Europe is home to more than 400 national parks, but one breathtaking destination in northern Spain has just been named the very best. According to a new ranking by Iglu Cruise, based on TripAdvisor data, Parque Nacional Ordesa y Monte Perdido has earned the top spot as Europe’s most beloved national park.
Located in the Pyrenees, Ordesa y Monte Perdido is Spain’s first protected area, established in 1918, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park spans 156 square kilometers and features dramatic limestone peaks, vast valleys, and four impressive canyons – two glacial (Ordesa and Pineta) and two river-formed (Añisclo and Escuaín).
The park’s centerpiece is the Monte Perdido, the third-highest summit in the Pyrenees at 3,355 meters, rising above the famous Ordesa Valley where cliffs tower more than 800 meters high. The entire landscape was shaped over millions of years by shifting seabeds, folding rock layers, and powerful glaciers.
Coming in second place on Iglu Cruise’s list is Triglav National Park in Slovenia, named for the country’s highest peak in the Julian Alps, Mount Triglav, which soars to just under 2,900 meters.
In third place is Snowdonia National Park (known in Welsh as Eryri), a vast 823-square-mile stretch of mountainous wilderness in northern Wales.
Europe’s top 10 national parks
- Parque Nacional Ordesa y Monte Perdido, Spain
- Triglav National Park, Slovenia
- Eryri/Snowdonia National Park, Wales
- Maddalena Archipelago National Park, Italy
- Killarney National Park, Ireland
- Caldera de Taburiente National Park, Spain
- Parc National Des Calanques, France
- New Forest National Park,
- Goreme National Park, Turkey
- Parque Nacional de Garajonay, Spain
