The Pyrenees is an impressive mountain range forming a natural border between Spain and France.
The Spanish Pyrenees stretch from the Atlantic Ocean in the West, across Spain’s northern border and ends just short of the Mediterranean coast in the East. It is among the best mountain ranges in Europe for hill walking.
Situated on the West side of the Pyrenees is the Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido (Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park), which offers some of the best walks. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ordesa is famous for its 3,000m deep glacial valleys, overlooked by Monte Perdido, standing at 3,348m high.
The park contains a dozen or so other summits of over 3000m, mostly strung along the border.
There are hiking trails suitable for all levels. The challenging GR11 route also connects the Pyrenees range from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean. All the walks are well-marked. The trails take one through mountain summits, waterfalls, lakes, and caves or follow valleys and high mountain meadows.
The Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido is a protected region. It is one of the undisputed highlights of the Pyrenees. It covers an area of 156 square kilometres. In 1997, it was made a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its high-mountain landscape characterises it with a highly sharp relief formed by deep canyons and raised plateaus. The extreme aridity of the upper areas contrasts with green valleys with pastures and woods, where the rivers gush from the high altitudes, with spectacular waterfalls along their route through canyons and gorges to the nearby Bay Biscay.
