The municipality of La Vall d'en Bas offers a geography and landscape of the first order.
Jagged ridges, like those of Cabrera dels Llancers, Freixaneda or Puigsacalm, surround meadows and forests of beech, holm oaks and common oaks right down to the Bas plain. The valley floor has one of the most fertile soils in all of Catalonia. Meanwhile, a multitude of streams and brooks wind across the plain before pouring into the river Fluvià, which itself is formed from waters that have rushed down from the peaks of Falgars.
Puigsacalm and the hulking mass of Santa Magadalena create one of the area's most distinguishing silhouettes. From their peaks you can enjoy magnificent views over much of Catalonia.
The concentration of farm land in the valley - concentrated in plots - and the creation of agricultural cooperatives in the early 1970s, gave a remarkable boost to farming activity in the area and determined the route of the roads that today link the various settlements and neighbourhoods.
But La Vall d'en Bas is also steeped in history, being the land of Remences. The municipality still preserves the farmhouse where the farmers' leader Francesc de Verntallat was born. In honour of the Remença movement, Catalonia's most popular cycle-tourism event Terra de Remences is organised every year.
La Vall d'en Bas has two settlements listed as historic-artistic localities: the village of Mallol, built on a hill and for centuries the administrative capital of the viscounty of Bas, and the settlement of Hostalets d'en Bas, which has its origins in some hotels situated beside the old road that went from Olot to Vic.
