Alt Pirineu Natural Park

Natural parks, Natura 2000 network, Natura 2000 Network: Special Protection Area (SPA)

Situated between Pallars Sobirà and Alt Urgell, the Alt Pirineu Natural Park is the largest in Catalonia. Pernui, in the district of Sort, is the gateway to this park.

The park is home to a large number of protected species, both animals as well as plant, and it has a variety of landscapes from Mediterranean forests to alpine flora. The village of Alins offers the possibility of admiring one of the many peculiar trees of the area due to its age or its size: the Pla de la Selva Fir, a tree catalogued as a Natural Monument.

Of note in the landscape is the Glacial Lake of Certascan, the largest in the Pyrenees, and the Cigalera de l'obaga de Baleran, one of the deepest gorges in Catalonia. However, perhaps the most famous is the Pica d'Estats, the highest peak in Catalonia, which has become an authentic symbol. It is said that Jacint Verdaguer was the first Catalan to climb it.

The park also includes several towns and villages belonging to up to fifteen districts, where an interesting cultural heritage can be enjoyed, both at an architectural as well as an archaeological level in addition to works of sacred art. Visitors can also participate in the fiestas and traditions, some from ancient times.

Currently there are a series of cross-border itineraries, along the GR-11, and for more experienced mountaineers, the Pyrenean Haute Route.

Its offices are in Llavorsí, where the centre in the Paller de l'Antonet can be visited, which offers information and organises exhibitions and workshops.

Year of declaration: 2003
Regulations: Act 194/2003, 1st August, declaration of Alt Pirineu Natural Park (DOGC no. 3943 of 8/8/2003).
Area: 79317
Ownership: Mixed or both
District: Alins; Alt Àneu; Esterri d'Àneu; Esterri de Cardós; Farrera; La Guingueta d'Àneu; Lladorre; Llavorsí; Montferrer i Castellbò; Rialp; Soriguera; Sort; Tírvia; Vall de Cardós; Les Valls de Valira.
Visitor centres: N

Habitat: Pyrenees and pre-Pyrenees
Annual closing: Open all year round
Opening hours - summer : 9:00 to 14:00
Opening hours - winter: 9:00 to 14:00
How to get there: From Lleida on the local road C-13 to Esterri d´Àneu.
Languages: Catalan, Spanish, English, French

Facilities

Access for disabled people

Picnic area

Toilets

Shop

Chapel

Museum

Observatory

Refuge

Viewpoint

Signposted itineraries

Flora

There are 1,624 species of vascular plants, including 87 endangered species or species that are very rare in Catalonia, such as Cerinthe glabra, Hippuris vulgaris, Juniperus thurifera, Salix hastata, Matthiola valesiaca and Astragalus penduliflorus.

Fauna

31 species of odonates (insects), three of which are vulnerable according to the IUCN, and 284 species of vertebrates have been catalogued till 2020. There are many endangered or rare species such as the brown bear, otter, desman, bearded vulture, black vulture, Egyptian vulture, red kite, wood grouse, rock ptarmigan, grey partridge, boreal owl, Eurasian woodcock, wallcreeper, white-winged snowfinch, Pyrenean brook salamander and Aurelio's rock lizard. The largest wood grouse population in the country has been registered here (150 males registered in 2015).