French
Deutsch
Borredà is a village in the Berguedà county, in the north of the Barcelona Province, Catalonia. It sits among woods and streams on the eastern edge of the county, and is used mainly as a base for walking, cycling and, in autumn, mushroom picking.
Understand
[edit | edit source]Borredà lies at about 850 m, where the Berguedà meets the neighbouring counties of Ripollès and Osona. It has fewer than 600 inhabitants. The village is documented from 834 and grew around the church of Santa Maria, which still stands on the main square beside the town hall.
It is a quiet place with little in the way of monuments, and that is largely the point: most visitors come for the surrounding country, the Riera de Merlès and the Picancel and Catllaràs ranges. The village has long been a summer destination for scout groups and campers.
- Town hall, Plaça Major, 1, ☏ +34 938 239 151. Tourist information is available here.
Get in
[edit | edit source]By car
[edit | edit source]Borredà is on the C-26 road between Berga and Ripoll, about 20 km east of Berga and 110 km from Barcelona. From Barcelona take the C-16 motorway to Berga, then the C-26 east.
By bus
[edit | edit source]Buses along the C-26 between Berga and Ripoll call at Borredà, but services are infrequent and there are few or none at weekends. Check timetables in advance at the Berguedà mobility portal (mobilitat.bergueda.cat). Having a car makes the village and its surroundings far easier to reach.
Get around
[edit | edit source]
The village is small and everything in it is within a few minutes' walk. The outlying sights and the start of most walking routes need a car or a decent pair of legs.
See
[edit | edit source]- 1 Church of Santa Maria (Església de Santa Maria), Plaça Major. The parish church on the main square, of medieval origin and much rebuilt. It stands next to the town hall and gives the square its shape. Free.
- 2 Sant Sadurní de Rotgers, On the road towards Castell de l'Areny, ☏ +34 664 56 75 81. A small Romanesque church a few kilometres northwest of the village, standing alone in the fields. Access is by a minor road; opening is occasional, but the setting is worth the detour in itself.
Do
[edit | edit source]Walking, mountain biking and off-road driving are the main reasons to come. The tracks around Borredà are well used and several long circuits start from or pass through the village.
The best known outing is the Mergançol circuit, which follows the stream of that name past its old mills, stone bridges and pools. The full loop is about 23 km with 600 m of ascent and is rated easy; it can also be cut short by driving to one of the bridges and walking from there. The Mergançol feeds into the Baells reservoir to the south.
To the southeast rises the Serra de Picancel, a limestone ridge with a demanding circuit of about 60 km and 3,100 m of ascent for those on a mountain bike or in a four-wheel drive; walkers usually take shorter sections of it, such as the climb to the Salgaguda summit from the Pla de la Fusta.
North of the village, tracks lead into the Serra del Catllaràs. A long route runs from Castell de l'Areny to Sant Jaume de Frontanyà, about 44 km with 1,900 m of ascent, mostly on forest tracks.
Shorter loops of 9 to 13 km around Borredà and Sant Jaume de Frontanyà are popular in autumn with mushroom pickers. Picking is subject to local rules and much of the woodland is private.
GPS tracks for these routes are published on Wikiloc.
Eat
[edit | edit source]- 1 Restaurant Baix Pirineu, Carretera de Ripoll, 2 (C-26), ☏ +34 938 23 90 60. Closed Mon. Catalan mountain cooking, with a terrace looking out over the hills. Popular with families. Set menu from about €15.
- 2 Cal Ferrer, Carrer de Berga, 2, ☏ +34 938 23 90 25. Daily. Restaurant, bar, shop and tobacconist in one, in the middle of the village. A useful stop for cyclists and walkers, and the staff can usually point you at a map and a route. Set menu from about €15.
Sleep
[edit | edit source]- 1 Càmping Campalans, Carretera de Sant Jaume de Frontanyà, km 1.5, ☏ +34 621 14 55 70. Campsite beside a stream a short way north of the village, with a swimming pool.
- 2 Càmping Puigcercós, Carretera de Sant Quirze, km 22, ☏ +34 938 23 92 50. Campsite east of the village, with a restaurant.
- 3 Pirineu Turístic - El Patí, Between Vilada and Borredà, reached by a forest track, ☏ +34 667 530 771, info@pirineuturistic.com. A restored 17th-century farmhouse rented whole, standing alone in the woods. Six bedrooms, twenty beds and two bathrooms, one of them adapted, on 250 m² with a 1,000 m² garden, swimming pool and stone barbecue. Dogs allowed. A cleaning fee of €130 is charged once per booking. €330-520.
- 4 Pirineu Turístic - Cal Barraqué de Baix, Borredà, ☏ +34 667 530 771, info@pirineuturistic.com. Self-catering flat in the village with one bedroom and a sofa bed, air conditioning and a dishwasher. Dogs allowed. A cleaning fee of €60 is charged once per booking. €55-150.
Go next
[edit | edit source]- La Pobla de Lillet — Gaudí's Artigas Gardens and a narrow-gauge tourist railway, 30 km northwest.
- Berga — the county town and its Patum festival, 20 km west.
- Ripoll — the Romanesque monastery of Santa Maria, 25 km east.