Walking and eating in Catalonia

We’ve always considered that a good meal at the end of the day is crucial to making a walking holiday into a great walking holiday. It’s so much more than just fuel – it’s an experience in itself, and a celebration of what you’ve achieved during the day.

We and our hedonistic walkers spend a lot of time hunting out the best places to eat, only occasionally encountering a dud along the way…  The search is much easier in places known for their fabulous food, and we can now recommend Catalonia to you with added authority, as it is officially World Region of Gastronomy 2025. This recognition brings into focus the wonderful local produce and cooking of the northeast corner of Spain – see more here.

While hiking our Catalonia: El Priorat route there are lots of typical Catalan dishes to look out for, all making the most of the first-class ingredients produced in these landscapes. You’ll find lots of pork, and also plenty of grilled vegetables, garlic and ground nuts. Botifarra is a pork sausage that appears in many different varieties, and typical sauces include picada, a basic combination of almond, bread and liquid that can be flavoured with garlic, saffron or parsley. You might finish your meal with crema catalana, a sweet custard that is also found in pastries.

And, of course, in the Priorat region there’s a multitude of excellent wines to pair with the freshest seasonal cuisine. Make time for a wine tasting at Clos Figueras, our accommodation in Gratallops, followed by an excellent meal in their Slate Wine Bar, or add a bespoke wine tour with our local contact, Joanna.

The Wine Fair (Fira de Vi) in the town of Falset, your final destination, is a fun way to find out more about local wines – take a look at what’s on if you already have a booking to be there in early May 2025 (some events require advance booking). Falset is also planning a new Food & Wine Inspiration Centre, which we hope walkers will be able to visit next year!

If you’d like to push the boat out a little bit one evening, you could consider the Michelin-starred restaurant Quatre Molins in Cornudella where you’ll find influences from French and Asian cuisines as well as the best local ingredients.

Whatever gastronomic delights you discover in Catalonia, you’re sure to come away enthused by the wonderful flavours of this very special part of Spain.

Find more about On Foot’s route in Catalonia here

See more walking routes in Spain

Launched in 2022, our walking holiday on La Gomera in the Canary Islands is already proving a hit. The combination of dramatic landscapes, rich biodiversity and a walking season running through the winter months is drawing hikers to this magical isle.

“This was one of our favourite holidays ever – the scenery, flowers, bees, birds, food and drink were all a joy. Great network of paths and navigation pretty simple as well.”

While roaming the steep-sided ravines you might wonder how the Gomeran people communicated in the days before telephones without having to hike up and down the hillsides to deliver a message. The answer lies in Silbo Gomera, a whistled language that dates back at least to the arrival of the Spanish in 1402, and possibly to the island’s earlier inhabitants, the Guanches. The piercing sounds make up an aural alphabet that represents Spanish words, and it will drift for two miles or more across the valleys – a quick and efficient method of passing on important news, warning of danger, or communicating between local farmers.

Silbo was so commonly used until the 1950s that queues of farmers would form at vantage points, waiting to send instructions across the valleys, maybe about the movement of livestock. As much of the agricultural land was abandoned in subsequent years, and the telephone became more available, the language was in danger of dying out.

However, it was declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2009, and Silbo is now enjoying a revival. All school age children are required to learn it, and it is practised by much of the island’s population.

You’ll pass the Whistling Tree monument by José Darias at Igualero on your final walk – it depicts the typical stance of the whistler, using one finger between the teeth to produce the sound, and the other hand to project it forwards. Listen out for this distinctive part of La Gomera’s heritage as you hike around the island!

That may sound like a bit of a contradiction, but the monastic communities in this corner of northeast Spain have been closely entwined with the production of fine red wines for centuries. In fact, it was the Carthusian monks of Escaladei who first introduced viticulture here in the 12th century, and the Prior’s feudal control over the neighbouring villages gave the area its name.

The ruins of Escaladei are now an important archaeological site that you can visit towards the end of your self-guided walking holiday. At the beginning is another massive monastery that is still very much alive – the Cistercian abbey at Poblet, burial place of Aragon kings and queens, standing snugly in its protective walls and encircled by vineyards.

This landscape is full of grand vistas, where eagles circle above the rocky escarpments and streams tumble into inviting pools. And you’re immersed in history too, amongst neolithic cave dwellings with their attendant rock art, and pretty hill villages.

The final two days of walking bring you into the heart of wine country, to the towns of Gratallops and Falset, where there are plenty of opportunities to indulge in some serious wine-tasting. You could even choose to stay an extra day and take a wine tour with our local contact, Joanna, visiting two pre-eminent wineries.

Despite its long ancestry, the Priorat “Denominacio” dates from 1954. After the devastation of European vineyards by the phylloxera insect infestation in the late 19th century, it wasn’t until the 1950s that replanting began in Priorat. Since then the reputation of these wines has risen like a phoenix, one vintage even gaining a rare ‘100 out of 100’ rating by wine critic Robert Parker and the accolade of his ‘wine of the century’. The predominant grape variety is Garnacha (grenache), and while both red and white wines are produced, it is the reds that have been given the highest plaudits.

Find more about our walking holiday in El Priorat here.