How to visit Aiguestortes i Estanc de Sant Maurici

Here is your guide on how to visit Aiguestortes i St Maurici.

Most people visiting Spain will go to Barcelona, Madrid or to the coast. By doing so, they will visit what most people see and associate with Spain. Unfortunately, they are missing out on some of the nicest parts of Spain: its national parks. In Spain we have deserts, we have forests and beaches. And then we have the Pyrenees.

These mountains separate Spain and France. Although they are not the tallest in Europe or even in Spain, they are basically a beautiful national park from Mediterranean to Cantabric. These mountains house a series of lakes, valleys and ridiculously cute little towns. Among these, there is one of the most beautiful lakes I have ever visited: Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici.  

What does Aigüestortes mean?

Aigüestortes means literaly twisted waters in Catalan.

Where is the national park of Aigüestortes I l’estany de Sant Maurici?

As I said before, this national park is in the Catalan Pyrinees. Even though in distance it is not very far from Barcelona, this park is about 2000km above the sea level and a bit too far for a daytrip from the capital. Thankfully, that is not an issue. Within less than half an hour of travel you have some of the cutest (and richest) towns in the country: Sort and Vielha. Although my favorite is actually another one: Espot. All of these are perfect options for stopover to discover the area without rushing.

Aigüestortes I l’estany de Sant Maurici is barely 25km away from the border with France. High in an area with lots of pines and blueberry bushes, it conforms one of the top 5 largest national parks in Spain and the third in Catalonia. There are over 150 larger or smaller lakes in this park and most of them come from previous glacial water masses.

How to visit Aiguestortes?

The extension of this national park is quite important. And thankfully, in order to potentiate the tourism of the area, the government built a few years ago a decent network of roads that lead into the immediate park. The first parking is really close to one of the ends of the lake and it is accessible to families and groups with children.

Arriving without your own car though, can present a challenge. You can get to Boí or Espot by public transport and lots of patience from any of the towns and cities in Catalonia. Just expect a quite long trip. From these two towns you can start routes by foot into the park but you will not be as centrally located as if you get there with your private car.  In case you are traveling in July or August, there is also an alternative public bus traveling twice a day between Boí and Espot to the national park. It is a more ecofriendly option when you consider how to visit Aiguestortes.

What can you do in Aigüestortes I l’estanc de Sant Maurici

Basically, you can walk or you can bike. And at night, you can sleep in one of the refuges in the park.

During springtime and summer, the landscape is just plain beautiful. Green plants, a touch of purple flowers here and there and a series of lakes with bright blue and green water. Heaven if you ask me.

If you decide to walk, once you leave your car by the entrance, you can hike for about an hour and a half until the other end of the lake. During this time, you will be following the valley created by the Escrita river. And at the end of it, you will witness a beautiful and modest waterfall. If there is availability and you have previously booked, right there there’s also a refuge. This small building is the “refugi d’Ernest Mallafré” and you can spend the night for about 25 euros per head with breakfast included. Do not expect a 5 star hotel, but honestly, who in these surroundings would ever want to be indoors?

If you decide to continue, and trust me it is worth it, then you will face a couple of hours of slightly steep road that will take you to Estany Llong. This small pond, hidden between mountains, is quiet, and one of the most beautiful locations in the Pyrinees. Anyone who can walk for 4h can do this route without problems and it is one of the highlights when you visit Estany de Sant Maurici.

Starting from this point, it is possible to visit a few of the surrounding peaks, but they are classified as highly difficult routes. This is the case of Besiberri Nord, Besiberry Sud and a couple of other peaks above the 3000 meters.  This is a nice option specially if you are vastly experienced in climbing and hiking in this type of terrain. The local excursionist boards can offer guides for these types of experiences but often they will not be available. Even though there is always an important amount of people visiting the area, the towns surrounding the national park of Aiguestortes are quite small and so, the resources limited.

Are you visiting Catalonia any time soon? Make sure you check out this guide on what you should not do if you come to Barcelona.

Staying and how to visit Aiguestortes for a longer period

If you decided that doing a daytrip is not enough. I agree. The comfortable option is to stay in one of the towns surrounding the lake and from there visit every day a different zone. By doing this, you could visit other routes and lakes in the area. But if you rather have multiday trips, then it is also a possibility in the National Park of Aiguestortes. There is one of the international routes, the GR11, that crosses from France to pass through this park. These routes, the GRs, are a series of hikes that cross from the Mediterranean to the Cantabric Sea (Atlantic Ocean) covering over 800km of mountain. While these are split into routes for 46 days, it is possible to start and finish your tailored itinerary wherever you want. You can recognize the route because there will be two horizonal bars (one red and one white) painted on rocks every few meters.

Is it a good idea to visit Aiguestortes with children

The first section of the route, from the car until the first refuge, it is very easy. I would say that any children over 5-6 years old with good attitude could climb it without any problems. Climbing to the Estany Llong represents a bit more of a challenge and I would not recommend it for children younger than 10.

A little tale about this park

Two of the highest peaks around Aigüestortes are the Encantats. The legend says that many years ago, two foreigners came to the park looking for a chamois (or as we call them isards), a local type of goat antelope. On their way up, they saw that all the local people were in church praying to Sant Maurici, the patron of the area. They made fun of the locals by saying that they were just wasting time and that they would get a better piece because they were not going to go to church.

While they were heading to the mountains, one isard appeared in front of them. The best animal that they had ever seen. With the goal of hunting down this chamois, they continued the chase, while the animal kept on going up towards the top of the mountain. The chase was long and when they made it to the peak, they isard disappeared. Right at that moment, they looked back to the small church and while the priest was finishing with the mass, God turned them both into stone. And to date, some people say that they are still up there, petrified, forming the two mounts named as the Encantats. Or what is the same, the cursed.