Naut Aran

Naut Aran
Municipality
Sant Andreu church, in Salardú
Naut Aran Location in Catalonia
Coordinates: 42°42′32″N 0°54′11″E / 42.70889°N 0.90306°E / 42.70889; 0.90306Coordinates: 42°42′32″N 0°54′11″E / 42.70889°N 0.90306°E / 42.70889; 0.90306
Country	Spain
Community	Catalonia
Province	Lleida
Comarca	Aran
Government
• Mayor	Cesar Ruiz-Canela Nieto (2015) (CDA)
Area
• Total	255.8 km2 (98.8 sq mi)
Elevation	1,267 m (4,157 ft)
Population (2014)
• Total	1,782
• Density	7.0/km2 (18/sq mi)
Website	www.nautaran.org

Naut Aran (Occitan pronunciation: [ˈnawt aˈɾan]) is a municipality in the comarca of the Aran in Catalonia, Spain. It is the second largest municipality in Catalonia in terms of surface area (225.8 km², behind Tremp), and was created in 1967 by the merger of the municipalities of Arties, Salardú, Gessa, Tredòs and Bagergue: the former municipalities retain some privileges as "decentralised municipal entities" (entitats municipals descentralitzades, EMD). The name literally means "Upper Valley" in Aranese, and both the Garonne (Garona) and the Noguera Pallaresa have their sources on the territory of the municipality. The town hall is in Salardú. The municipality is linked to Vielha by the C-28 road, which continues to Alt Àneu over the Port de la Bonaigua (2072 m). This road, the higher stretches of which are impassable in winter, was the only route between the Aran Valley and the rest of Spain before the opening of the Vielha tunnel in 1948.

The local economy is based almost entirely on tourism and winter sports. The ski resort of Vaquèira-Beret is one of the largest in the Pyrenees. A number of local churches have been classified as historic-artistic monuments:

The municipality is composed of nine distinct settlements:

Population figures from before 1967 are the totals for the five municipalities which combined to form Naut Aran.