Arties

A small village - with less than 500 permanent residents (but with extensive accommodation and catering facilities for guests, as well as sports grounds) - in Spain, located at an altitude of 1144 m above sea level in the Pyrenees, at the confluence of the rivers Garonne and Valarties, in the province of Lleida, in the Val d'Aran valley, 310 km northwest of Barcelona , the capital of Catalonia, 122 km north of Lleida 7 km east of Vielha , the capital of Val d'Aran (➤ map)(➤ map). The main monuments in the village itself are two Romanesque churches.

Arties, together with e.g. Salardú, was one of several villages in the Val d'Aran valley where people noticed that they could use the tourist potential of the areas located near the main ridge of the Pyrenees, but on its northern side (which ensured good snow conditions in winter), and at the same time shaped (in terms of the extent and slope of the slopes, with height differences exceeding 1000 m) in a way that allows the construction of appropriate infrastructure ski. Initially, the resort, known as Baqueira-Beret, comprised two sectors, Baqueira at 1500 m and Beret at an altitude of 1850 m; later the Bonaigua sector was added, around the pass Port de la Bonaigua (2072 m above sea level ), on both sides of it, north, in Val d'Aran, and south, in Vall d'Àneu. The proximity of the Baqueira-Beret resort, located only 4 km to the east, and at the same time slightly lower prices for accommodation and other services, are probably the main factor determining the attractiveness of Arties as a tourist destination in the winter season; in the summer, the town can be a good base for exploring the entire Val d'Aran valley, as well as the only national park in Catalonia, located nearby, known as Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici (➤ map)(➤ map).


In the village itself, the main monuments are two Romanesque churches: the Romanesque three-nave fortified church of the Templars of Santa Maria d'Arties from the 12th-13th century (today a parish church), with a preserved stone baptismal font, frescoes and a small, originally Romanesque, church of Sant Joan d'Arties from the 13th century, later rebuilt in the Gothic style , today housing a regional museum.

Sant Joan Church is just off the C-28, on the left (if you are going west to east). If you want to get to the Santa Maria Church, if you are coming from the west, at the large roundabout marked with the marker, right after the sign indicating the entrance to Arties, take the exit from the C-28 road to the right, towards the center of the village.