Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park

Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, established in 1955 and expanded over subsequent decades to 40,852 hectares, is Catalonia's only national park and the only national park in Spain's Mediterranean region. It straddles the central Pyrenees across the provinces of Lleida, in the comarca of Alta Ribagorça to the west and Pallars Sobirà to the east. The park's name captures its two defining landscapes: Aigüestortes — meaning twisted waters in Catalan — describes the braided, meandering streams of glacial meltwater in the western sector around Boí; Estany de Sant Maurici is the iconic eastern glacier lake, a deep blue mirror backed by the twin quartzite needles of Els Encantats (2,747m), one of the most photographed mountain scenes in the Pyrenees. The park contains over 200 permanent glacial lakes at altitudes between 1,600m and 2,500m, connected by waterfalls and streams. Peaks include Comaloforno at 3,033m. Wildlife includes Pyrenean chamois (found throughout the park), roe deer, marmots, golden eagles, Egyptian vultures, and bearded vultures (gypaets), reintroduced in the 1990s and now successfully breeding. Brown bears are occasionally sighted in the most remote western areas. Private vehicles are prohibited inside the park; access is exclusively via authorized park jeep-taxis from the gateway villages of Boí (western entrance) and Espot (eastern entrance). The GR11 Trans-Pyrenean long-distance path traverses the park. Multi-day trekking is served by several mountain refuges (refugis) run by the Catalan Mountaineering Federation.