Vallès Oriental

The Vallès Oriental region is ideal for enjoying tourism with family, friends, or as a couple. Its privileged location, nestled between the Montseny Natural Park and the Montnegre i el Corredor Natural Park, offers the opportunity to enjoy some of the most charming hiking and cycling routes in the area. Its natural surroundings also allow visitors to explore working farms and other natural spaces. Among the wide range of activities the region offers, we mustn't forget those related to thermal tourism, cultural tourism, event tourism, and gastronomy.

Check the agenda to see all the proposals and activities that Vallès Oriental has to offer!

Come closer and experience it

Come and experience, feel, savor, pamper yourself, relax, rediscover, and fall in love with the beauty and uniqueness of every corner of Vallès Oriental. Venture in and lose yourself in every nook and cranny of its 40 municipalities to rediscover, from new perspectives, a region with such a diverse range of activities. This region boasts exceptional accessibility by car, via the C-31 for those coming from Barcelona and the AP-7 for those coming from the provinces of Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. In Vallès, there are always places, stories, restaurants, and routes waiting to be discovered, making it the perfect excuse for a weekend getaway or a day trip.

Nature

The Vallès Oriental region offers a wide variety of natural landscapes near Barcelona.

From the lowlands, with their rolling hills, small valleys, and streams, to the rugged peaks of Montseny, both are perfect for cycling or exploring the country's rural roads and trails on foot—a healthy way to discover the region on foot.

Thermalism

Since ancient times, La Garriga and Caldes de Montbui have known how to take advantage of the natural gift of thermal water. The Romans discovered it, and their influence is still visible in the Roman villa of Can Terrers in La Garriga and in the thermal baths of Plaça de la Font del Lleó in Caldes. Today, the effectiveness of thermal waters can be seen in the various spas that offer everything from the most advanced therapies to the rest and relaxation of a much-needed break.

Modernism

The upper bourgeoisie of early 20th-century Barcelona popularized summer vacations. "A box at the Liceu opera house and a tower in Cardedeu," was the saying. These families sought a cool, sunny spot in the summer, in splendid mansions commissioned from renowned architects. And in the summer resorts of the region ( Cardedeu, La Garriga, L'Ametlla, Granollers, or Figaró-Montmany ), there was a single name associated with them: Manel Joaquim Raspall, one of the pioneers of Catalan Modernism. The four towers that make up the Raspall Island in La Garriga are his most important work.

Gastronomy

The Vallès Oriental region has always been a crossroads for those traveling through Catalonia. The permeability of Catalan culture, with its contribution of products and techniques, has facilitated a variation in culinary concepts that, combined with modern innovations, has shaped a cuisine rooted in tradition yet infused with touches of contemporary flair. From the most avant-garde chefs, each dish offers a fresh perspective, adapted to the tastes and demands of today's consumers.

In our restaurants, you'll always find the freshest and best-selected produce from the local gardens, with the ganxet bean as the star ingredient. Furthermore, the production of high-quality food products such as cheeses, wines, cured meats, honey, and nuts, all made in the region, is gaining significant traction and adding value to our local cuisine.

The kitchens of the region's establishments are a melting pot of culinary styles and trends. Therefore, for those of you visiting Vallès Oriental in search of new gastronomic experiences, don't miss the most representative restaurants, often located in the region's most charming spots.

For the more adventurous, the Regional Council's website also offers you the possibility of cooking each chef's best recipes at home.

We encourage you to visit the region through its finest cuisine, while also enjoying its landscape or other leisure and cultural activities.

Sustainable Tourism

The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism

The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST) is an award granted by the EUROPARC Federation that certifies that a territory surrounding a protected area has a sustainable tourism strategy developed in consensus with the stakeholders in the territory.

The CETS is defined by the Europarc Federation itself as "a management tool that allows protected areas to develop tourism in a sustainable way."

It is, therefore, a working methodology, of voluntary implementation, which leads to defining and implementing a local strategy in favor of sustainable tourism and which is recognized by the Federation itself as a certification or seal of tourism sustainability.

Since 2011, the Montseny Natural Park and the municipalities in its immediate surroundings have been working under the umbrella of the CETS, complying with the requirements for sustainable tourism in a natural park as determined by the Europarc Federation.

BIOSPHERE Commitment to Sustainability

The Biosphere Commitment to Sustainability is a distinction that aims to promote best practices in sustainable management within the tourism sector. The Vallès Oriental Regional Council is the managing body for this initiative.

In order for companies and services that wish to join to distinguish themselves and renew their commitment, they must follow a joint work methodology and comply with a series of commitments that include attending face-to-face training sessions and also fulfilling mandatory and optional requirements for each sector.

The Biosphere Commitment to Sustainability is a program developed by the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Chamber of Commerce to guarantee the quality and sustainability of tourism services through Biosphere certification from the Responsible Tourism Institute (ITR ). The ITR is an organization linked to UNESCO and a partner of the World Tourism Organization and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. This pioneering certification is based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, integrated into the 2030 Agenda.

The best practices of this program refer to the following areas:

1. Sustainable management.
2. The conservation and improvement of cultural heritage.
3. Environmental conservation.
4. Economic and social development.
5. Quality and safety.
6. Customer involvement.

How to get there?

Vallès Oriental is a strategically well-located region. It has several fast routes to reach:

• Barcelona Airport (44km)
• Girona Airport (64km)
• Reus Airport (130km)

Three important roads connect our region:

• AP-7. The motorway takes us from Girona to Barcelona
• C-17. The motorway crosses the region and takes us from Barcelona to Puigcerdà
• C-60. The motorway takes us to the Mediterranean Sea in just 20 minutes from Granollers.

If you want to come to Vallès Oriental, apart from your own car, you have several public transport options that will take you wherever you want to go.