How to get to the Bardenas Reales

The information-centre access (Arguedas)

The manager places the information and welcome centre on the natural-park road, km 6, with entry from the NA-8712 km 0.8 (Tudela–Arguedas axis). Phone +34 948 830 308 · [email protected].

Visit Navarra puts the centre at Finca de los Aguilares, 7 km from Arguedas: leaving the village, turn left. Free map, route explanations, a small exhibition, diorama, bird reproductions and toilets. It is a starting point, not the only gate.

Bardena Blanca: Arguedas and El Paso

Visit Navarra describes, leaving over the Tudela bridge to the right (N-134, Arguedas), the roughly 25 km track around the Bardena Blanca, including Castildetierra, as a car circuit of about two hours, suited to a first visit. That duration is theirs, not a time Vive Bardenas measured.

The same body names a second main circuit: enter via El Paso from Carcastillo, a track that joins the perimeter road. It advises against sports cars and mini cars. On 14 September 2026 the park still listed the Perimetral–El Paso stretch as closed: do not treat that junction as given.

Bardena Negra, Fustiñana and El Ferial

Visit Navarra places access to the Bardena Negra — redder, with more vegetation — towards Ejea de los Caballeros (N-125) or Fustiñana (N-126). The manager calls this main southern entry the South Gate and, on 13 June 2026, announced that building work on an information centre there had been completed. Detail, opening and what still needs confirming: South Gate of the Bardenas (Fustiñana).

Separately, the manager describes the El Ferial tourist zone, by the reservoir, with entry from the N-121 km 60.800 (Tudela–Caparroso) via the Caparroso wind-farm road.

Do not merge these gates in a satnav without checking which is open. A generic “Bardenas” pin can land you on a closed stretch or in the military zone, where transit is forbidden.

Before you set off

• Download an official plan and cross-check it with the notices.
• The park allows vehicles only on authorised tracks, at 40 km/h maximum.
• We do not have reliable drive times from Pamplona, Zaragoza, Bilbao, Barcelona or a UK/Irish hire-car depot. Allow a margin; a blog figure is not your arrival time at the desk.