Olla de Nuria from Ribes de Freser Train Station

Throughout a nice hike. You can get to Ribes by regional train from Barcelona for about 10-15€ within 3 hours. The first day starts slow, hiking up to the Refugi Pla de l'Erola and starts picking up pace going up to Balandrau. Bring sunscreen and a hat, because from the start of the climb to Balandrau you're out in the sun until you get back down to Nuria. Descending from Balandrau, Refugi Coma de Vaca offers a nice opportunity to get a cold drink or have a coffee before the final stretch of the day to the Barraca de Tirapits (which is just a bad weather shelter, i actually slept outside in front of it). Remember to pick up enough water before leaving the stream as there's no more opportunity to refill until after Puigmal!
Day two begins with beautiful views and if you get up early enough you're rewarded with a pretty lonely hike all the way to puigmal (didn't meet any people until Coll de Finestrelles, but therefore countless animals). No matter how early you get up though, Puigmal can be reached quickly enough from the parking on the other side to be crowded by the time you get there.
From the peak you have various options: I made the mistake of hiking down towards Nuria, as i had never seen it. Honestly, i should have taken the path along Tossa del Pas dels Lladres instead. Nuria is just another one of those crazy dominguero destinations and it took until Queralbs to find some quiet again. Queralbs has some small bars to refresh before the last stretch (which in the end is longer than you think, but also nicer than you think: there's a small hidden waterfall in the forest and the path is relatively shady). Passing Vilamanya and Batet you hike back down to Ribes (watch the time, last train on sunday at 19.51!).

There are no crazy steep climbs and no technical terrain, its basically just distance and elevation (all in all must be around 3000m of ascent, the distance is probably a bit longer, i traced the route pretty roughly on the map, didn't carry a gps..). The second day includes some 2000m of nonstop descent from Puigmal to Ribes, so bring your hiking sticks if you like your knees..