Coll de Banyuls () is a mountain pass (and a

border crossing Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...

) between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

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 ...

in the Albera Massif, the easternmost prolongation of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

, helping to connect the Spanish municipality of

Rabós Rabós () is a municipalities of Spain, municipality in the ''Comarques of Catalonia, comarca'' of Alt Empordà, Girona (province), Girona, Catalonia, Spain. See also * Coll de Banyuls References External links Government data pages
...

(

Alt Empordà Alt Empordà (; ; "Upper Empordà") is a Comarques of Catalonia, comarca (county) located in the Comarques Gironines, Girona region, in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of two comarques into which Empordà was divided by the comarca division of Catalo ...

, Catalonia) with the French commune of

Banyuls-sur-Mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department in southern France. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissemen ...

(

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

, Occitania). Its

saddle point In mathematics, a saddle point or minimax point is a Point (geometry), point on the surface (mathematics), surface of the graph of a function where the slopes (derivatives) in orthogonal directions are all zero (a Critical point (mathematics), ...

stands at about 357 metres above mean sea level. The pass was blocked with large rocks by the French government on 11 January 2021 and was kept closed under the pretext of "curbing irregular immigration and the terrorist threat". A grassroots organization vowing to open the (closed) border crossings () reopened it on 20 January 2023 by using an excavator.

References

Mountain passes of Catalonia Mountain passes of Occitania (administrative region) France–Spain border crossings {{Europe-mountain-stub