Planoles

Located in the Valley of Ribes, in Ripollès, the municipality of Planoles extends in a strip from north to south, occupying the valley of the river Rigart crosswise, which opens from east to west. This peculiar arrangement means that the territory of the municipality has two well-differentiated parts, one in the shaded area and the other in the solei, which gives the municipality a great richness and variety of spaces and ways of life.

This richness is reinforced by a particular climate, typical of the high Mediterranean mountains, characterized by the sun and the humidity provided by the rains. It is a favorable climate for the development of exuberant vegetation, which is home to countless forms of life, both plant and animal, some exceptional due to their rarity, others the last examples of species in danger of extinction. It is not surprising, then, that the municipality of Planoles has parts of its term declared Spaces of Natural Interest (PEIN zones). They are the Areas of the Sierra de Montgrony and the Headwaters of Ter and Freser, this also declared a Natural Park and National Hunting Reserve.

Near the municipality of Planoles we find another protected area: Les Obagues del Rigart.

The municipality is crossed by two major communication routes: The N-260 road (the mythical Collada de Tosses), and the Trans-Pyrenean Railway, which, like the road, connects Barcelona with Puigcerdà. Both are fundamental engineering works in their time, which, following the old traditional communication routes between the Ter basin and Cerdanya, broke the isolation that had historically been imposed by difficulties in communication through imposing mountains with extreme weather in winter..

This historical isolation has helped to preserve the main values of a territory that during the High Middle Ages was the cradle of a new culture with a strong identity, which little by little spread throughout what is now Catalonia. As a testimony of the exceptional beauty and artistic value of that time, some Romanesque churches have survived to the present day, their interiors preserving all the spirituality of their creators.

The old houses, characterized by the rusticity and simplicity of the stone and the slab, have as a counterpoint beautiful summer houses, whose owners have been attracted by the infinite natural values of landscapes bursting with green all year round, except in winter, when the snow covers the valley in white, making winter sports, specifically skiing, the main leisure activity, which can be practiced in the neighboring resorts of Vall de Núria, La Masella and La Molina.

The municipality of Planoles is made up of the towns of Planoles and Planès. In addition there are 6 scattered neighborhoods or nuclei (Can Fosses, Les Casetes, El Molí, Cruells and el Serrat, el Aspre and El Puig).