15 hidden places in Catalonia most visitors still miss

The best hidden places in Catalonia, outside the usual circuit: Cardona's Salt Mountain, the monastery of Sant Pere de Casserres in a bend of the river Ter, the Iberian city of Ullastret, the dinosaur tracks of Fumanya, the clifftop village of Castellfollit de la Roca, Sant Pere de Rodes above Cap de Creus and the Escaladei charterhouse, among others. Here are all fifteen, with official prices and opening times.

None of these places is a secret. Almost all are well known in their own region, and most are managed heritage sites with tickets, opening hours and staff. What is true is that they sit outside the circuit most international visitors follow — which makes them one of the best ways to see Catalonia without queueing.

Catalan geography, briefly: the Priorat and Terra Alta are inland wine regions in the south; the Berguedà and Pallars are pre-Pyrenean; the Empordà is the coastal plain in the north-east; the Garrotxa is volcanic country inland from it.

Prices and opening times: what each site says

1. Cardona Salt Mountain

An exceptionally large outcrop of rock salt, mined since antiquity and open to visit inside. The colours and shapes of the galleries resemble nothing else in the country.

Above it stand Cardona castle and the collegiate church of Sant Vicenç. That combination of medieval fortress and mine has no equivalent here.

Visits are guided, Tuesday to Sunday, and adult tickets cost €12.75; arrive 30 minutes early, and helmets are compulsory (Cardona Turisme). For getting there from Barcelona, see our day trips beyond Montserrat.

2. Sant Pere de Casserres

A Benedictine monastery standing in a very tight meander of the river Ter. Building began in 1005 and the church was consecrated in 1050, according to the Catalan heritage agency.

The setting is hard to believe until you arrive. Until 30 December it opens Wednesday to Saturday 11:00 to 16:30 and Sunday 11:00 to 15:00; it closes in January (official listing).

3. Mur castle and collegiate church

In the Pallars Jussà, an 11th-century castle and a Romanesque collegiate church share an isolated hill with an enormous view over the Tremp basin.

Few places make the meaning of 'frontier' in early medieval Catalonia so physically obvious.

4. The old village of Corbera d'Ebre

The old centre, on the Republican front line, was destroyed by bombing during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938 and has deliberately been left in ruins as a memorial.

It is not a comfortable visit and does not try to be. It is one of the most necessary in the country. A self-guided visit costs €3 (official listing).

5. Vallbona de les Monges

One of Catalonia's three great Cistercian monasteries alongside Poblet and Santes Creus, and the only one for women. Founded in the 12th century, it is still a Cistercian convent.

The cloister, built across several periods, is the part that surprises most. Visiting hours: monestirvallbona.cat.

6. Ullastret Iberian city

According to the Catalan heritage agency, the largest Iberian settlement discovered so far in Catalonia, and the capital of the Indiketes. Walls, streets, cisterns and grain silos make it possible to understand a pre-Roman Iberian city.

It is minutes from the medieval villages of the Empordà, so the two combine easily in a day. From October to May it opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00; the €7 ticket includes the museum and an audio guide (official listing).

7. Molí d'Espígol

An Iberian town of the Ilergetes at Tornabous, where the town planning reads unusually clearly on the ground: streets, houses, defensive system.

Visits are by prior booking only (official listing).

8. Claramunt castle

In the Anoia, a 10th-century fortress from the chain of frontier castles between the County of Barcelona and al-Andalus, restored and open to visit, with commanding views. One of the Catalan castles where the military logic of the building is easiest to read.

Admission €6; free on the last Wednesday of each month from October to June (official listing).

9. Fumanya

In the Berguedà, open-cast mining exposed a near-vertical rock face carrying hundreds of Cretaceous dinosaur footprints.

It is one of Europe's most important trackway sites, and the mining context gives it a second reading.

10. Artigas Gardens

At La Pobla de Lillet, beside the river Llobregat, a stone garden with bridges and grottoes that Gaudí designed in 1905 for the industrialist Joan Artigas, according to the Catalan heritage agency.

Opening times are published by La Pobla de Lillet town council (official listing). A natural stop if you are following his lesser-known work.

11. Benifallet caves

On the bank of the Ebro, a set of caves with strongly developed karst formations.

Always check opening conditions: cave visits can be suspended after heavy rain or on safety advice.

12. Ivars and Vila-sana lake

Drained in 1951 and refilled from 2005 onwards. It is now one of the best birdwatching sites on the Lleida plain.

What surprises is not only the landscape but the fact that a vanished lake could be brought back at all.

13. Castellfollit de la Roca

The village stands on top of a basalt cliff tens of metres high, formed by ancient lava flows.

The view from below is well known. What almost nobody does is go up into the village and walk it.

14. Sant Pere de Rodes

A large Benedictine monastery hung above Cap de Creus, with a church built between the 10th and 11th centuries and a view reaching the gulf of Roses.

One of very few places where Romanesque architecture and Mediterranean landscape arrive together. Admission €7; free on the last Tuesday of each month from October to June (official listing).

15. Escaladei charterhouse

Founded in 1163, it was the first of all the charterhouses later built across the Iberian peninsula, and its monks' influence gave the whole region its name: the Priorat.

The ruins are extensive, and a monk's cell has been reconstructed, which is what makes the Carthusian way of life legible. Admission €7; free on the last Tuesday of each month from October to June (official listing).

Most of these sites have a record in the Catalan heritage catalogue, which is the best place to check status and access.

For a more conventional route that is still off the circuit, here are ten medieval villages.

Keep reading

• 10 medieval villages in Catalonia
• Beyond Montserrat: 10 Barcelona day trips
• 20 things to do on a rainy day
• 12 day trips from Barcelona by train
• 8 lesser-known Gaudí sites