the rest of the year, and winter access can close entirely in bad weather.

Is Aigüestortes worth visiting for one day?

Yes, if you accept that a day shows you one end of it. Take the 4×4 in from Boí or Espot and walk a half-day loop from the drop-off point. Two days lets you see both the Aigüestortes plain and Estany de Sant Maurici properly, and a multi-day hut circuit is what the park is really built for.

Can you camp in Aigüestortes National Park?

Not with a tent, anywhere inside the park. There are staffed mountain refuges along the trails that take bookings and serve meals, and campsites and guesthouses in the villages outside the boundary.

When is the best time to visit Aigüestortes?

Late June to September gives you the reliable trail conditions, the full 4×4 timetable and the high lakes free of snow. October is quieter and the larches turn. Winter closes some access roads and turns the park over to snowshoeing and ski touring, with shorter taxi hours and days when the service does not run at all.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

Four things will make a day here work better than a longer guide will.

1. Pick your side before you pick your date. Boí leads to the Aigüestortes plain and the Romanesque churches, Espot leads to Estany de Sant Maurici and Els Encantats. Driving between the two takes hours, so a day trip is one side only.
2. Check the taxi is running before you drive up in winter. The Boí service runs all year when the weather allows, on shorter hours from October, and there are days when access simply closes.
3. Take the bike to the plateau and no further. Bicycles are allowed on the forest track as far as the Aigüestortes plateau, where there is a rack to leave them, and not beyond the information points.
4. Book a refuge before you plan a hut circuit. Tent camping is banned throughout the park, so Carros de Foc and Camins Vius both depend on beds that fill up in July and August.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this post come from her guided walk into the park from the Boí side, made during a press trip to the Pyrenees hosted by the Lleida tourist board, who arranged the logistics. All opinions are her own. The team covers Spain for independent travellers, including the walks, guesthouses and car hire worth booking, and updates this page when access rules, fares and opening hours change.