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The Festival is held on a plain called Pla de Santa Maria, next to the small town of Escalarre. Don't try to find it on a map because it isn't there. It is situated between the townships of La Guingueta and Esterri D'Àneu, to the north of Sort.
The site chosen for the Doctor Music Festival is within the township of La Guingueta d'Àneu, in the village of Escalarre: a population of only twenty and 100 hectares of green Pyrenaic valley surrounded by high mountains, very close to one of the most important national parks in Spain:
Aigüestortes and Llac de Sant Maurici. Escalarre and its small surrounding towns (La Guingueta, Esterri, València d'Àneu, Espot, etc.) are typical examples of the traditional way of life in the most secluded Pyrenaic valleys: high-mountain architecture, Romanic art, gastronomy, an arable and cattle economy in its most original form, animal and vegetable species found nowhere else in the world, etc.
Near touristic spots such as the ski slopes of Super Espot, Port-Ainé and Baqueira Beret, the borders with Andorra and France and even the city of Barcelona, the valley that holds the Doctor Music Festival is one of the most beautiful high-mountain regions in Europe.
HOW TO GET THERE
By car: There are three routes into the valley that holds the Festival: the roads that go through Seu d’Urgell, Tremp and Viella-Baqueira. If you live in Catalonia, any of these three options will do, though the route via Viella-Baqueira is somewhat longer. If you're coming from anywhere outside of Catalonia, you'll probably go through Lleida in order then to take either the route via Viella- Baqueira or the route via Tremp. This last one is shorter but there is likely to be more traffic. That said, whichever route you choose will take you to the Festival past fantastic countryside, mountains, rivers and Pyrenaic valleys. If you're coming from the Basque Country, you can also get to Viella through France via Biarritz and Pau. Once you have reached Viella, Seu d’Urgell or Tremp, you'll start finding signs that will lead you directly to the Doctor Music Festival enclosure.
To give you some idea, from the Baqueira ski slopes the journey takes about 45 minutes, and from Tremp as well as from Seu d´Urgell just over an hour. Important: by the Festival enclosure there's only one gas station, which could collapse if you don't take the precaution of filling up along the way.
By bus: The company Alsina-Graells offers a daily service from Barcelona and Lleida to Esterri d´Àneu. Once you get there, the stop is only a ten-minute walk from the Festival enclosure. Should you require further information, you can call them on Barcelona (93) 265 68 66 or Lleida (973) 27 14 70. If you're phoning from the city of Barcelona, you can also use the information line 010.
By train: The nearest RENFE station is Pobla de Segur, which is 56 kilometers away from Escalarre, though the Festival organising committee plans to put on a very reasonably-priced bus service that will take you directly from the station platform to the enclosure. Don't forget: there are only three trains a day to Pobla de Segur and they all depart from Lleida station. To find out about times, prices and connections from the place you're travelling from, you can ring the RENFE information lines on Barcelona (93) 490 02 02, Lleida (973) 22 02 02 or Madrid (91) 328 90 20. Also 010 if you're calling from Barcelona city.
By buses: If you want to get some info about Scheduled Travels and buses, click here.
WHERE TO SLEEP
Basically there are two options open to you: the campsite inside the Festival enclosure or the wide range of hotels in the area. The former won't cost you any more, since the price of the campsite is included in the price of the season ticket. Staying inside the enclosure will mean you don't miss out on a single detail of the endless list of activities the Festival will be offering. The Festival organising committee has gone to a great deal of trouble to ensure that this form of accommodation allow you to enjoy a comfortable, pleasant and fun stay, with all the basic amenities you could need.
Should, however, you prefer to stay at a hotel, hostel or boarding house in the area, it would be a very good idea to think about booking now, since, although there is a very wide range of hotels throughout the Pyrenees, the number of people attending the Festival could well make finding a room close by somewhat difficult. You should be able to find the necessary contacts in any guide to the area or in the telephone book for the province of Lleida. Nevertheless, if you have any trouble finding a suitable place to stay phone the Festival's information line on (93) 268 28 58 and we'll do all we can to help.
To find out more about Vall d'Àneu...
