Besalú, a wonderful medieval village close to Barcelona

Besalú is a Catalan medieval village in the county of Garrocha, and is one of the best conserved ones in Catalonia. Besalú is only a 130 km drive from Barcelona, so it’s easily accessible from Barcelona. Therefore if you look for something calm and authentic when you visit Barcelona, a short trip to Besalú is a great option. Besalú is a place whose charm will take you to another era, a very distant and unknown past. At the entrance of the village, a beautiful medieval bridge takes you into the interior of the village.

When you visit Besalú for the first time, you will spend quite some time just staring at this fascinating bridge, observing every single detail of it. This bridge and the river passing under it captures your attention completely.

At this moment you might ask yourselves the question of what to visit in Besalú. There’s not a major thing to see, but it’s very pleasant to walk around the streets, stopping on every corner and watching every single detail that converts this village very special. We can mention the Romanesque bridge, the walk on the riverside, the Collegiate of Sant María and the church-hospital of Sant Julià as the sights that stand out.

We really recommend you to try the local cuisine, especially the big variety of tasty cold meat and cheese.

How to get to Besalú

By car: from Barcelona there are several alternative routes, you can take the AP7 highway or the C17 and the C32 roads are also fine. It takes approximately an hour and a half to get there.

By bus: from Barcelona Teisa Bus company operates this route several times a day, and the trip takes around 1 hour and 50 minutes.

By train:  There’s not an easy connection from Barcelona, but you can take a train to Girona, Figueres or Ripoll and from there catch a bus. It’s probably the least practical way of getting to Besalú.

When to visit Besalú:

Besalú is charming in any of the seasons, but if you want to avoid the masses, we don’t recommend you to visit Besalú in Summer. The last weekend of August is when they celebrate the medieval festivities of the village, which are very interesting to see, but they also attract immense crowd.