Laroque-des-Albères
Laroque-des-Albères is a lively Catalan village at the foot of the Albères mountains, with genuine year-round local life and an international community. The villa is a 5-minute walk from the center, and most of daily life happens without getting back in the car.
A word about the village as it was, because it has changed a great deal. When I was a child, in the 1960s and 70s, Laroque was a small village of poor farmers. There was no television: in the evening the old folk would carry their chairs out in front of the house and take the cool air, as my grandfather used to say, chatting with whoever walked past. Otherwise, we went and played boules.
The neighbourhood where the villa stands did not exist yet. In 1970 there was nothing here but vines. Our neighbours up the hill built their house in 1975 and remember being alone in the middle of the rows; most of the houses around went up in the 2000s.
Then the English arrived, from the 1980s onwards, won over by the climate, and they brought their friends. Today around ten nationalities live in Laroque year-round. The village has become genuinely cosmopolitan, which would have thoroughly surprised my grandparents.
The ways into the village, back then
Two old postcards taken at the entrances to Laroque. The second comes from Philippe's family archives.
On foot from the villa
The village square
A five-minute walk, and everything you need day to day fits on one square: pharmacy, bakery, greengrocer, butcher, takeaway pizza, the newsagent and tobacconist, the tourist office, and a terrace for your morning coffee, or your first beer depending on the hour.
Boucherie Salvi
Didier Salvi, world champion of Catalan sausage, the village butcher for over 20 years. Also Catalan lamb and prize-winning beef raised in the mountain pastures.
Olive oil: Le Moulin du Llevant
Literally across the street from the villa, 44 bis avenue des Baléares: family-run organic mill, local varieties, gold medals, free tours. And keep exploring, the Albères are full of mills.
The market
Wednesday mornings on the square. Small, but it is the one where you run into the whole village.
L'Épicerie (Carrer del Sol)
The village grocery, a few dozen metres from the market square.
The post office and cash machine (avenue Louis et Michel Soler)
The post office, and the only cash machine you can reach on foot from the villa. It is often empty: plan ahead, or withdraw at the Albères retail park on your way past.
The restaurants
Eleven restaurants in the village, from a Michelin Bib Gourmand to an Irish pub. Details are in the Eat section.
The trails
The Albères hiking trails start right from the village, on foot from the villa.
Property: Terra Albera
Should the urge to buy something around here take hold, and it happens more often than you would think, this is the local reference: place de la Mairie, right next to the pharmacy.
Less than a 5-minute drive
Bread: Maison Castro
Le Fournil des Albères, the area's essential bakery and pâtisserie. Morning coffee possible, and in season a fruit and vegetable stall out front.
Table grapes: Domaine Causadias
In season, table grapes straight from the estate, 94 avenue des Baléares.
Wine merchant: La Tête dans le Cru
ZA du CD 618. The right place to taste the local wines before heading out to the estates themselves.
Petrol station and car wash
On the CD 618 business zone. Worth knowing if you run on E85 bioethanol: it is not sold in Laroque, the nearest pump is at the Intermarché in Saint-André, on the D618.
15 minutes away
Argelès-sur-Mer retail park
Rue des Milans, at the entrance to Argelès: a huge Intermarché and every chain store, for the big first-day shop.
The walks you should not miss, straight from the village
The Laroque tower, at sunset
You climb up through the lanes of the old village to the tower, the only remaining piece of the feudal castle's keep, the rest of which collapsed in 1890. It was a watchtower, signalling to Elne and to the other towers along the Albères ridge. At its foot, two orientation tables, one facing the plain and the sea, the other the mountains: the Canigou to the west, the Pic Néoulous to the south, the whole Roussillon plain to the north and the Mediterranean to the east. Late in the day, it is the walk we take everyone on when they visit.
Les Caranques
The path follows the river up to natural basins carved into the rock, just above the irrigation canal intake. Generations of village kids swam here; swimming is now prohibited by municipal order, but the place and the walk up to it are well worth it.
The mineral spring
A short trail leads to an iron-rich, naturally sparkling spring coming straight out of the rock. The taste is frankly metallic, somewhere between fizzy water and a rusty nail: worth trying once, for the experience. Stay on the path, the far bank is exposed to falling rocks.
Distances
- Village center: 5-minute walk.
- Argelès beaches: 10 minutes by car.
- Collioure: 15 minutes.
- Spain: 15 minutes.
- Céret: 20 minutes.
- Perpignan: 25 minutes.
- Figueres: 35 minutes.
- Girona: 55 minutes.
- Font-Romeu: 1 h 30.
- Barcelona: 2 h by car, 1 h 30 by high-speed train from Perpignan.
Book your stay
Book directly online: real-time availability, secure payment, calendar synced across all platforms. On-site welcome is handled by Sud Séjour, our local concierge service, reachable for any question.