Spain has 16 national parks – the highest level of protection available in the country.
This very important instrument for conservation has been in existence for more than 100 years.
The first two ‘parques nacionales’ were created in 1918 in mountainous areas of incredible natural beauty in the far north of the country; the Ordesa y Monte Perdido park in the Pyrenees of Huesca province, and the Picos de Europa park which spans the provinces of Asturias, Cantabria and León.
Surprisingly, in the following 107 years only one other mainland national park was designated in what is arguably the most spectacular and environmentally diverse area of Spain, the verdant north.
This was the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici park in the province of Lleida in the Pyrenees of Cataluña, with the status granted in 1955.
There is other national park in the north – it’s at sea, named the Islas Atlánticas de Galicia which comprises a series of islands off the coast of this north-western region.
In fact only 10 of Spain’s national parks are found on mainland Iberia, with four of them in the Canaries and another in the Balearics.
Wetlands
Two of the mainland parks are based on wetlands.
Doñana on the south coast in Huelva and Sevilla came under national protection in 1973.
In recent years it has been under serious threat, nearly drying up due to drought and intensive farming practices on the periphery. But the arrival of plentiful rainfall over the last year has led to the regeneration of the lagoons and marshland.
The Tablas de Damiel in Ciudad Real, declared in 1973, has also been under massive pressure due to the lack of rainfall. In 2022, out of nearly 2,000 hectares of wetland, only 50 hectares still had water.
But abundant precipitation in March and April of 2025 have brought the area back to life and flora and fauna are thriving once again.
The Cabañeros park in the provinces of Ciudad Real and Toledo is covered with forests and a variety of other landscapes. “From the autumnal bellows of the deer, to the majestic flight of the golden eagle, the park is full of natural wonders,” says the management.
The Sierra Nevada park in Granada and Almería was formed in 1999 and includes the highest peaks in mainland Spain, with Mulhacén on top at 3,482 metres.
Two parks which have been created in more recent times are the Sierra de Guadarrama, covering the mountains to the north of Madrid city; and the Sierra de las Nieves in Málaga province.
That leaves just one more on the mainland, the Monfragüe national park in Cáceres province.
What is a national park?
The category of ‘national park’ (parque nacional) is the highest protection status awarded in Spain, above the more widespread ‘natural’ parks (parque natural) which are designated by regional governments.
The ministry for the ecological transition (Miteco) notes that national parks are ‘areas of high natural and cultural value which have seen little change due to human activity’.
They ‘merit’ conservation due to their exceptional natural values and are declared as being ‘of general interest to the nation’.
The objective of handing national park status to an area is to ‘assure its conservation’ with special legal protection.
“They are areas in which non-intervention is prioritised, with the goal of allowing natural processes to take their course,” notes Miteco.
According to Miteco, conservation has to be compatible with use, so the public can enjoy the natural values of the parks.
Despite this, some parts are closed and access is only permitted for scientific purposes or to ‘manage the environment’.
For this reason, national parks are divided up into zones; one of these is a limited access zone where the public cannot stray off footpaths.
In other zones vehicles are permitted; and in ‘special use’ areas visitor centres and park staff buildings are allowed.
There are villages in some national parks, although this is rare; ‘inhabited’ zones allow traditional ways of life to continue and farming is permitted.
Management of national parks falls on regional governments.
The management plans for the parks have to conform to a national law, the Ley de Parques Nacionales.
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