Parc Astronòmic Montsec, Lleida, Catalonia

More info: www.parcastronomic.cat

Much further inland than Albanyà, but also in Catalonia, is this certified Starlight Reserve and Starlight Tourism Destination in the Montsec mountains. Sheltered from coastal cloud and from the snows of the high Pyrenees, clear skies are common above Parc Astronòmic’s two facilities. The Observatori Astronòmic del Montsec, on a mountaintop, is managed by the Catalan Space Institute and focused on research (so not open to the public), while the Centre d’Observació de l’Univers (COU) is in the valley and hosts an exhibition and planetarium show, and also conducts guided tours of its Parc de Telescopis. There’s no accommodation here; visitors are asked to stay in the villages of the surrounding Montsec mountain range.