Excursion to the Fuente Elvira, with Canfranc at your feet

The surroundings of Canfranc offer interesting excursions. The excursion to the Elvira Fountain It will take about four and a half hours to walk there and back (five and a half hours with stops) along a trail with 1,000 metres of vertical drop and crossing several snowfields (depending on the season, at the beginning of the campaign).

The tour starts on the Paseo de los Melancólicos (the path that runs parallel to the railway tracks at the back of the Canfranc train station). From there, take the path that leads to the refuge la Casita Blanca -It can be accessed both from the northern and southern end of the Paseo de los Melancólicos, which allows you to choose between an uphill and a downhill path. It is a coniferous forest (spruce, pine and fir), with some leafy species (beech, hazel, ash...). Once in the Casita Blanca, we continue up the track that leads to PicauveAfter passing a small refuge of the same name (at an altitude of 1,380 m), we turn off to the right to take the path that leads to the Casita del Vasco (1.880 m).

La Casita del Vasco is a ruined building, but a good place to stop, enjoy the scenery and then continue on our way to our final destination: Fuente Elvira, located at 2,111 m altitude and built in 1944. The slope of the mountain is impressive, as it is full of avalanche defences that protect the impressive station building and its surroundings below.

After drinking water at the fountain and regaining our strength, we start the descent. We will follow the same path to the Casita del Vasco but, once there, we will take the the path of the 20 wallsThe landscape is spectacular and wooded.