First published: 25/06/25.

2flow2 3.0

Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley

Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley (Inscribed)

Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley by Els Slots

This is an area with some very beautiful hikes! I recommend a visit after seeing it in May 2025!

Now, whether this site is of "outstanding value to humanity", as many reviewers have commented, is debatable. As Els mentioned in her review over a decade ago, it's questionable the extent to which this site "reflects the persistence of pastoralism and a strong mountain culture, notably the survival of a communal land-ownership system dating back to the 13th century" as the inscription claims. The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is located decently near Andorra's main highway that connects the whole country, and is close to the city of Encamp, which itself feels fairly like a mix of any generic Western European nation blended together with any outdoorsy city in the the modern American West. The amount of people doing intense outdoor biking and the number of trendy outdoor gear shops astonished me, but I didn't see anything that really reminded me of "pastoralism".

If you treat this as simply a nice hike with the added bonus of you getting to "check" a WHS (or a visit to Andorra, for that matter) off your list, then I think you will enjoy this. There are a whole host of trails, and the Valley's official website has a ton of different recommended routes (13 as of this writing) categorized by "Low", "Moderate", or "More" difficulty. If you are extra particular about trying to immerse yourself in the "core" zone of the WHS region for as long as possible, read the other reviews on this site for some pointers. Do be aware that while for some countries a "Low" difficulty means level, simple (sometimes paved) trails for a hike, Andorra is not one of those. You should be in decent shape to hike the trails here, because even those of the "Low" difficulty (such as my group did) contain significant inclines and traverse across uneven rocky paths.

I followed the advice of James F's review to plan our hike and we went to Coll Jovell, which is a very pleasant lookout point that makes for some decent pictures. From Coll Jovell you can do a full loop, or if you are really pinched on time you can just descend the way you came up and do the whole experience in only 1–2 hours.

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