Aigüestortes I Estany of Saint Maurici National Park, Catalonia, Spain

5bwtgreaves 5:00 PM Sep 27, 2016

Breathtaking!
Absolutely incredible park! My wife and I stayed in Espot and hiked the Estany d'Amitges/Refuge d'Amitges to Estany de Sant Maurici trail in late-September. It was a beautiful hike from top to bottom, and was really peaceful at the time of year we went. We found it hard to figure out the best way to do this hike by reading online, so want to put together a good review here to help others. The most popular hike that we saw on the Eastern side of the park was the Estany Sant Maurici-Estany d'Amitges hike. Beautiful lakes, a waterfall in between, and a good elevation change overall. We are not seasoned hikers, but are both in our late 20s, and in decent physical condition. No personal vehicles are allowed in the national park, only the local "taxis", which are all either Jeeps or Land Rovers. You can start off the hike in a few different ways; 1. Park at the outskirts of the park, in a lot called Prat de Pierro, and walk up to Estany de Sant Maurici (through a trail in the forest), about 1-1.25hrs. From there, you can hike all the way up to Estany d'Amitges, about 2.5-3 hours, and then hike back down, and back to your car (total trip approximately 7-7.5 hours). 2. From Espot, the you can hire a taxi next to the information centre, on the main road. A taxi to Estany de Sant Maurici is 10 Euros per person, round trip. We were able to get our taxi ticket from our hotel (Hotel Saurat). From Estany de Sant Maurici, you can either do a light walk around the lake, or a steeper hike up to Estany d'Amitges, and then back down. 3. Again from Espot, you can hire a taxi to take you all the way up to Estany d'Amitges, which costs about 20 Euros. From here, you can hike down to Estany de Sant Maurici in about 2-2.5 hours. We started into the day a bit late, so we decided to take a taxi into the park, rather than park in the lot and hike in. A note of caution, the taxis will sometimes wait until they have enough people to fill their vehicle (6 people) before leaving for the park. We ended up taking a taxi to the top, to Estany d'Amitges, and hiking down. We're glad we did, because the last taxi out of the park was at 6pm, and we would have been tight on time if we had tried to hike up and then back down. Routes are well signposted (typically metre-high posts painted yellow), and clear. I cannot recommend this hike enough! P.S. Our driver was telling us that they also offer a "tour" where they drive you in, let you walk around for 20 minutes, get back in the taxi, and they take you to a different spot on the trail.

5ihadthetimeofmylife 5:00 PM Oct 4, 2012

Stunning Landscapes
We've been to many national parks, both in Europe as in the United States. Aiguestortes is definitely one of my favorites. It's just so stunning! Take my favorite hike: from the Prat de Pierro parking area (where we spotted deer), to the Santa Maurice lake, to the Ratera waterfall, to the Ratera lake, to the Santa Maurice lake overview point (Mirador del Estany) and back to the Prat de Pierro parking. If you take it easy and are in good health, this could be a relaxed day hike. Bring hiking shoes! You're sure to encounter horses and cows, likely to see a salamander, and if you're lucky you'll spot a vulture (we saw one).