Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Rialp

What to see and do in Rialp (Pallars Sobirà, Lleida): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Activities · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Rialp

Castle of Rialb 150 m
Tower of en Virós 250 m

Towns near Rialp

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What to see in Tírvia 12 km · 4 places
What to see in la Torre de Cabdella 13 km · 9 places
What to see in Farrera 13 km · 4 places
What to see in Baix Pallars 15 km · 11 places
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Spain › Catalonia › Lleida › Pallars Sobirà › Rialp

What to see and do in Rialp

Rialp
Village
Rialp is a municipality located in the centre of the Pallars Sobirà district, in Lleida province, with a population of 654 inhabitants. The town has its origin in a castle built on a hillock on the right bank of the Noguera Pallaresa river, from where the passage to the Àssua valley was controlled, and which is believed to have originally been an outlying tower of the castle of Surp. The settlement, which was once walled, today preserves the Gothic arch of the Portal del Torrente de San Antonio, through which the old Camino de la Ribera passed, and a defence tower called Virós, now a private residence. Traditionally devoted to agriculture and livestock farming, Rialp today lives from tourism, with the Port Ainé ski resort in winter and rafting and canyoning the rest of the year.
Castle of Rialb
Monument
Gothic castle documented since 1065 ("in castro Rialb"), significantly rebuilt in the 15th-16th centuries with slate stone and arrow-slit windows; already by the 17th century it was described as in ruins. Possibly an outpost of the castle of Surp, it was disputed among the Bellera family, the counts of Foix, and the Crown of Aragon, and in the 15th century it was the administrative center of one of the five quarters of the viscounty of Castellbò. Today it preserves two stretches of wall about 7 m high forming the northeast corner; it is owned by the Diputació de Lleida. A Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's top heritage-protection category).
Tower of en Virós
Monument
The torre d'en Virós is the only surviving tower of the walled perimeter of the vila closa of Rialp, near the confluence of the valleys of the Noguera Pallaresa and the Sant Antoni river, at the foot of the castle hill. The origin of the town is medieval and linked to that of the castle, documented since the 11th century; in the late Middle Ages it was the centre of one of the five districts of the viscounty of Castellbò. The houses were arranged on both sides of the main road, with the ends closed off by gateways -of which only the Gothic portalet de la Mola survives- and semicircular towers on the rear wall. The torre d'en Virós, semicircular, retains a ground floor and four storeys and has been converted into a dwelling, with doors, balconies and windows opened later.
Rialp Main Festival
Activity
The main festival of Rialp.
Veal of the Catalan Pyrenees
Food and drink
Protected geographical indication that covers the meat of calves raised in the Pyrenean comarcas, with breeds adapted to the mountains and use of high pastures in summer. The Pallars Sobirà is one of its rearing areas.