Proposed plan 01 — Vall de Núria¶
The current working plan (since 26 Aug 2026) — the day-by-day version Alessio and Elisabeth worked out together, with dates. The reasoning, trade-offs and open questions live on Relaxed route: Castelldefels → Zaragoza; this page is the plan itself. For the alternative see Proposed plan 02 — With Ordesa, and the head-to-head is on 01 vs 02.
Vall de Núria is in, Ordesa Valley is out. Elisabeth added Vall de Núria to the top picks; Ordesa is dropped as too far and too tight. From Castillo de Samitier the route now takes the southern road (Aínsa → Barbastro → Montearagón) rather than the northern one up to Torla. Núria has no road — the car stops at Queralbs.
Day by day¶
Drive figures are real road-routed via OSRM, checked 26 Aug 2026 — routing-engine estimates, without traffic, breaks, or mountain-pass conditions. Nothing below is booked except where it says so.
| Day | Drive | Main location(s) | What we do there | Sleep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wed 26 Aug | N/A (no car yet) | Castelldefels | Alessio lands BCN 19:55 (easyJet LGW→BCN); transfer to the hotel. | Castelldefels — Hotel C31, booked |
| Thu 27 Aug | N/A | Castelldefels | Wingfoil: Shaka Surf 13:00 — on the list, contact them Wed 26 for final weather confirmation. See TODO → Wingfoil. | Castelldefels — Hotel C31, booked |
| Fri 28 Aug | N/A | Castelldefels · BCN airport | Escola Garbí Wing Control 16:00 — booked, €90 paid. Evening: meet Elisabeth at BCN — BA486 lands 22:50. Elisabeth heads to her friend's in Vallvidrera for the night; Alessio back to C31. | Alessio — Castelldefels, Hotel C31 (3rd solo night, booked). Elisabeth — friend's place in Vallvidrera |
| Sat 29 Aug | Castelldefels → Sants (train) → Vallvidrera → Queralbs — ~155 km, ~2h20 driving (see Car rental) | Barcelona Sants · Vallvidrera · Queralbs · Vall de Núria | Alessio checks out of C31, trains up to Sants; 09:30 pickup at Centauro. Drive up to Vallvidrera, pick up Elisabeth by 10:30, depart by 11:00. Then straight to Queralbs (~2h03 from Vallvidrera, arriving ~13:00) — the road ends there — cremallera up (12.5 km, 40 min, +1,000 m). Afternoon in the cirque: sanctuary, lake, Coma del Clot cable car (included in the ticket), easy walks. Option: ride up and walk the Camí Vell back down to Queralbs (7.3 km, +940 m — far easier descending). | Vall de Núria (Hotel Vall de Núria) or Queralbs / Ribes de Freser — undecided, unbooked |
| Sun 30 Aug | Queralbs → La Seu d'Urgell — 92 km, ~1h49 | La Seu d'Urgell | First cremallera down (~08:35 if sleeping up top). Old town and the porticoed Carrer dels Canonges; Parc Olímpic del Segre. Festa Major: Ball Cerdà 11:30–13:00 at Plaça Patalín if the morning allows, then the Seu Folk block on Carrer de Santa Maria — Taverna Folk 17:30, Ball folk BENSO 18:00, concert Benoit Guerbigny 20:00, Ball folk Vegetal Jam (Aragó) 22:30. ⚠ The cathedral museum is shut on Sundays. | La Seu d'Urgell — unbooked |
| Mon 31 Aug | La Seu → Taüll 139 km, ~2h21; Taüll → Àger 102 km, ~1h50 (~4h11 total — the heaviest driving day) | La Seu d'Urgell · Taüll / Vall de Boí · Àger | Morning: Catedral de Santa Maria + Museu Diocesà (Mon–Sat 10:00–13:30, €4) — the reason this can't be a Sunday. Then the Vall de Boí UNESCO churches: Sant Climent de Taüll, Boí, Erill la Vall. Then south to the Congost de Mont-Rebei base. | Àger (Congost de Mont-Rebei area) — unbooked, and which side of the gorge to base on is still open |
| Tue 1 Sep | Àger → La Masieta trailhead and back — 18 km, ~45 min each way | Congost de Mont-Rebei | The gorge: rock-cut ledges, the Montfalcó walkways bolted to the cliff, the Puente del Sisqué suspension bridge. 10–16.8 km round trip depending on the option taken — a half to full day. La Masieta parking is paid and reservation-based; the Montfalcó/Viacamp side is free. | Àger — unbooked |
| Wed 2 Sep | Àger → Graus — 95 km, ~1h30. With the tombs detour: Àger → Sant Martí de les Tombetes 34 km, ~0h59, then → Graus 86 km, ~1h47 (~1h15 more overall) | Congost de Mont-Rebei · Sant Martí de les Tombetes · Graus | A second section of the gorge (whichever side Tuesday didn't cover), and/or the rock-cut necropolis at Sant Martí de les Tombetes — ~20 Late Antique tombs cut into the hilltop above Moror, ~1 h on site — plus the Montsec villages nearby. Evening in Graus. If the EMTP folk festival repeats its 2025 pattern this is its window — 2026 dates unconfirmed. | Graus — unbooked |
| Thu 3 Sep | Graus → Benabarre 19 km, ~0h17; Benabarre → Samitier 59 km, ~0h52; Samitier → Aínsa 23 km, ~0h24 | Benabarre · Castillo de Samitier · Aínsa | Elisabeth's genealogy morning: Benabarre — castle, Colegiata de Santa María de Valdeflores, old town, photographs; ancestor Josep Llena Canadell died here. Archives, if time allows: the Servicio Comarcal de Archivos de la Ribagorza is in Graus, not Benabarre (Mon–Fri 08:00–15:00) — so it fits before leaving, not after. Whether it holds anything genealogical is unconfirmed; see TODO → Bookings. Afternoon → Samitier for the sunset hike + drone: ~1.5 km each way, 1–1.5 h round trip, so start up ~2 h before sunset and descend in the dark. This day is the tightest in the plan — see the note below. | Aínsa — unbooked (or Abizanda / El Grado further south, which shortens Friday) |
| Fri 4 Sep | Aínsa → Montearagón 104 km, ~1h33; → Loarre 40 km, ~0h44; → Huesca 32 km, ~0h39 (~2h56 total) | Castillo de Montearagón · Castillo de Loarre · Huesca | The southern road (Barbastro), not north to Torla. Montearagón: guided tour only and must be booked ahead — see TODO → Bookings. Loarre: open 10:00–20:00 until 15 Sep, ~1.5–2 h on site — recheck wildfire status nearer the date. | Huesca — unbooked |
| Sat 5 Sep | Huesca → Zaragoza — 75 km, ~0h56 | Huesca · Zaragoza | Deliberately empty — the buffer. Anything that slipped off Thursday lands here. Otherwise: Huesca old town or nearby towns, then an unhurried transfer. | Zaragoza — has to be here or very near: Elisabeth flies at 10:10 Sunday. Unbooked |
| Sun 6 Sep | Zaragoza hotel → ZAZ 16 km, ~0h28 → back to Zaragoza-Delicias | Zaragoza | Early: drive Elisabeth to ZAZ for FR2566, 10:10, drop-off ~08:50. Back to Delicias station to return the car by 09:30. Rest of the day solo in Zaragoza on foot / public transport. | Zaragoza — unbooked |
| Mon 7 Sep | N/A (car already returned) | Zaragoza | A full solo day in Zaragoza — exploring, or working remotely. | Zaragoza — unbooked |
| Tue 8 Sep | N/A | Zaragoza · ZAZ | Alessio flies ZAZ→STN, FR2566, 15:45. | — |
Total driving, Sat 29 Aug – Sat 5 Sep: ~962 km / ~16h42, including the Congost de Mont-Rebei trailhead round trip and excluding Sunday's airport run. That is ~175 km and ~3h30 more than the Ordesa-based version (Proposed plan 02) — the cost of starting at Núria, out at the far eastern end, rather than driving straight to La Seu. Side-by-side comparison on 01 vs 02.
Two things to decide before this locks¶
Thursday 3 Sep is overloaded. It carries two non-negotiables — Elisabeth's Benabarre genealogy stop and Alessio's Samitier sunset drone flight — plus a 1h33 of driving between them, and the sunset hike can't move earlier in the day. Saturday 5 Sep is deliberately empty for exactly this: if Thursday won't fit, push Benabarre and the archives to Friday morning and shift Montearagón/Loarre onto Saturday, ending in Zaragoza on Saturday evening as planned.
Which side of Congost de Mont-Rebei to base on. The gorge has two access points with no quick road between them, and the choice moves ~1h40 of driving:
| Base | Taüll → base (Mon 31) | To the gorge | To Sant Martí de les Tombetes | Base → Graus (Wed 2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Àger (Lleida side — assumed above) | 102 km, ~1h50 | La Masieta, ~0h45 | ~0h59 | 95 km, ~1h30 |
| Viacamp / Montfalcó (Huesca side) | 64 km, ~1h06 | walkways side, on the doorstep | ~1h21 | 36 km, ~0h33 |
Àger is the bigger village with real accommodation and restaurants and is much closer to Tombetes; the Huesca side saves roughly 1h40 across Monday and Wednesday but puts the tombs almost three hours away round trip. Àger is the working assumption purely because it keeps Elisabeth's Tombetes stop realistic.
See also: Proposed plan 02 — With Ordesa · 01 vs 02 · Flights · Accommodation · TODO → Bookings — what still has to be reserved · Relaxed route: Castelldefels → Zaragoza — the reasoning behind this route · WIP plans for the earlier route options this superseded · Top picks.