Association
of Tourism Businesses
of Montseny

Sant Hilari Sacalm

The municipal area of Sant Hilari Sacalm, to the west of the province of Girona, has a surface area of 83.56 km2 and is known as the capital of the Guilleries. The town is located at over 800 metres in height and is surrounded by the massif of the Guilleries, with the summit of Sant Miquel de Solterra or “Les Formigues” at 1,204 metres as its highest point.
The municipality is elongated in shape at the northernmost point and reaches to the other side of the River Ter, at the reservoir of Susqueda. It comprises the old municipality of Querós and the parishes of Santa Margarida de Vallors and Montsolís. Its waters run to the Ter, along the rivers of the Riera Major and the Riera d’Osor while those which run to Tordera are fed by the rivers of Santa Margarida and Riudecòs.

Font Picant

FAUNA:

There are large animals such as wild boar, foxes, badgers and genets, and other smaller animals such as hares, squirrels, rabbits, weasels and moles. The rivers are currently being repopulated with native trout and there are also barbels, catfish, frogs, water snakes and more in the reservoirs, with carp, grey herons, moorhens, mallard ducks and other species. There are birds such as jays, owls, sparrow hawks, Tengmalm’s owls, tawny owls, woodpigeons, partridges, pheasants, woodcocks, hoopoes, woodpecker, blackbird, magpies, crows, kestrels, and smaller birds such as the robin, redpoll, tit, goldfinch and bullfinch, sparrow, and chaffinch. On land there are many reptiles such as the rat or Aesculapian snake, viper, salamander and other smaller reptiles.

FLORA

Throughout the massif of the Guilleries the forestry features and climatic conditions mean that there is a wide variety of plant life with Mediterranean, Atlantic and Pre-Pyrenean characteristics. Common oaks and Spanish oaks are the natural inhabitants of the area. In the shaded areas the chestnut tree, in the valley bottoms poplars, elms and ash trees with alders close to the rivers. In the lower, sunnier areas, cork oaks thrive. The beech is also found on many areas higher up. There is a wide range of conifers, from the stone pine through to firs and cedars and the Scots pine and the Spanish black pine. The plantations of fir trees for Christmas take up a fifth of the area of the old farmland as well as nursery plants. With respect to bushes there is boxwood, heather, common hazel, holly, juniper, broom, strawberry tree and other species which lend the Guilleries the distinctive green colour which characterises the area and which makes it a paradise for mushroom gatherers. Distinctive trees in the area are the pine and the cherry tree of Soler, the oak of Masduell, and the cedars of La Placeta. The beech wood of Les Valls and the oak forest of Ribot are well worth a visit.

PATRIMONI

The Guilleries Museum
Plaça del Dr. Robert, s/n
Tel: 972 869 447
The museum focuses on aspects of the ecosystem and the environment which are related to the verdant massif of the Guilleries. The fauna, flora, and the physical and aquatic environment are all displayed in an easily accessible and detailed exhibition. The inner patio area contains a garden with varieties of plants used in the making of the local alcoholic drink “Ratafia”.

“Can Rovira”
Plaça del Dr. Robert, s/n
Tel: 972 869 447
“Can Rovira” is an emblematic building in the town of Sant Hilari where the tourism office is located. There are also exhibitions annexed from the Guilleries Museum with a wide variety of themes which are above all ethnographic and related to water. Examples of work and trades related to woods and the countryside are also on display. As Sant Hilari has been described as the “Town of the Hundred Springs”, there is an exhibition related to the health resort “La Font Picant” and the application of medicine in the area of hydrotherapy. There is also an exhibition of a personality known as “Jaumet del Flabiol”, a travelling seller and supplier of water with cart and pitcher. An exhibition of Nativity scenes is also on display.