Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant

What to see and do in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant (Baix Camp, Tarragona): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant

Tower of Gavadà 4.2 km
Tower of el Torn 7.5 km

Towns near Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant

What to see in Pratdip 4.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Tivissa 8.6 km · 11 places
What to see in Capçanes 9.8 km · 3 places
What to see in Colldejou 9.9 km · 2 places
What to see in els Guiamets 11 km · 2 places
What to see in la Torre de Fontaubella 12 km · 3 places
What to see in Marçà 12 km · 3 places
What to see in Mont-roig del Camp 13 km · 3 places

Spain › Catalonia › Tarragona › Baix Camp › Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant

What to see and do in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant

Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant
Village
Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant is a coastal and mountain municipality of Baix Camp, in Tarragona, with several defence towers and an old hospital for travellers, bringing together the settlements of Vandellós, Hospitalet del Infante, Masriudoms, Masboquera and l'Almadrava. Its historic base was inland, around the castle of Vandellós, already recorded in 1342 as Vallis Laurorum and integrated into the barony of Castellvell and, from 1241, into that of Entença. In recent decades growth has shifted toward the coast because of tourism and the Vandellós nuclear power plant, which led to l'Hospitalet being placed first in the official name. The terrain, rugged, forms part of the Catalan Coastal Pre-litoral Range and reaches the sea at the Dedalts de Vandellòs, with 10.5 km of coastline.
Tower of Gavadà
Monument
The Torre de Gavadà is a monument protected as a bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's designation for cultural heritage of national interest) in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant (Baix Camp), on a hillside above the settlement of Gavadà, whose valley it overlooks. It is circular in plan and retains the ground-floor vault, spiralling in the manner of the comarca, which supported a first floor now lost; it has an interior diameter of 4.1 metres and walls 120 centimetres thick, with an elevation of about six metres. It has a ground-level door towards the ruins of an old mas with which it appears to have been connected by a raised walkway. It is thought to have been a 16th-century tower that communicated with the Torre de Genessies; in 1606 it was the scene of a clash between bandits and the inhabitants of the neighbouring house. Now abandoned: it had 123 inhabitants in 1900 and 25 in 1950.
Tower of el Torn
Monument
Circular defence tower, built of rounded stones with little mortar, raised in the 16th century by the dukes of Cardona on the rocky tombolo that forms the upper end of the islet of El Torn, in Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, to watch for Berber landings; it had three lookouts and was funded by a toll on the right of passage and anchorage at the Coll de Balaguer. The English destroyed it on 17 June 1813, and today only the circular base survives, with an average height of about two metres, with remains of six radial walls; although heavily deteriorated, it retains the wall trench cut into the rock, which would allow its restoration. In the spring of 2021 consolidation works were carried out.
Wayfarers' Hospital of Vandellòs
Monument
The Hospital per a vianants (pilgrims' hospital) of l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, or Hospital del Coll de Balaguer, is a monument protected as a bien cultural de interés nacional (Catalonia's designation for cultural heritage of national interest) in the municipality of Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant (Baix Camp). It was founded in 1344 by the Infante Peter, son of James the Just, to shelter travellers and pilgrims crossing lands then depopulated between Tarragona and Tortosa; from this hospital the village of l'Hospitalet de l'Infant was born. It was a notable Gothic building, square in plan, 54.43 metres on each side, centred on a courtyard and protected by walls 11.70 metres high. It had two dormitories with beds for men and women, and distributed bread and wine among the poor. It suffered damage in three wars, and was restored as a municipal facility in 2016.
Accident at the Vandellòs I nuclear plant
Historical milestone
The Vandellòs nuclear complex, by the sea in the municipality of Vandellòs i l'Hospitalet de l'Infant, was made up of two reactors: Vandellòs I, a graphite-gas reactor in operation since 1967, and Vandellòs II, a pressurised water reactor, from 1981. A fire in the turbine hall on 19 October 1989 damaged the cooling systems of the first one; classified as level 3 on the international scale, it led to the definitive closure of the plant the following year, and it has since been undergoing decommissioning. It is the only Catalan nuclear power plant located by the sea, which is why it was built on a platform twenty-one metres high to protect it from a possible rise in the water level.