What to see near Besalú

13 kilometres from Besalú there is a village built on the edge of a basalt cliff more than 50 metres high and almost a kilometre long. The view from below, with the houses leaning out over the drop, is one of the most recognisable images in Catalonia.

The cliff was carved by the Fluvià and Toronell rivers out of two superposed lava flows: the lower one is 217,000 years old and came from the Batet area, the upper one around 192,000 years old and came from the Begudà volcanoes. Look closely and the wall really does have two different textures.

La Garrotxa is, in the natural park's own words, the finest example of volcanic landscape in the Iberian Peninsula: around forty volcanic cones and more than twenty basalt lava flows. This is not scenery you admire from a distance, you walk right through it.

The two most visited are Croscat, whose last eruption is dated at around 11,500 years ago, the most recent in the Catalan volcanic field, and Santa Margarida, with its grass-covered crater. Both are reached from the road between Olot and Santa Pau.

This is the practical detail that trips most people up. The park's two main car parks both charge, but with different systems. Can Serra, next to the Fageda d'en Jordà, opens from 8 to 20 h, charges around the clock, is automatic and only accepts bank cards.

The Santa Margarida volcano car park opens from 8.30 to 20 h, is operated manually and only takes cash, at 4 euros per car. It also does not charge all year: it charges at weekends, on public holidays, at Easter, throughout July and August, and on a handful of days in autumn and December. Neither allows overnight parking.

The Fageda d'en Jordà is a beech wood growing on top of a lava flow, and that stone base explains its strange, hummocky ground. Flat paths run through it and it is one of the most rewarding walks in the park, particularly in autumn.

30 kilometres from Besalú, inside the same natural park, sits Santa Pau, with its medieval core and arcaded square. It is also the village of the fesols, the beans grown in volcanic soil that turn up on menus all over the county.

21 kilometres away is Olot, which has the peculiarity of carrying its volcanoes inside the city itself. It is the capital of La Garrotxa and the logical place for lunch, for a rainy day, or for getting your bearings before heading into the park.

The natural park headquarters are in Olot, at the Casal dels Volcans on Avinguda de Santa Coloma. That is the place to ask if you have doubts about access, closed paths or the state of the trails, which changes.

Banyoles is 14 kilometres away, towards Girona, and its lake hosted the rowing events of the 1992 Olympic Games. The loop around the lake is a flat, quiet walk, a good match for an afternoon after a morning of medieval stone.

Figueres lies 25 kilometres to the north and is something else entirely: the Dalí Theatre-Museum. If you are coming from the Costa Brava or from France, it slots naturally into the same trip.

The volcanoes and the beech wood need no commentary. Besalú is the opposite: half of what makes it interesting is invisible, a bridge rebuilt several times, a ritual bath under the square and a 10th-century monastery.

The app has audio guides made by local guides that walk you through the town at your own pace, with the guide's voice in your ear. They fit a day trip well: town in the morning, countryside in the afternoon.