The most beautiful villages on our routes

Montserrat

The serrated mountain an hour from Barcelona, with a Benedictine monastery built into the rock. Our 1-day gravel route ends at the foot of it, in Monistrol, and you can go up by rack railway or cable car before taking the train home. Go early or late in the day: the middle hours are busy with coaches.

On: Montserrat by Gravel, and day 1 of the 5-day gravel route.

Cardona

A hilltop castle that is now a parador, above the Salt Mountain, a huge outcrop of salt that you can visit underground. One of the most striking views in central Catalonia.

On: day 2 of the 5-day gravel route.

Vic

A market town with one of the largest arcaded squares in Catalonia. The market fills it on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. The cathedral has a cloister and murals worth a stop. Vic is famous for its cured sausage, llonganissa.

On: the start of the 3-day gravel route, and the finish of the 5-day MTB route.

Ripoll

Home of the monastery of Santa Maria, whose carved stone portal is one of the great works of Romanesque art in Europe. A good place for a long lunch at the end of a stage.

On: the 3-day and 5-day gravel routes.

Sant Joan de les Abadesses and Camprodon

Two small towns on the greenway that climbs the Ter valley. Sant Joan has a 12th-century monastery and a Gothic bridge. Camprodon has the arched stone bridge over the Ter that appears on every postcard, and shops that sell local biscuits and sausages.

On: day 2 of the 3-day gravel route.

Olot and the volcanoes

Olot sits among the extinct volcanoes of La Garrotxa, now a natural park of beech forests and lava fields. The Carrilet greenway starts here and runs downhill, on an old railway line, all the way to Girona.

On: the 3-day and 5-day gravel routes.

Rupit and Tavertet

Two villages of the Collsacabra, on the edge of the cliffs above the Sau reservoir. Rupit has stone houses and a hanging footbridge. Tavertet sits right on the cliff edge, with one of the best views in Catalonia.

On: days 4 and 5 of the 5-day MTB route.

Girona

The old town climbs above the river Onyar, with its coloured houses, the cathedral steps, the old city walls you can walk on and the Jewish quarter. A great place to finish a trip, with fast trains back to Barcelona.

On: the finish of the 3-day and 5-day gravel routes.

Near our routes, worth a detour

• Besalú: a medieval village with a fortified Romanesque bridge, about 20 km east of Olot.
• Castellfollit de la Roca: a village on a basalt cliff, on the road between Olot and Besalú.
• Santa Pau: a stone village in the heart of the volcano park, close to the Fageda d’en Jordà beech forest.