Places · Spain

Natural Wonders of Spain: The 4 Most Beautiful Places to Visit

4 places in the atlas

Spain's landscapes are surprisingly varied. Off the African coast, the Canary Islands are volcanic, crowned by Teide, the highest peak in Spain and one of the largest volcanoes on Earth. In the wet, green north the limestone Picos de Europa rise sheer just inland from the Atlantic, carved by ice and rivers into gorges and towers. Inland, a dry interior gives rise to badlands like the Bardenas Reales. Between them lie wetlands, sierras, and one of the richest bird faunas in Europe. Below are the 4 natural wonders of Spain in the atlas — the most beautiful places to build a trip around, each with what makes it remarkable, when to go, and how to reach it. Best overall time: Spring and autumn are ideal across most of the mainland; the Canary Islands are mild year-round, while the northern mountains are best in summer.

Bardenas Reales, Navarre, northern Spain

Bardenas Reales

Navarre, northern Spain

A semi-desert of pale clay badlands in northern Spain — wind- and water-carved ravines, flat-topped mesas, and lone earth pillars that look transplanted from the American West.

Desert & dunes Europe
Doñana, Andalusia, southwestern Spain

Doñana

Andalusia, southwestern Spain

The marshes at the mouth of the Guadalquivir — one of Europe's most important wetlands, a staging post for millions of migrating birds, the stronghold of the Iberian lynx, and a place now visibly running short of water.

Wetland Europe
Mount Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Mount Teide

Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

Spain's highest peak and the third-largest volcano on Earth measured from its base — a 3,715-metre cone rising from a vast caldera of frozen lava, often floating above a sea of cloud.

Volcano Europe
Picos de Europa, Asturias, Cantabria & León, northern Spain

Picos de Europa

Asturias, Cantabria & León, northern Spain

A compact range of sheer limestone peaks rising to 2,600 metres barely 20 kilometres from the Atlantic — glacier-carved gorges, karst towers, and Spain's first national park.

Mountain Europe

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