ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCES IN THE ARAGONESE PYRENEES
StayPyrenees offers apartments and rural houses in the Sobrarbe area, an area where you can enjoy nature, relax and also carry out a varied number of sports, cultural activities, etc.
What can you do, where, …? Here we list some activities and experiences in the Aragonese Pyrenees, but if you have any questions or need more information we will advise you on your visit.
PARKS
The region is home to three parks – the Ordesa and National Perdido National Park, the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park and the Sierra de Guara Natural Park.
Ordesa & Monte Perdido National Park, Unesco classified is famous for its limestone ranges. The park is home to Monte Perdido, the third highest mountain in the Pyrenees and the highest limestone summit in Europe.
You can access the park via the Ordesa valley, entrance Torla, via the Añisclo Canyon and Escuain, entrance Escalona, and via the Pineta valley, entrance Bielsa.
The Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, home to Posets, the second highest mountain in the Pyrenees is accesible via the Chistau valley, entrance Salinas.
The Sierra de Guara Natural Park, famous for its canyons and cave art, is accesible from the road that leads from Ainsa to Alquézar.
There are walks for everyone, from easy walks along the valleys to 3000m peaks.
Park visitor centres are open all year round in Bielsa, Escalona and Torla, and in high season in Plan, Tella and Escuain.
ADVENTURE SPORTS
SPRING – SUMMER
AUTUMN – WINTER
SWIMMING
There are public swimming pools in Ainsa, Laspuña, Lafortunada, Plan and Bielsa, open in the summer months.
There are numerous bathing spots in the local rivers – Bellos, Ara, Yaga and Cinca.
The salt pools are open in the summer months in Naval.
OUTDOOR
There are numerous adventure sports companies in the area, which offer a wide selection of guided activities.
- Birdwatching
- Climbing
- Fly fishing
- Horseriding
- Mountain biking
- Quads
- Treking
- Via Ferrata
- Water sports: rafting, kayaking, canyoning
WINTER
- Alpine skiing in Piau-Engaly and St Lary across the border in France and in Cerler, in the Benasque valley.
- Cross country skiing in the Pineta valley
- Snow shoe routes
- Ski touring
- Snow mobile
- Building igloos
CULTURE
HISTORIC SITES
VILLAGES
HERITAGE AND CULTURE
- San Victorián monastery
- Hermitages and dolmen in Tella
- Romanesque churches in Badaín, San Vicente de Labuerda, Guaso, Santa María de Buil, San Juan de Toledo, Vío and Nerín
- Medieval fortifications in Abizanda, Ainsa, Boltaña, Samitier and Muro de Roda
- Abandoned villages – Janovas and in the Solana valley
- A wide selection of museums situated in Ainsa, Bielsa, Ceresa, Laspuña, Abizanda, San Juan de Plan…
- Somontano wine route –visit Somontano visitor centre and a selection of bodegas in the neighbouring Somontano region.
There are guided tours offered by the tourist office and also by a local theatrical group in the summer months.
FIESTAS
- January – San Antón in San Juan de Plan
- February – carnivals in Chistau valley, Bielsa and La Fueva
- May – las Nabatas, rafts descend Cinca river between Laspuña and Ainsa
- July – International music festival in Ainsa
- August – village fiestas
- September – Sobrarbe agricultural fair and La Morisma
- October – micological field days, picking and classification wild mushrooms
FLORA AND FAUNA
- Fauna: Pyrenean mountain goat, roe deer, red deer, marmots, wild boar, birds of prey -such as the lammergeier, griffon vulture, Egyptian vulture and golden eagle – red squirrels, butterflies…
- Trees- pine, black pine, birch, beech, fir, oak, ash, hazlenut, walnut…
- Flowers- orchid, edelweiss, Pyrenean saxifrage, gentian, iris, lily, anemone, monkshood, rhododendron…
- Herbs – thyme, rosemary, lavander, elderberry, St. Johns Wort, arnica…
- Wild fruits -blackberries, raspberries, redcurrant, strawberries, sloe…
