Les Bons, the rock that once guarded the Encamp valley

If I had one hour in Encamp to show someone, I’d spend it at Les Bons. A church, a tower, two dovecotes and a cistern in the rock tell you in a very small space how people lived in an Andorran valley and how they defended it, and it doesn’t cost a penny.

An Encamp settlement perched on the rock

Les Bons is one of the six settlements the parish council lists, along with Pas de la Casa, Vila, El Tremat, La Mosquera and Encamp village. It sits at the upper end of Encamp village, so close that from below it looks like just another neighbourhood. What sets it apart is its historic group, built on a rocky spur from which, Andorra Tourism says, the entrance to the valley could be controlled.

What you’ll find there

The centrepiece is Sant Romà de les Bons, a Lombard Romanesque church that the council dates to 23 January 1164 thanks to the consecration record found inside its altar. It has a single nave, a rounded apse with Lombard blind arches and a later porch that looks out over half the valley.

Beside it rises the Torre dels Moros, a four-storey defence tower that was once lived in. It still has its arrow slits, a stone sink draining outside and, near the top, the openings of its machicolations. The council says the reddish tint on the inner walls comes from a fire and that visitors can climb to the top. Nobody agrees on its date, with Andorra Tourism suggesting the thirteenth century and the council the late sixteenth, so I’d rather tell you honestly that it’s uncertain.

Two tower dovecotes, Rossell and Cotxa, complete the group, the latter protected as a site of cultural interest, along with a water cistern cut into the rock and its irrigation channel. According to the council, only the wealthier houses could afford a tower dovecote, and pigeon droppings were prized as fertiliser.

How do you visit Les Bons?

On foot from central Encamp. Andorra Tourism has a signed walk starting at Plaça dels Arinsols that climbs along old royal roads, past bridges, fountains and wash houses, up to the group. At the top stands the Les Bons oratory, which marked the start of the hardest stretch of the old road to Canillo and Meritxell.

Entry is free. Guided visits run from mid-July to mid-September, and at other times you can ask at the Encamp tourist office. If Romanesque is your thing, pair Les Bons with Santa Eulàlia d’Encamp, a short walk downhill, and with Andorra’s wider Romanesque churches trail.

Les Bons under snow

Winter changes the scene. Andorra Tourism includes Les Bons on its route of prettiest villages for the snow season, and with the slope white you see why the tower went up exactly here, above the old road down from France. If you’re skiing Grandvalira and have a spare afternoon, it’s the shortest and cheapest outing Encamp has.

Sant Romà’s day at Easter

Every Easter Monday, the council says, the village honours Sant Romà with a solemn Mass, caramelles (traditional Easter songs) and sardana dancing before drinks. It’s when the group feels most alive to me, full of locals rather than just visitors.