El Xiulet de Pals

El Xiulet de Pals is the company behind the little tourist train of Pals, in the Baix Empordà. With it, it organises guided tours that combine a train ride with walks: through the Gothic quarter of the village, through the rice fields of the plain to the old rice mill, and through two nearby medieval villages. It is based at the coach car park on calle Abeurador, at the foot of the old town. The website does not say who runs it or since what year it has operated.

The routes

The rice route lasts around an hour and three quarters. The train goes down in about 20 minutes to the Molí de Pals, where the history of the mill is explained, along with its early 20th-century electrical installations and the old room, with a machine that shows how rice is whitened. You taste a beer made with rice from the mill and return through the rice fields. The medieval villages route lasts the same and stops at Peratallada, with its church, castle, square and moat, and at Palau-Sator, where you walk around the walled enclosure and climb the Torre de les Hores, with views of the Montgrí and the plain. The Gothic Pals route is the shortest: the train goes up to the old town in five minutes and the visit continues on foot past the Romanesque tower of the former castle, the church of Sant Pere, the towers of the wall and the main square. It is designed for groups of 20 or more.

Languages, groups and ages

The routes are offered in Catalan, Spanish, English and French, although each departure has its own specific languages, which you can see when you choose the date in the booking calendar. Each departure has a limited number of places. There is a reduced price for children, but the website does not say from what age an adult ticket is paid, or whether dogs are allowed on board. It gives no details on wheelchair accessibility; the company says it adapts activities to each customer's needs, so it is worth calling beforehand on 628 597 972.

Sustainability

El Xiulet de Pals has held the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECSTT) of the Montgrí, Illes Medes and Baix Ter Natural Park since the first edition, in 2018. On its website it explains that volunteers cleaned and restored the old room of the mill, which is now part of a small museum, and that since January 2023 it has removed rubbish from the irrigation channel by hand, where it says it has seen turtles, fish and a family of otters return. On the train seats there are QR codes to identify the birds of the rice fields, and its rice tasting and sales room also serves as a park information point.

Booking and cancellation

You book and pay on the website: choose the route, the date and the time and buy the ticket. Departures leave from the coach car park on calle Abeurador. Cancellation is free with a full refund if requested by email to [email protected] at least 24 hours before departure; after that, or if you do not show up, there is no refund. If the company cancels a departure because of bad weather, technical problems or force majeure, it offers another date or a refund. The website does not publish an annual calendar of seasons: the available dates appear on the booking page.

If you would rather explore the village on your own, see the listing for the Gothic old town and the Torre de les Hores.