The remote Valle d’Arán lies tucked hard against the French border in the rugged Pyrenees range midway between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

This Spanish valley is virtually cut off from the rest of the country by jagged mountains. In fact, geographically it should be part of France since it lies on the northern side of the Pyrenees’ tallest peaks. It is accessible only by bus or car along a winding road dwarfed by waterfalls and narrow canyons watched over by grazing goats and shaggy cattle.

Here is the Baqueira 1500 Resort Map.

The drive is arduous, but beauty unfolds with every turn as you pass a string of timeless villages and Romanesque churches. The surrounding peaks are the tallest in the Pyrenees. In the eastern section of the valley, ski lifts rise to a spreading series of runs with ridges and spines traced by trails and off-piste opportunities. The original village is starkly modern, but the newer developments echo the old Pyrenee stone architecture.

The valley oozes with wood and stone charm and the restaurants are among the best in Spain, even Europe. This is a valley that has developed in a cocoon of sorts — nestled between Spain and France over centuries. The first automobile road was only cut over the Bonaigua Pass in 1925 and a tunnel connecting the valley with the south was completed in 1948. Until those developments, Valle d’Arán was self-governing and isolated from Spain with better connections to France.

Val d’Arán has its own language, Aranés with connections to Ladin, spoken in parts of southern France and Switzerland and the Dolomites in Italy. Its traditional cuisine borrows from both the French and the Spanish.

Oficina de Turismo de Baqueira/Beret, Apartado 60, 25530 Vielha-Lleida, Spain
Country code: 0034
Telephone: 973-639010
Fax: 973-644488
Snow reports (in Spanish): 973-639025
Email: viajes@baqueira.es or baqueira@bacqueira.es
Internet: www.baqueira.es

Information is open 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Reservations is open 9 a.m.–1 p.m. and 3 p.m.–7 p.m.

Note: When calling from outside Spain dial the country code then the phone number. From within Spain you must always dial 973 even for local calls.

Note: All prices are in Euros unless otherwise noted.

For more information on skiing and staying in the country of Spain, click the map.