The landscape is typically Pyrenean, with deep valleys carved out by the area’s many rivers, such as El Segre and La Llosa. Lakes are surrounded by pine trees and overlooked by snowcapped peaks, which in the north reach heights of nearly 3,000 metres, like Tossa Plana de Lles (2,916 metres). Further south, La Cerdanya spreads into the Parc Natural del Cadí-Moixeró with its steep cliffs and the Massís de Pedraforca, an important peak of notable geological value. The park is home to some 1,500 species of plants and trees as well as hundreds of species of wildlife, including amphibians, birds and even wolves.
Humans have inhabited La Cerdanya for thousands of years and remains from the distant past include megalithic tombs, dolmens and cave paintings. Gothic churches and Romanesque hermitages predominate in terms of religious architecture and traditional stone houses with wooden balconies can still be seen in many of the mountain villages.
An economy traditionally based on agriculture is now centred around tourism, particularly during the winter months when thousands flock to the slopes of the region’s ski resorts, which in turn have generated many satellite businesses, such as hotels.
Things to see
The comarcal capital Puigcerdà is situated in the north, a couple of kilometres from the French border. The town mixes the modern with the historic, with bustling shopping streets and many monuments from the past. Noteworthy religious buildings include the Església de Sant Domènec in the heart of the town, with its Gothic murals, and a 42-square-metre belltower, the Campanar de Santa Maria. The belltower stands eerily alone, the only remaining part of a 12th-century church of the same name, which was destroyed in 1936.
In the west is the Parc Shierbeck, home to a number of 19th-century summer houses that sit on the edge of the town’s man-made lake, l’Estany, which is over six centuries old and was originally intended to provide water for the irrigation of crops.
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