Where you may ride
The tourist-use rules allow bikes only on tracks and paths, preferably the marked network, and ban cross-country on crops, hills, ravines and slopes (art. 21). A race needs the president’s authorisation (art. 24). An organised ride does not make its GPS file a free track for the rest of the year.
The 2021 A3 leaflet describes nine MTB routes, with a start panel and plates on concrete posts. Visit Navarra mentions ten farm-track routes: we do not settle that here. Ask for the day’s map at the information centre (Aguilares).
The 2014 English guide adds: stay on MTB routes or tracks open to all vehicles; in rain keep to gravel, because clay traps you; give way to people on foot; do not approach flocks; do not enter crops. Where bikes share a motor track, the car limit is 40 km/h.
Where each circuit sits
Three landscapes, not one desert. El Plano is the cultivated plateau to the north and west. The Blanca is the central depression, with the cabezos. The Negra, to the south-east, is high mesas, pine, and the sanctuary of Sancho Abarca, already in Tauste. The nine circuits fall like this:
The line of each route is in three official places:
- A3 route map (2021).
- 2014 guide PDF, text and sketch. Page numbers on the cards are the printed pages. Spanish PDF: guía.
- MTB cards in the park app and the GPX/KML download section.
The nine circuits, one by one
Figures and the account come from the official 2014 guide. They are not a 2026 surface report. If a post or a notice disagrees with the PDF, that day’s ground wins.
BTT 1 · El Plano
El Plano
Start. El Paso, by the Shepherd’s Monument
The 2014 guide calls it easy except for the climb onto El Plano. From the monument a short descent, then a modest path on the right: that ramp is the hard bit, and it is short. On top, cultivated flats and a stretch of the old Tudela–La Oliva road. At a junction you leave the path to El Ferial reservoir (the guide cites 4.6 km) and take drovers’ road T-3 east. The Bajada de las Yeguas drops back into the Blanca; the drovers’ road returns to El Paso.
BTT 2 · El Ferial
El Ferial reservoir loop
Start. El Ferial dam
The shortest figure in the guide. Cross the dam crest and loop the reservoir anticlockwise, through the Val de la Fuente del Ferial. The last stretch runs beside the Acequia de Navarra: the guide asks for care. The services building by the water had a Friday-to-Sunday restaurant in that 2014 text; check before you rely on it. Cited access: paved track from the N-121 at km 60.8 (6.5 km) or the track from El Yugo hermitage (12 km).
BTT 3 · Bardena Blanca
Firing-range loop
Start. El Paso, or Alto de Aguilares
The guide’s classic: it circles the firing range on the perimeter track and passes near Castildetierra, Pisquerra and the Rallón. From El Paso you ride south towards Arguedas through the upper Blanca until you join the perimeter (48.3 km, 300 m). From Aguilares — 1 km past the information centre coming from Arguedas — the track drops straight to Castildetierra (31.7 km, 120 m). Both directions are possible. The military interior is forbidden. The app lists the Aguilares variant separately. The notice closing the Perimetral–El Paso link was still published on 26 September 2026: do not assume the variant that uses it is open.
BTT 4 · Landazuría
Landazuría
Start. Hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Yugo (Arguedas)
It starts by the hermitage, on a saddle, down a gravel track with a steep pitch, over a rise and down into a white-earth hollow. It leaves the Cabezo de la Junta aside and runs a stretch of the Agua Salada valley, irrigated since the mid-1990s. Then a hidden side valley; by a corral it leaves the surfaced track and a dirt path climbs a short, steep slope to the crest of the Sierra del Yugo and back to the start. Part of the loop is in Arguedas and Valtierra, not only in the Bardenas.
BTT 5 · Bardena Negra
La Nasa–Plana de Sagasti
Start. NA-125 km 17.3 (Tudela–Ejea)
The point is where the Cañada Real de los Roncaleses crosses the road: the guide mentions a small parking area. You leave north along the drovers’ road. The first part is twisty, with constant ups and downs among gullies, ravines, cabezos and mesas. The rest of the line is on the guide map (p. 48) and the app card, not in a third-party summary.
BTT 6 · Bardena Negra
Plana de la Negra
Start. NA-125 km 17.3, heading south
Same pull-off as circuit 5, but you leave south. You skirt a pond, leave the drovers’ road and climb to the Plana de Alfarillo. A long, almost flat stretch follows, sometimes in Aragón and sometimes in the Bardenas, towards the Plana de la Negra: height, and slopes of pine and kermes oak. A steep ramp on firm ground reaches the mesa; the views are mainly along the rim. Near the Fustiñana boundary the descent is steep at first, then joins circuit 5 for the same way back.
BTT 7 · Bardena Negra
La Negra–Sancho Abarca
Start. NA-125 km 17.3; out and back
It matches circuit 6 until after the steep climb onto the Plana de la Negra. Then the main track skirts the mesa, first north and then east: Bardenas fields on one side, Aleppo pine — mostly on Aragonese ground — on the other. The guide calls this stretch especially pleasant because it is almost flat. Near the goal the track enters Tauste (Zaragoza) and a last rise reaches the sanctuary. You return the same way. The sanctuary is not in Navarre.
BTT 8 · Bardena Negra
Valdenovillas–Sancho Abarca
Start. NA-126 km 22 (Tudela–Tauste)
The most climbing of the nine. The start is near where the Cañada Real meets the road. A gravel track heads north, climbs mesas with a view of Peña del Fraile, then drops into the Valdenovillas ravine and follows the drovers’ road upstream. At the head, already among the pines of the Caídas de la Negra, the easy profile ends: about two kilometres of stony track climb to the mesa. Then a good track and a final rise to Sancho Abarca. You return the same way. The Caídas de la Negra are a nature reserve: that is not a reason to leave the track.
BTT 9 · Bardena Blanca
Gran Bardena
Start. El Paso in the north; finish at NA-126 km 22
North to south: it is not a loop. It starts at El Paso on the track towards the firing range, circles the range on the perimeter (Sanchicorrota and la Cruceta; the waymarked direction is the shorter one) and leaves the Blanca up the Loma de la Madera. Under La Nasa it reaches the Tudela–Ejea road, crosses towards the Plana de la Negra and, before Sancho Abarca, drops to the Valdenovillas ravine and out to the Tudela–Tauste road. 68 km and 520 m in the 2014 guide. It uses the Perimetral–El Paso link, still published as closed on 26 September 2026.
Which one to ride
- A short morning: the El Ferial loop (8.6 km, 60 m). Landazuría (14.5 km, 190 m) fits a half day if you accept the final ramp on the Sierra del Yugo.
- The landscape in the photographs: the firing-range loop from Aguilares (31.7 km, 120 m), past Castildetierra, Pisquerra and the Rallón, without entering the military ground. The long variant from El Paso (48.3 km) uses the link still published as closed.
- Mesa and pine: Plana de la Negra (23.7 km, 330 m) or, for the sanctuary, La Negra–Sancho Abarca (37 km, out and back, with a stretch in Aragón).
- The long day: Valdenovillas (32.4 km, 450 m) puts the effort into about two kilometres of stone. Gran Bardena (68 km, 520 m, north to south) is another scale: start early, carry extra water, and arrange a car at the NA-126, because it does not return to El Paso.
- El Plano (28.6 km): flat on top, one serious ramp, and the Bajada de las Yeguas back into the Blanca.
Park hours run from 8:00 until one hour before nightfall. A Gran Bardena started in the mid-afternoon does not fit.
What was published on 26 September 2026
Before you ride this week
On the park notices, checked on 26 September 2026:
- Sunday 27 September, big-game drives: affected tracks closed from 8:00 to 14:00.
- Saturday 3 October, another drive, same hours, and the Santxikorrota foot race, which also affects access.
- Crowd control on the southern perimeter, between the barracks and the Carcastillo junction, on 28, 29 and 30 September and 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 October.
- On 23 October the Spain Classic Raid affects usual routes.
Still on that page, with no reopening date in the headline:
- The track between the Perimetral and El Paso remains closed to traffic. That hits the firing-range loop from El Paso and Gran Bardena as the guide draws them.
- The Cabezo de Cortinillas path has stayed closed since the notice of 29 January 2021. It is not an MTB circuit and it is not Castildetierra.
The headline reopening the SPA “El Plano – Blanca Alta” speaks of access on foot from 16 September 2026. Do not read it as a new permission to leave the MTB network.
After rain the park authority advises against entering. Gravel can be ridden; clay cannot.
MTB rides: Extreme, Media Extreme and Bardena Negra
The three 2026 events have already been run. The dates below are the ones the organisers published. On 26 September 2026 their sites did not announce 2027.
Arguedas · Club Ciclista Arguedano
27 Extreme Bardenas
A non-competitive ride, gravel bikes allowed, one course on tracks and paths. Start at the Miguel Induráin sports hall in Arguedas. Published cap: 1,500. Published ages: 16 to 75. The 2026 fee was €38 until 8 May and €45 until 20 June; entry is closed. Bibs on Saturday 27 June (17:00–20:30) and Sunday (7:00–8:15). That Saturday afternoon, Extreme Txiki: children from age 3, older ones on a 10 km loop in the fields of Arguedas, not in the park.
Published feed stations, approximate kilometres: Casinos (29), El Paso (55), El Plano (84), Sierra del Yugo (93) and the meal in Arguedas (98.5). The information page rounds this to about 100 km.
2026 edition already run. The organiser’s site does not yet publish a 2027 date.
Arguedas · same club
Media Extreme 2026
The club’s page describes 67 km (full) and 49 km (alternative), 1,430 m, medium-high difficulty, a cap of 800, and the finish closed at 13:30. The files it links are titled 65 km and 49 km: download the year’s file. Same start, Miguel Induráin sports hall.
2026 edition already run. The organiser’s site does not yet publish a 2027 date.
Fustiñana · Club Ciclista Portimayor
15 BTT Bardena Negra
A ride by Club Ciclista Portimayor, starting in Fustiñana. RockTheSport publishes two courses: 78 km with 1,000 m and 48 km with 600 m. The club phone on that card is +34 646 848 488. On 7 September the park warned of delays in the Bardena Negra that morning. On 26 September 2026 the card had no separate GPX; the uploaded document is the rules.
2026 edition already run. The organiser’s site does not yet publish a 2027 date.
These rides leave the village and enter the park with that day’s authorisation. Riding the GPX again on an ordinary Tuesday does not let you cross a crop or ignore a closure. The 2023 Extreme file still sitting on an old club page is not the 2026 course.
How to follow a track and stay on it
- Pick a circuit in the cards above and open the park app card. If the app offers a GPX or KML for that route, that file is the park’s, not a user’s.
- Also carry the A3 map or the guide PDF. At a junction, the plate on the post wins over the line on the phone if they disagree.
- For a race, use only that year’s GPX, linked above. Save it before you lose signal.
- A Wikiloc track, however detailed, is not permission. If it leaves the paths, do not follow it.
- Water, helmet, puncture kit, wind layer, charged phone. The cierzo and the cold belong here as much as the heat. Do not leave the bike “for a moment” to climb a cabezo: climbing is forbidden.
Guided or e-bike
Compañía de Guías (UETA0005) publishes “Bardena eBike” on turismobardenas.com, plus a “Gran Bardena” combo. Booking: +34 675 722 666 · [email protected]. Not a Vive Bardenas partner. An e-bike does not open a shortcut.
Next
Official sources
- Park regulations
- Official maps and brochures
- Navarre tourism board (ES)
- Information centre
- A3 route map (2021)
- Official park guide (ES, 2014)
- Official park guide (EN, 2014)
- Official app, MTB route cards
- Notices and closures
- Extreme Bardenas (Club Ciclista Arguedano)
- BTT Bardena Negra 2026 (RockTheSport)
- Compañía de Guías (ES)
Park instructions and on-site signage take priority over this guide.