Urbasa
The forest that feels like another world
Forty-five kilometres from TTipiaenea, the Sierra de Urbasa keeps one of the strangest and most beautiful landscapes in Navarre. Limestone sculpted over millions of years, beech woods so dense the sun barely gets through, viewpoints with over three hundred metres of free fall and a spring where the water gushes cold and clean in the height of summer. A full day, effortlessly.
A forest that looks hand-painted
The enchanted beech wood of Urbasa is one of those places that need no explanation. The limestone, covered in moss and lichen over centuries, has taken on whimsical shapes that emerge among the beeches: natural arches, green columns, surfaces that glisten with the damp as if someone had polished them.
The trunks are silvery and smooth. The canopies form a vault so dense that in summer the ground stays cool and the light enters in slanting beams. In autumn everything bursts into coppers and yellows. It's one of those images that later appear in dreams.
The coldest water of the Navarrese summer
At the heart of the range, the Fuente de los Mosquitos gushes among ferns and beeches in a small hollow where the temperature doesn't rise even in August. The water is clean, cold and constant: the perfect place to sit, eat something from your pack and listen to the silence of the forest.
The path that leads there is one of the most pleasant in the range: flat, shaded and with that smell of damp earth and moss that only beech woods have when it's hot outside.
The most beautiful vertigo in Navarre
The Balcón de Pilatos —also called Mirador de Ubaba— is the most spectacular point in the range. From the edge of the cliff the rock drops more than three hundred metres to the Améscoas valley. Below, the villages look like models and the river draws a silver line between the fields.
The feeling at the edge is of being suspended between two worlds: the karst plateau covered in beeches behind you, and the void in front. On clear days you can see Mount Beriain and, if visibility is good, almost the whole of central Navarre at a glance.
Water born from the rock
At the foot of the range, in Baquedano, the river Urederra is literally born from the rock. The water gushes from the limestone, icy even in August, with a turquoise colour that doesn't look real. The trail that skirts the source is one of the most beautiful in Navarre: barely two kilometres between pools, small waterfalls and vegetation hanging over the water.
It requires booking ahead in high season. The children will want to get in. Bring a change of clothes.
Back with rosy cheeks
You set off after breakfast, arrive in forty minutes and have the whole day ahead. The enchanted beech wood, the Fuente de los Mosquitos, the Balcón de Pilatos and the source of the Urederra can all be done in a single day without rushing.
Practical information
- Distance45 km · 40 min by car
- Enchanted beech woodFrom the Urbasa recreational area, signposted
- Balcón de PilatosAccessible by car, car park by the viewpoint
- Source of the UrederraAP-15 → Baquedano · car park in the village · book ahead in summer
- DifficultyVery low · flat, well-signposted trails
- With childrenIdeal in every season
