Tarragona, Tarragonès

About the place:

Can you imagine finding a wild boar in Tarragona? It sounds impossible but it is not. A few meters from the N240 you’ll find a great unknown treasure even to many residents of the city itself. Behind the Devil's Bridge, one of the most monumental and well preserved aqueducts from Roman times that took the water from the Francolí river to  the ancient city of Tarraco, you’ll find a park with Roman quarries and romantic elements of the garden of Puig i Valls brothers.

An excursion to the forest, without leaving town!

Direction tips:

The starting point of the route through the park of Devil's Bridge is the guard house. You can access the N240 going from Tarragona towards San Salvador (in direction Valls). Just before reaching the gas station and exit to San Ramon, you’ll find a road to the right towards the Devil's Bridge. You will find the a parking place at the entrance. Enter the park through the old farm-gate on foot. Follow the trail where you will find the first stirrings of romantic gardens with a little square and a monolith with an inscription. The track takes you right to the stairs leading to the guard house. Continue to the Devil’s bridge. Normally you should be able to pass under the bridge to continue along the track, but until June 2011 it will be closed for restoration. So you should get around the fences. Just before reaching the fences, you will find a path that goes left to the top of the bridge. Once on top you have to go to the right and go down to the track. On your way you’ll find way marks. We will follow the blue marks almost all the time.

At the first fork you go straight. After a while the track turns left (hunting area). A few meters further you will find a 20 meters tall white pine. At this point you turn left. You will find an inscription on a stone on the floor in homage of the trees. Enjoy after a few meters left of the area of reading and reflection of the brothers Puig i Valls.

After a slight rise, the road forks in "V". You take the right path. After a few meters you will find a Roman quarry on the left (just the height of an indicator of wood with blue and green marks). At a new branch, you must turn right. At this point the road will coincide with a short path marked with white and yellow marks on trees and rocks. After a while, the path turns left following a path with stones. You will then arrive at an abandoned house. Continue along the path to the left. This road ends at a roundabout with a species of pine in the middle. Take the path to the right. At this point you follow the black marks. There will be a fork to the right where the road will coincide again with the blue route that will take you to the Devil's Bridge. To return to your car you will need to get around the closed area of the devil’s bridge.

The best season:

winter, autumn, summer, spring

Lunch tips:

You can have lunch in a place where kids do not have to wait even one minute: the restaurant WOK Yokohama. A place with a good Asian buffet.

More info:

Difficulty: Easy
Type: circular route
Total distance: approx. 3.5 km
Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes (no breaks, roundtrip)
Accessibility: Much of the route passes through wide tracks. At some point there are slight increases and stretches with stones which makes it impossible to access with prams or wheelchairs.
Recommendations: always follow the color indicators (without taking any unmarked path or trail), as there are hunting areas and the park can be a maze.

Photo: © ExploraTgn.cat