Barcelona is full. The city now receives around 32 million visitors a year, and for years has struggled with the negative effects of mass tourism – from packed streets to a shortage of affordable housing, blamed on the rise of short-term lettings websites like Airbnb. Last month its mayor said all holiday apartments would be banned by 2028, and during a recent protest tourists dining on La Rambla were targeted with water pistols.
Beyond Barcelona, however, much of Catalonia remains unspoilt. There are spectacular mountains made for hiking, as well as villages and small towns that lend themselves rather well to a bit of a mooch around followed by a splendid lunch in a traditional restaurant.
Several of my all-time favourite trips have been in Catalonia – up in the Pyrenees, in the countryside inland, along the coast – so it was certainly tricky to pick out just the five highlights listed below. I am certainly not claiming these areas are completely unknown, of course. But most ordinary travellers will not heard of them. As it was one of the first regions of Spain to become popular with foreign tourists, this might seem a bit surprising – but just get out there and you’ll see what I mean.
La Cerdanya
Ur, Er, Ger… La Cerdanya turned me into a bit of a stuttering idiot. Nothing new there, but at least this time I had an excuse. Ur, Er and Ger are all villages in this Catalan region, which stretches along the eastern Pyrenees, straddling France and Spain. The strange monosyllabic place names, which also include Urtx, Ix, All, Age, Alp, Das, Nas, Bor and Pi, can be traced back to the earliest inhabitants, who it is believed spoke a language related to Aquitanian and Basque.
The place names may sound abrupt, hard and closed, but the landscapes are quite the opposite. Protected by the mountains, this is an area of sprawling green plains – reminiscent of Austria or Switzerland. Being close to the Mediterranean, it is sunnier and drier than other parts of the Pyrenees, but in winter gets a lot of snow. Spain’s first ski resort, La Molina, was built there at the beginning of the 20th century.