Ordesa y Monte Perdido

Declared the same year as Picos de Europa (1918), it protects the Monte Perdido massif, the highest limestone massif in western Europe, with glacial canyons comparable in scale to the American Grand Canyon. Since 1997 it has shared a UNESCO World Heritage listing with the French Pyrenees National Park across the border, forming one of the few transboundary natural areas under joint Franco-Spanish management. The bearded vulture, a scavenger on the brink of extinction across Europe by the mid-20th century, has found in its cliffs one of its last strongholds.