Travel Guide Vall Del Madriu-Perafita-Claror

The Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley, more commonly known as the Madriu Valley, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1 July 2004 as a cultural landscape. Caught between the parishes of Escaldes, Encamp, Andorra la Vella and Sant Julià de Lòria, this 4,247 hectare area, which is still very rural today, represents nearly 10% of Andorra's territory.UNESCO defines a cultural landscape as "a joint work of man and nature forming a coherent unity, through its aesthetic, cultural and historical values". In other words, through the mountainous landscape infiltrated with water, this valley tells the story of mankind since the Middle Ages. A life, above all, in symbiosis with nature. The structures built at that time remained intact: terraces, shepherds' huts, dry stone walls, irrigation system, forge and mining areas, and in the 20th century hydroelectric dam. The natural heritage is fantastic. Indeed, this glacial valley, which owes its U-shaped shape to the action of frost, is composed of lichens, endangered vertebrate species, vegetation typical of marshy areas, post-alpine plateaus.... Livestock, subsistence farming, mining, forging and electricity production from the power of water were the main activities of these men.Today all these infrastructures belong to the history of Andorra and to the whole of humanity. The valley has 3 distinct levels of vegetation over its 1,300 m of elevation difference (from 1,200 to 2,500 m): mountain vegetation with pine trees and grasslands, subalpine vegetation (1,700-2,000 m) composed of silver fir and mountain pine trees, and finally alpine vegetation (at an altitude of over 2,200 m) made up of pasture land and rockery plants. This vegetation is home to small and large mammals and reptiles.