Where kings and queens ski, and nature, culture, and adventure seamlessly meet. In the Val d’Aran, hidden in the Pyrenees of Catalonia, majestic mountains, centuries-old traditions, and breathtaking winter sports adventures await. It’s the perfect place to enjoy the snow with family and friends.

High above the rest of the world he stands out sharply against the deep blue sky: a priest in a bright white habit that seems to glow against the virgin snow and the jagged, white-tipped peaks on the horizon. ‘If the people don’t come to the church, the church comes to them,’ the priest says with a sparkle in his eye. With a gentle smile, he offers me a host and blesses both me and my skis—no joke, no costume party, but a true blessing, right here on top of the world. Welcome to the Val d’Aran, where the divine, legend, and reality flow into one another.

A Hidden Crown Jewel

The Val d’Aran, or Vall d’Aran in Catalan, lies on the northern flank of the Catalan Pyrenees, like a hidden crown jewel surrounded by mountain peaks that brush the sky. The climate here is unique, ensuring a high level of snow reliability. ‘Aran’ is a Basque-origin word meaning ‘valley’. Val d’Aran is therefore technically a pleonasm—literally ‘valley of the valley’. The name is a remnant of pre-Roman times, when the area was influenced by the Aquitani culture, closely related to that of the Basques. In antiquity, the Garonne River, which rises in the Val d’Aran, served as a natural boundary between the lands of the Aquitani and the Gauls. The Garonne meanders whimsically through the valley, like an indecisive nomad unsure whether it belongs to Spain or France. The valley’s diversity is reflected in a vibrant mix of cultures, languages, and traditions, like an undiscovered treasure map inviting you to venture further and further.

A Speaking History

The Val d’Aran is a living history book, with stone houses, slate roofs, and massive wooden beams that seem to withstand the centuries. Val d’Aran is first mentioned by that name in the 11th-century poem Canço de Santa Fe. Here, now and then, you can still hear Aranese, an ancient Romanesque language preserved in this isolated valley like a linguistic cocoon.

‘The earliest traces of Christianity in the region date back to the early fifth century,’ my daughter reads aloud from Wikipedia in the gondola. ‘Around that time, when the Visigoths conquered the area. Since then, it has always existed on the edge between the Merovingian north and the Iberian south, both geographically, politically, and culturally.’ You can still sense that early Christianity here.

Boí Taüll

We head out for a day of Val d’Aran, getting to Alta Ribagorça comarca and skiing in Boí Taüll, about an hour’s drive from Baqueira-Beret. Not only is Boí Taüll, with a peak at 2,751 meters, the highest ski resort in the Catalan Pyrenees, it’s also close to the famous Romanesque churches of the Vall de Boí, Unesco World Heritage sites and  cultural treasure troves. A perfect combination of winter sports and culture.

We visit the Romanesque church of Sant Climent de Taüll. Inside, digital techniques project the original frescoes—which adorned these walls a thousand years ago—back onto those same walls. It’s as if you step into a church disguised as a time machine. Saints gaze at us intently, with a devout smile. Past and present flow together like meltwater.