Viele Landschaftsgebiete in Katalonien werden heute als Nationalparks, Naturparks, Regionalparks oder Lanschaftsschutzgebiete klassifiziert, um die außergewöhnliche Landschaft und natürliche Umgebung sowie die Pflanzen und Tieren, die darin leben, zu schützen. Jeder Park hat sein eigenes Informationsbüro.
Nationalpark Aigüestortes und Sant Maurici See
Der Nationalpark Aigüestortes und Sant Maurici See befindet sich in den hohen Pyrenäen in der Lleida Provinz und deckt ein Gesamtgebiet von 14.000 ha ab. The magnificent geological formations, plant and animal life of the Park are representative of the most characteristic features of the high Pyrenees.
The Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park
The Garrotxa Volcanic Zone contains the finest volcanic landscape in the Iberian Peninsula and some of the most interesting in Europe. There are some thirty volcanic cones, a few explosive craters and over twenty very unusually constituted basaltic lava flows.
Ebro Delta Nature Reserve
The Ebro Delta is one of the outstanding water habitats in the Western Mediterranean. To protect its great ecological value, which lives peacefully alongside a busy farming activity, in 1983 the Ebro Delta Nature Reserve was declared. It covers a surface area of 7,802 ha.
Montserrat Natural Park
Montserrat was declared a Natural Park in 1987. With such a distinction it is requested that you protect this massive agglomeration of peaks. There are other mountains such as this in the world but none offers such awesome view and dimensions. Explore the park’s unique landscape by following its paths and visit Montserrat’s underground caves.
Montseny Natural Park
Montseny, Reserve of the Biosphere, is a whole spectrum of Mediterranean and Central European landscapes located close to great metropolitan areas. Its extraordinary biodiversity and the cultural traces left by human beings throughout centuries are a world-wide value that has inspired artists, intellectuals and scientists, and that arouses visitors’ emotions.
Sant Llorenç del Munt and l’Obac Natural Park
The peculiar scenery of the park is made up of cliffs and monoliths of red conglomerate contrasting with the green pine tree and holm oak woods that cover the sides and gullies of the mountain. The monastery of Sant Llorenç del Munt, built on the top of La Mola, is the most emblematic monument of this massif, in which we can also find numerous Neolithic archaeological traces and big farmhouses.
Garraf Park
The calcareous stone have created an exotic landscape, rich in karstic shapes – chasms, depressions and karrens – and with specific vegetation, the most renowned of which is the palm. The vine booths and the dry stonewalls hide among white stone and surround old farmhouses and some of the small villages within the lonely inside of the park.
Montnegre and el Corredor Park
The park stands out because of its splendid pine tree forests on its coastal slope, which become holm oak, oak and cork oak woods in the inside part of the massif. The Neolithic dolmens, the Iberian traces and the medieval churches are part of this diverse landscape of farming fields, forests, and farmhouses – the result of the farming and forest uses during the last centuries.
Natural Park Cap de Creus
The combination of both marine and inland environments makes Cap de Creus Natural Park the first of its kind in Catalonia. The total surface area measures 13,886 ha. The Catalan seaboard boasts not only a rich bio-diversity, healthy marine ecosystem, and exceptional landscapes, but also enjoys unique architectural, archaeological and artistic achievements. Cap de Creus Natural Park is a privileged spot that invites visitors to experience its natural and cultural heritage.
Park of the castle of Montesquiu
Despite its small area, its oak and red pine tree thick forests crossed by the meanders of the river Ter stand out. It is a transitional area between the mountain and the plain, the historical references of which date back to the Middle Ages, a period to which the castle of Montesquiu belongs – a large fortified house with traces from the 10th century which has now been adapted as cultural and convention installations.
Olèrdola Park
Located at the spurs of the Garraf massif, its landscape is made up of a series of farming fields, scrubs and maquis, with palms as its most outstanding shrub. Olèrdola is a natural watchtower crowned by a collection of historical monuments, which terminates in a wall, a successive work by Iberian, Roman and Medieval dwellers. On top, we find the church of Sant Miquel, the central part of which dates from the 12th century.
Collserola Park
With the Tibidabo as its most emblematic hill, the Collserola massif is today an essential nature space for the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The park is the green lung, the school of nature and the entertaining space of the cities surrounding it, trying to combine its nature and cultural values with a sustainable use on the part of citizens.
Medes Islands
The small archipelago of the Medes islands (21.5 hectares in area), made up of seven islets and a few reefs, is located scarcely a mile off the Empordà coast and the massif of Montgrí. The Medes islands are located in a landscape of outstanding beauty, unique in Catalonia.
Núria Valley
The Núria Valley lies on the southern side of the Catalan Eastern Pyrenees, in the community of Queralbs. The Núria river runs through the valley, which is surrounded by a circle of lofty mountains. From the Núria Valley it is possible to make a pleasant Romanesque art tour in the surrounding Catalan Pyrenees.
List of other natural parks in Catalonia:
Cadí-Moixeró Nature Park
Aiguamolls Nature Park of L'Empordà
Parc del Ports
Poblet Mountain Range
Albera Mountain Range
Espai Natural de les Guilleries-Savassona
Parc de la Serralada Litoral
Parc de la Serralada de Marina
Parc Agrari del Baix Llobregat
Parc del Foix
