Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Cerdanyola del Vallès

What to see and do in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Vallès Occidental, Barcelona): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Cerdanyola del Vallès

Towns near Cerdanyola del Vallès

Spain › Catalonia › Barcelona › Vallès Occidental › Cerdanyola del Vallès

What to see and do in Cerdanyola del Vallès

Cerdanyola del Vallès
Village
Cerdanyola del Vallès is a municipality in the comarca of Vallès Occidental, in the province of Barcelona, only 6 kilometres from the Catalan capital, on part of the Collserola range. It is home to the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in the Bellaterra district, and the Vallès Technology Park, seat of the ALBA synchrotron, a particle accelerator. It preserves the Iberian settlement of Can Olivé, the Romanesque hermitage of Sant Iscle de les Feixes, the castle of Sant Marçal and numerous farmhouses, evidence of its agricultural past, alongside Modernista houses built by the Barcelona bourgeoisie as summer residences. The municipality also carries a serious public health problem: asbestos produced by the company Uralita has caused 149 cases of fatal illness in the area since 1997.
Castle of Sant Marçal
Monument
Remains of the castle of Sant Marçal, in the municipality of Cerdanyola del Vallès, declared Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Spain's highest level of heritage protection). The first documentary record dates from 1042, when a church dedicated to the saint, dependent on the parish of Sant Martí de Cerdanyola, is mentioned; it is believed to have belonged to the monastery of Sant Cugat, which sold it to the Count of Barcelona, and it passed to the Montcada family in 1135. After a long lawsuit that dragged on until 1542, the Marimon family became its rightful owner, and in 1690 Feliu de Marimon received the title of Marquis of Cerdanyola. In 1895 his heirs commissioned the architect Gaietà Buïgas to carry out a remodeling that, while respecting the original structure, clad it in a neo-medieval decoration of merlons, machicolations and battlements that it still preserves.
Mountain range of Collserola (vessant vallesà)
Nature
The Vallès-facing slope of the Serra de Collserola, more humid and lush than the Barcelona-facing slope, has as its dominant potential vegetation holm oak woodland with cerrioid oak, unlike the sun-facing slope oriented towards Barcelona. At the base of this slope, granite reappears between el Papiol and Valldoreix, formerly quarried at the Mina Berta. The range extends between the Besòs and Llobregat rivers, covers around 11,000 hectares and culminates at the Tibidabo, at 516.2 metres; other notable peaks are the Turó del Puig (477.2 m) and Puig d'Olorda (436.4 m). Since 2010, a large part of the massif has formed the Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola, of 8,465 hectares, managed by nine municipalities, including Cerdanyola del Vallès and Sant Cugat del Vallès.
Cerdanyola del Vallès Main Festival
Activity
Cerdanyola del Vallès celebrates two festas majors: the Roser de Maig, on the first weekend of May, and the patronal festival of Sant Martí, around 11 November, patron of the municipality, with a "correfoc" fire-run, castellers and sardanas.
Iberian Settlement of Ca n'Oliver
Curiosity
The Iberian settlement of Ca n'Oliver, declared a cultural asset of national interest, sits on a hill in the Collserola park, in the municipality of Cerdanyola del Vallès, from where the entire Vallès plain can be seen. It was inhabited between the 6th century and 50 BC by a family of high social standing, as was usual among Laietanian settlements: it began as a group of simple houses which, between the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, were expanded with a large entrance, a ditch and a field of grain-storage pits for the agricultural surpluses traded with other Mediterranean peoples. It was destroyed in the Second Punic War and later rebuilt, until it was abandoned with the arrival of the Romans; between the 9th and 10th centuries it was inhabited again. The site was first turned into a museum area in 1999, and in 2010 the Iberian Museum of Ca n'Oliver was opened.
Bellaterra campus of the Autonomous University
Historical milestone
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona was created by decree on 6 June 1968 and from February 1969 it began to acquire land at Bellaterra, within the district of Cerdanyola. The campus occupies 263 hectares, with close to seventy per cent of woodland and green areas.
ALBA Synchrotron
Historical milestone
Inaugurated on 22 March 2010 in the Parc de l'Alba, it is a third-generation synchrotron of up to 3 GeV with a storage ring of 268 metres. Its beamlines analyse materials, biological samples and also archaeological pieces.