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Matarraña

Teruel, Spain · Spain

They call it the Spanish Tuscany, and the nickname falls short: there are five villages listed as historic ensembles in a region of fewer than nine thousand people. All in golden stone, with arcaded squares and castles, and all under half an hour's drive from one another. People speak chapurriau, as locals call their variety of Catalan, with features all its own. And among the villages, the river Matarraña runs through a sixty-metre canyon with wooden walkways pinned to the rock.

3 days2 nights147 km9 stopsBest season: Spring and autumn. In spring, after the rains, the Parrizal and the Salt de la Portellada run with water; by late summer they can dry out. July and August are hot and the Parrizal quota sells out.

Day 1Castle, square and silence Day 2The canyon and the water Day 3Golden stone and the southern villages

Day 1 · Castle, square and silence

Valderrobres, La Fresneda and Ráfales · 44 km

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Valderrobres

history

The capital of the region, entered over a medieval stone bridge across the river Matarraña and under the San Roque gate. Above, the castle-palace of the archbishops of Zaragoza and the church of Santa María la Mayor share the hilltop, both 14th-century Gothic.

Tip

In the Catalan of Aragon it is Vall-de-roures, and people here speak chapurriau, the local variety of Catalan: do not be surprised to hear it in the street. The guided tour of the castle also takes you into the dungeons.

15 min to the next stop · 11 km

CHV — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

La Fresneda

heritage

An arcaded main square with the Renaissance town hall and the medieval jail beneath it, open to visitors. Above are the remains of the Calatrava castle and, at the very top, the shrine of the Virgen de Gracia.

Tip

Climb to the castle ruins at dusk: you see the roofs of the whole village and the entire valley. Ten minutes uphill from the square.

25 min to the next stop · 16 km

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Ráfales

culture

The smallest and quietest of the Matarraña's listed historic villages, with barely a hundred inhabitants. Arcaded square, medieval market hall and a calm that in the other villages is hard to find in season.

Tip

This is the place for a quiet dinner after a day in the car. And if you stay here, the other villages are all under half an hour away.

Day 2 · The canyon and the water

Parrizal, Beceite and the Salt de la Portellada · 41 km

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El Parrizal de Beceite

nature

Eight kilometres there and back up the river Matarraña, close to its source, on wooden walkways pinned to the rock. It ends at the Estrechos, a sixty-metre-high canyon that at its narrowest leaves a metre and a half between the walls. There is rock art along the way too.

Tip

You must book in advance on the Beceite town council website, and the car park is paid. In summer and on long weekends it sells out: do not count on turning up and walking in.

15 min to the next stop · 6 km

Jome — CC BY-SA 3.0 es (Wikimedia Commons)

Beceite

heritage

The village that gives its name to the Puertos de Beceite, the range closing the region to the east. It keeps 18th-century paper mills, from when vat paper was made here and sold far beyond the region, and a medieval bridge at the entrance.

Tip

If the weather is right, a three-kilometre walk from the village leads to La Pesquera, pools in the river where you can swim. On foot from the village, it is the alternative to the Parrizal if you did not get a booking; by car, access to La Pesquera is also regulated in summer.

30 min to the next stop · 17 km

SENO1964 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

El Salt de la Portellada

nature

A waterfall of some twenty metres dropping into a round pool, hidden in a gully just outside La Portellada. You reach it by a track and then a short descending path.

Tip

It varies with the season: in spring, after the rains, it comes down hard; by late summer it can be a trickle. Ask in the village before making the detour.

Day 3 · Golden stone and the southern villages

Calaceite, Cretas and Monroyo · 62 km

Enfo — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Calaceite

culture

The cultural capital of the region, with a golden-stone old town listed as a site of cultural interest. The Plaza de España, arcaded and with its Renaissance town hall, is among the finest in Aragón. On the outskirts lies the Iberian settlement of San Antonio.

Tip

Climb to the San Cristóbal chapel before leaving: it stands on a hill outside the village and from there you see the whole region at once.

10 min to the next stop · 12 km

Manel Zaera — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Cretas

heritage

A small village where the church of the Asunción surprises by sheer disproportion: an enormous façade on a square so narrow there is no room to take it in whole. From Cretas a short, waymarked path leads to the Iberian burial mounds.

Tip

Picasso spent time very close by, in Horta de Sant Joan, just over the line in Catalonia, and the landscapes he painted in 1898 are the same ones you see from here.

35 min to the next stop · 34 km

zejijunto — CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Monroyo and Peñarroya de Tastavins

viewpoints

The two villages of the southern region, hanging above the valley and with fewer visitors than the rest. Monroyo keeps its steep old quarter and, between the two villages, rise the Rocas del Masmut, a reddish cliff over a hundred metres high visible from far off.

Tip

The Rocas del Masmut have climbing routes and are a refuge for vultures. Even if you do not climb, the roadside viewpoint is the best way to end the trip.

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