Arazas river, Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, Pyrenees, Spain

© David Santiago Garcia/Cavan Image

Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, Spain

Beautiful in any season, the Pyrenees have served as a natural border between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe since the earliest civilizations settled there. Located in the centre of the range, the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park was created in 1918 and expanded in 1982. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

With sheer cliffs and deep, verdant valleys, the park’s landscape is a remarkable display of geological landforms and diverse ecologies shaped by the drastic elevation changes of the Pyrenees. The region is home to several species that can only be found here, including the Pyrenean chamois and the Pyrenean desman, or water mole. The mammal considered the rarest and most important in the region, the bucardo or Pyrenean ibex, went extinct in January 2000 despite preservation efforts.