El Vallès (or simply Vallès) is a historical county in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, located in the center of the

Catalan Pre-Coastal Range The Catalan Pre-Coastal Range () is a system of mountain ranges running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast in Catalonia. It is part of the Catalan Mediterranean System. Its main axis runs between the Catalan Transversal Range and the Ser ...

. It is nowadays represented by two separate administrative divisions ( ''comarques'') which are part of the Barcelona Province: the Western Vallès, which has two capitals,

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

and

Terrassa Terrassa () is a city in central-eastern Catalonia and in the province of Barcelona (Spain). It is one of the two capitals of Vallès Occidental county, being the larger in both area and population. The name ''Terrassa'' derives from Latin ''Te ...

; and the Eastern Vallès, with

Granollers Granollers (; ) is a city in central Catalonia, about 30 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. It is the capital and most densely populated city in the comarca of Vallès Oriental. Granollers is now a bustling business centre, having grown from ...

as its capital. The present division of Vallès has its historical roots in the legal districts of Granollers and Terrassa, established in 1834. However, the first time this subdivision was explicitly used as sanctioned by law was in 1936, with the official division of Catalonia in ''comarques''. In 2015, four of the municipalities in Eastern Vallès became part of a newly created ''comarca'': the

Moianès Moianès () is a Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' in the Central Catalonia, central region of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is the town of Moià. It became a comarca in May 2015, following approval in a local referendum and by the Parliament o ...

. Some parts of the Vallès region belong to the

metropolitan area of Barcelona The Barcelona urban area is an urban area in Catalonia (Spain) centered on the city of Barcelona and located less than 100 km south of the border with France. With a population of over 5 million, it is one of the largest urban areas in Europ ...

and the Àmbit Metropolità de Barcelona(metropolitan region of Barcelona), and is nowadays connected with

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

with public transportations systems such as FGC's so-called '' Metro del Vallès''.

External links

Consell Comarcal del Vallès OccidentalConsell Commarcal del Vallès Oriental
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valles Geography of Catalonia

See also

External links