Ordesa y Monte Perdido
The Spanish side's magnificent canyon
A national park with canyon walls and waterfalls along the River Arazas. The walk to the Cola de Caballo takes a full day. In summer a bus runs in from Torla – private cars aren't allowed.
Day hike
- Starting point
- Pradera de Ordesa (bus from Torla in summer)
- Distance
- approx. 17 km return
- Elevation gain
- 500 hm
- Time
- 6 h
- Level
- Moderate
- Season
- June–October
Through beech forest and past a string of waterfalls along the Arazas to the Cola de Caballo, the Horsetail Falls, below Monte Perdido. If you are fit and have a head for heights, return via the Faja de Pelay ledge path high up on the canyon wall.
UNESCO World Heritage
Pyrénées – Mont Perdu
- World Heritage since
- 1997 (extended 1999)
- This site
- Ordesa and Monte Perdido
A cross-border World Heritage site around the summit of Monte Perdido (3,355 m): on the French side the gigantic cirques of Gavarnie, Estaubé and Troumouse, on the Spanish side some of Europe's deepest canyons, Ordesa and Añisclo. It is protected both for its nature and for its ancient pastoral landscape.
Visit: The Cirque de Gavarnie and the Ordesa valley are reached on hiking trails from the villages of Gavarnie and Torla. In summer buses run to Ordesa from Torla – private cars are not allowed then.
42.6260° N, 0.1110° W
Trails passing here
Nearby
- Cascada de Sorrosal2 km · A waterfall in the middle of the village of Broto
Taillón9 km · One of the easiest 3,000-metre peaks, 3 144 m
Brèche de Roland10 km · The gateway in the mountain wall above Gavarnie
Cirque de Gavarnie12 km · One of Europe's highest waterfalls
Monte Perdido13 km · Europe's highest limestone massif, 3 355 m- Gavarnie-Gèdre (Les Espécières)13 km · Vallée de Gavarnie, Hautes-Pyrénées
Vignemale17 km · The highest peak on the border and Russell's mountain, 3 298 m- Balneario de Panticosa18 km · A high-alpine spa on the Spanish side