Camping in Lleida: the wildest Pyrenees, Romanesque art and the market gardens of Catalonia
Lleida is the inland province of Catalonia, the most mountainous in the north and the most agricultural in the south, and it holds a good part of the most valuable natural and cultural heritage of the whole region. The Lleida Pyrenees are the heart of the Catalan high mountains: peaks above three thousand metres, valleys of sober and powerful beauty, glacial lakes, forests of fir and pine, and a silence that is increasingly difficult to find in Europe.
The Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park is the only national park in Catalonia and one of the most beautiful in all of Spain. Its more than two hundred high-mountain lakes, its glacial cirques, its waterfalls and its wildlife (chamois, marmots, golden eagles, capercaillie) make it an essential destination for nature and hiking lovers. The campsites of the Pallars Sobirà and the Pallars Jussà are the perfect base for exploring this territory on foot, by mountain bike or by kayak on the Noguera Pallaresa river, a benchmark river for rafting and competitive canoeing in Spain.
The Vall de Boí is another of Lleida's great treasures. This small Pyrenean valley is home to a group of nine Romanesque churches from the eleventh and twelfth centuries declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Sant Climent de Taüll, Santa Maria de Taüll and Sant Joan de Boí, among others. Their slender bell towers and stone apses stand out against a mountain landscape of a beauty that stops you in your tracks. Next to the valley are the Caldes de Boí hot springs, with thermal waters of volcanic origin.
The Aran Valley, an enclave in the north of the Pyrenees reached through the Vielha tunnel, has its own language (Aranese, a variant of Occitan) and a very marked cultural identity. Its villages of slate and granite such as Vielha, Bossost, Arties and Salardú, its cuisine with Pyrenean and Gascon influences, and the Baqueira-Beret resort, the largest and busiest for alpine skiing in Spain, make it a first-rate four-season destination. The campsites of the Aran Valley remain open for much of the year and offer pitches for motorhomes and caravans in settings of great beauty.
In the south, the plain of Lleida is irrigated farmland and market gardens. The city of Lleida has the Seu Vella, a thirteenth-century cathedral-fortress on top of a hill with views over the whole Segre plain, one of the most distinctive urban landscapes in Catalonia. Lleida cuisine is direct and hearty: cargols a la llauna, chicken with pears, trinxat de la Cerdanya, mountain cured meats, garden fruit and top-quality Arbequina olive oil. Camping in Lleida means choosing the wildest landscapes of the Pyrenees with a calm and authentic hospitality.
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