Plazaola Nature Trail

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The El Plazaola Nature Trail is one of the most spectacular greenways in Spain. Covering areas in both Navarre and Guipúzcoa, it runs along the Larraun and Leitzaran valleys crossed in the past by a humble narrow gauge which, at its origins (1904) used to carry iron ore from the Plazaola mining site, in Navarre, to Andoain, in Guipúzcoa.

As well as in many other areas in the country, old railway lines which have been recovered for public used have become trails of great beauty. In this case, this trail offers an interesting route by the humid Northeastern Navarre which crosses, exactly as the old train, pretty meadows, deep beech and oak woods, and riverside alder groves.

The first section of the train combines dense forests and meadows dotted by baserris (typical Basque houses) with stations, viaducts and many tunnels, such as the 2,700 m long Uitzi tunnel, which is the longest tunnel that may be found on a nature trail in Spain. This tunnel runs under the water divide of two large basins: to the south, the Mediterranean Basin (the River Larraun , which is ultimately an Ebro tributary) and, to the north the Atlantic Basin (the River Leitzaran).