Route 1 is a round trip that takes us through the ancient kingdom of Aragón, born in the Middle Ages under the protection of the Pyrenees mountain range, the formidable barrier between Spain and France.
On day one, after leaving Huesca we will reach the tiny village of Alquézar, with its churches and ancient buildings. After driving across the vineyards of the Somontano region we will drive through Graus on the way to beautiful Aínsa, another extraordinary village in the Pyrenees.
On day two, we will revive the old witchery tradition of the region of Aínsa. We will drive through the awesome Cañón de Añisclo, marvel at the Sorrosal Waterfalls and set some time aside to visit the Ordesa National Park, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
On the day three we will enjoy the views from Hoz de Jaca before paying a quick visit to the Balneario de Panticosa, the spa in the mountains. We will drive through Formigal to El Portalet, on the border between France and Spain. In the afternoon we will visit the pre-Romanesque churches of San Juan de Busa and San Pedro de Lárrede before ending the day in what is widely considered to be the informal capital of the entire region, Jaca.
We will begin the final day of the trip with a short drive from Jaca to the majestic Canfranc International Railway Station. After that, we will visit one of the most impressive locations of the entire trip, the ancient Monastery of San Juan de la Peña. On the final part of the day, you will be enchanted by the unusual rock formations of the Mallos de Riglos. The final stop for the trip is the magnificent Loarre Castle.
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Do you have all these road trips documented on pdf or word file?
No, just the videos. In the future, we are planning to release the trips in PDF format, but it will take some time before that happens.
Hi Tony,
We are planning to do the Mountains of Aragorn and surrounding areas in April 2024. As it is still rather cold, are there any areas we may have trouble getting to by car? We have loved watching your videos. Outside of this info on the videos what would you suggest are the must see items within Northern Spain between Girona and Santiago de Compostella.
Hi Mark, April should be fine (the road through the Cañón de Añisclo usually reopens after the winter break in April), but it is imperative to keep an eye on the weather forecast. The must-see items between Girona and Santiago de Compostela would turn into a lifetime of travel. Impossible to summarize in a website comment.
Thank you so much for these wonderful videos! You have inspired us to do a slightly modified version of this trip in September. We’ll be driving from San Sebastian to Jaca then following the route in reverse, ending in Alquezar (actually spending a couple nights there so we can go canyoning in Sierra de Guara – so excited!). From Alquezar we are driving to Tarragona and returning our car to use train (thank you for those videos too!) the rest of the trip. Do you happen to know if there is anything/anywhere we should stop and see on our way from Alquezar to Tarragona? (I read it’s a very arid region but we love the desert.)
Again, thank you for your videos – they are all very helpful!
Hello Jo, there are a million interesting places between Alquézar and Tarragona, but we haven’t covered that region yet. Try stopping at Montblanc. All the best.