Planning Your Time

You could walk all the way from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in 43 days, but not many have that kind of vacation time. With 10 to 14 days you can drive from sea to sea: from a wade in the Mediterranean at Cap de Creus to Hondarribia and the Cabo Higuer lighthouse on the Bay of Biscay. A week is best for a single area—La Cerdanya and the Eastern Catalan Pyrenees, best accessed from Barcelona; the Western Catalan Pyrenees and Vall d'Aran; Jaca and the central Pyrenees, north of Zaragoza; or the Basque Pyrenees north of Pamplona.

A day's drive up through Figueres (in Catalonia) and Olot will bring you to Camprodón. Sant Joan de les Abadesses and Ripoll are important stops, especially for the famous Sant Maria de Ripoll portal. La Cerdanya's Puigcerdà, Llívia, and Bellver de Cerdanya are must-visits, too.

To the west is La Seu d'Urgell, on the way to Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, the Vall d'Aran, and the winter-sports center Baqueira-Beret. Stop at Taüll and the Noguera de Tor valley's Romanesque churches. Farther west, Benasque is the jumping-off point for Aneto, the highest peak in the Pyrenees.

Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido is Spain's most majestic canyon—redolent of North America's Grand Canyon—while Jaca is the central Pyrenees' most important town.