Jaca

Carved by glaciers and rivers into the heart of the Spanish Pyrenees, Ordesa y Monte Perdido is a cathedral of limestone cliffs, verdant valleys, and cascading waterfalls. The park’s crown jewel, the Ordesa Valley, unfolds like a Yosemite of Europe — sheer walls rise 800 metres above a forest floor threaded with trails that lead to the thundering Cola de Caballo waterwall. Higher up, the alpine plateau of Monte Perdido (3,355 m) presides over a lunar landscape of karst formations and ibex herds. Whether you tackle the legendary Faja de las Flores balcony path or simply wander the beech woods of the Arazas gorge, the park delivers a primal, untamed beauty that feels worlds away from the Mediterranean coast.

Crowning a limestone crag in the Pyrenean foothills, Loarre stands as Spain’s most complete Romanesque fortress — a stone sentinel that has watched over the Huesca plain for a millennium. Begun in 1020 by Sancho el Mayor to secure the frontier against the taifa of Zaragoza, the castle evolved into a royal residence and Augustinian monastery, its architecture a seamless dialogue between military might and monastic serenity. The complex is a masterclass in Romanesque engineering: the albarrana towers connected by a daring arched bridge, the Church of Santa María with its exquisite sculpted capitals depicting biblical scenes and fantastical beasts, and the crypt’s hauntingly beautiful semi-circular vaults. Unlike many Spanish castles “restored” in the 20th century, Loarre retains an authentic, weathered patina; its walls have starred in films like “Kingdom of Heaven” and “The Warrior’s Way.” From the keep’s terrace, the view sweeps across olive groves to the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra de Guara.

Clinging to a sheer conglomerate cliff beneath a massive overhanging rock, the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña feels less built than grown—an organic fusion of architecture and geology deep in the Pyrenean foothills. The lower, “Old Monastery” dates to the 10th century, its Mozarabic church burrowed directly into the living rock; above it, the 17th-century “New Monastery” spreads in sober Herrerian lines, its cloister framing a silence broken only by dripping water and wind in the pines. This was the spiritual engine of the early Kingdom of Aragón: the legendary Holy Grail was said to have been guarded here before its journey to Valencia Cathedral, and the Royal Pantheon holds the tombs of the first Aragonese monarchs, their recumbent effigies carved from alabaster that glows like candle wax in the dim light. The surrounding Protected Landscape harbours beech woods, griffon vultures, and trails that stitch the two monasteries together along the cliff face.