This quiet region in the Pyrenees receives just 1,500 British tourists a year. It’s ideal for gentle walks filled with wildlife and good food
I’m 10 minutes into my hike when the hissing starts. I freeze, scanning the dry oak leaves strewn on the path for vipers. Then I hear it again – above me. They’re in the trees?
Turning my gaze upwards, I lock eyes with a striped face, not 10ft further along the path.
The animal strikes its hoof twice against the rock, accompanied by a hiss. Small, sharp-looking horns crown its deer-like head. Discretion being the better part of valour, I retreat a few steps, hoping it’ll bound away.
It remains, eyeballing me. Five minutes of calculations pass before I decide to slowly creep past, pleading with it gently not to shove me down the hillside. My voice seems to unnerve it – the animal flees, rustling away into the underbrush.
It’s been written that the concept of the sublime, that sense of awe we often feel in nature, is a kissing cousin of dread. Following that encounter, the woods of the Vall de Ribes feel thrillingly alive. I don’t encounter another isard – the goat-antelope of the Pyrenees – that day, and file away my sighting as a rare one.
Then, the next day, I saw three more. And a marmot.
I’m on a walking holiday with the travel company Inntravel, in the Spanish Pyrenees, and based in the mountain town of Ribes de Freser. Many similar breaks involve moving between hotels, which requires the rigmarole of packing and transfers. A single-centre break makes the logistics as undemanding as the terrain.
An isard Chris spotted in Vall de Ribes (Photo: Chris Allsop)
Deposited by the genially paced train from Barcelona, I’m met by Marta Perramon, the energetic, hotel director of Resguard del Vents. On the short drive, she points out her octogenarian father’s home set behind her modern glass-and-stone hotel. She describes how, when he calls for help on his farm, she, her nephews and her husband drop what they’re doing and head over.
Besides its demanding patriarchs, Ribes de Freser is best known for its mineral water (aigua de Ribes) and the rack railway. The railway’s narrow gauge slips up to the Vall de Núria at 6,600 ft (over 3,000 ft above Ribes) – a picturesque hidden valley with a commanding sanctuary-cum-ski-resort-facility that once hosted the signing of the 1931 Catalan Statute of Autonomy.
After 45 minutes, the train pulls out a tunnel alongside a turquoise reservoir, with the startling illusion that we’ve broken the surface. An “aww” comes from the passengers as the valley comes into view.
The lake in Vall de Nuria Valley Sanctuary (Photo: Supplied)
We disembark and my fellow travellers filter off onto different trails. This county of the Girona Pyrenees, known as Ripollès, sees an annual influx of 323,000 tourists (with only 1,503 from the UK), according to the Catalan tourism board – tiny, when you consider that somewhere like the Scottish Highlands receives annual visitor numbers in the millions.
This, as well as Inntravel’s shrewdly plotted trails, contribute to me seeing no other humans while hiking around the wildflower-sprinkled valley, but plenty of lizards, isards, and the singular marmot. It’s little wonder that Marta has so many return guests, including a Danish couple back for their third visit, drawn by the plentiful, easy-going hikes.
And then there’s the food. Catalonia is the World Region of Gastronomy for 2025 and once the location of the world’s number one restaurant, El Bulli (as judged by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants).
After dining in the hotel restaurant, with its mountain panoramas, it seems the culinary philosophy here is that Mediterranean easy win of bringing the flavour out of outstanding produce, with nothing left out (see noodles scattered with pigs’ trotters, from La Taverna de Nit in Ribes). Or keeping it heart-healthy with black pudding and pork crackling on a bed of something like colcannon, which fortifies one’s commitment to exercise the next morning.
The Resguard dels Vents hotel (Photo: Supplied)
Waking to another symphonic dawn chorus overlaid by the occasional plaintiff hoot of the rack railway’s steam whistle, I consider my hiking options while swifts tussle for drinking rights to the infinity pool.
In the end, I settle on a day-long excursion north, to the border outpost of Puigcerdà. Ripollès is crisscrossed by pilgrimage trails. There’s Nuria, and the Hermitage of St Anthony that I reached on my first hike, with illegally overnighting camper vans swiftly reeling in their washing lines at my unexpected appearance. On this final day, walking between mountain-encircled Puigcerdà and France-encircled Llivia (a curious exclave of Spanish sovereignty), my trail joins with the Camino del Segre (a section of the Camino de Santiago), and slips nonchalantly across the border on a sleepy path, the poppies as ebullient as travelling Real Madrid supporters.
The beautoful Puigcerda Lake (Photo: Supplied)
When the bus deposits me back in Puigcerdà, it’s still another three hours until my return train ambles into the station. It’s a schedule that enforces a relaxed pace, giving time to discover Puigcerdà’s charming maze of streets, run up to see the views at the top of the 18th century Campanar de Santa Maria, as well as enjoying a celebratory glass of cava in the square below. Essentially, allowing you enough time to have it all.
Booking it
Inntravel offers A Stroll in the Pyrenees from £1,050pp based on two sharing, including seven nights’ B&B accommodation, three dinners, two picnics, walking notes and maps. Flights and transfers extra. Departures available until 26 October 2025 and 1 April to 25 October 2026. inntravel.co.uk
Getting there
Flights are available with several airlines from UK cities to Barcelona. From Barcelona, head to Barcelona Sants Station, where you can board the R3 train (direct services are around 2.5 hours) that takes you directly to Ribes de Freser.
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