Bardenas Reales, Natural park in Navarre, Spain

Bardenas Reales is a natural park in southern Navarre that covers a wide area of eroded clay hills, rough limestone cliffs, and flat plateaus. The landscape shows clear marks of wind and water shaping the soft sediment over thousands of years.

The basin formed ten million years ago when the sea retreated and left behind layers of gypsum, limestone, and clay. During medieval times monasteries and towns used the land for grazing, and that shared use continues today.

The name comes from the Basque term for barren or infertile land, something visitors still see in the bare hills and open plains today. Shepherds continue to move their flocks through the valleys, following routes laid out by generations before them.

Visitors reach the white formations through Arguedas in the south, while the wooded areas in the north are accessible from the road between Tudela and Ejea. Paths are mostly unpaved, and there is little shade, so bringing water and a hat is helpful.

In parts of the white zone salt crystals grow on the ground when water evaporates and leaves white crusts behind. Filmmakers often use the bare hills and strange rock shapes as a backdrop for desert scenes in international productions.

• Location: Navarre
• Inception: 1999
• Elevation above the sea: 650 m
• Shares border with: Villafranca, Caparroso, Murillo El Cuende, Mélida, Santacara, Carcastillo, Sádaba, Ejea de los Caballeros, Tauste, Buñuel, Fustiñana, Cabanillas, Tudela, Arguedas, Valtierra, Cadreita
• Address: 31513 Arguedas, Navarre, Spain
• Phone: [phone]
• Website: http://bardenasreales.es
• GPS coordinates: 42.19000,-1.50000
• Latest update: December 13, 2025 18:34