Location

The Val d’Arán is located in the Central Pyrenees and it has the characteristic of an Atlantic slope valley; due to this, its main river, the Garona, makes its way through Aquitaine lands and flows into Bordeaux (France).

The Val d’Arán has an extension of 620km and 30% of the territory is above 2000m of altitude. It borders on France to the North (Ariège), on Higher Ribagorza and Aragón to the South, on the Pallars Sobirá to the East and again with Aragón (Benasque) and France (Haute Garonne) to the West.

The high mountains that surround the valley form a natural barrier that conditions its climatology but also has determined its relationships with other towns and its own history. The constant flow of the Garona waters to France, through the less mountainous landscape of Lower Arán, has been, during centuries, the only real opened passage that has maintained and consolidated the Occitan language and culture in this valley which is administratively integrated in Catalonia.

In the XIV century the Aranes people finally decided to stay under the Catalonian-Aragonese crown whose King James II granted the privilege of the Querimonia in return, by means of which its administrative and organizational autonomy was honoured with its “conselhers” (counsellors) and its “Sindic” (trade union). Another example of the close relationship with the neighbouring country is that, in spite of the above mentioned, the Val d’Arán continued being ecclesiastically administrated by the Bishopric of Comenge (France) until the end of the XVIII century.

We can’t forget that the mountain passes that connect the valley with Catalonia and Aragón were inaccessible during the harsh winters and very difficult to pass the rest of the year. The road of the Bonaigua mountain pass, inaugurated in 1924, allowed the connection with Catalonia; but it wasn’t until the year 1948 that the tunnel of Vielha opened a massive passageway for vehicles thus allowing a connection with the Spanish territory during the whole year. The tunnel of Vielha was replaced recently with a new, wider and safer one. There are already set new improvement and widening projects of other internal roads such as the C-28 between Salardú – Baqueira - Port de la Bonaigua, or the N-230 through its way along the valley.