# Europe Forum > Travelling & Living in Europe >  Nationals Parks of Europe

## Maciamo

Europe is typically seen as a destination for historic buildings rather than nature. It isn't as wild as say the USA, Brazil, China or Australia, but there are nevertheless some very beautiful natural areas, be it the Scottish Highlands, the snowy peaks and pastures of the Alps, the islands of the Mediterranean, the woodlands of Scandinavia or the swamps of the Camargue. Here is a summary of official nature parks in a few countries.

Britain

13 national parks in England & Wales (14,629 km²), 2 in Scotland (5,665 km²), for a total of *20,294 km²*. The Cairngorms National Park makes up almost one fifth of the protected areas by itself (3,800 km²).

Germany

14 national parks for a total area of 9,620 km², about half of which is used by the Wadden Sea National Parks (4,415 km²) running all the way between Denmark and the Netherlands. 

On top of that come the bulk of 99 official nature parks comprising about 25% of the total land area of Germany (ca. *90,000 km²*). This confirms the Germans as the most environment-conscious Europeans. No wonder that the Green movement started in Germany. The largest is the Nature Park of the Central and Northern Black Forest (3,750 km²).

France

There are 6 national parks in Metropolitan France (12,872 km²) at the moment (+ 2 in project for 2010 and 2012) and 3 overseas national parks in the Guyane, Guadeloupe and Reunion (35,127 km²). There are 46 additional regional nature parks covering 70,000 km². In total that is some *118,000 km²* of protected nature zones in France, or 17.5% of the national territory.

Italy

Italy possess no less than 25 national parks (approximately 15,000 km²) and a staggering 105 officially designated regional parks (+ a dozen non-official ones) covering *27,000 km²*, or a bit under 12% of the country's land area.

*Spain*

14 national parks covering *3,800 km²*. The largest is the Picos de Europa National Park, spreading over 646.60 km² and located between the autonomous regions of Castilla y León, Asturias, and Cantabria. It is not much for the EU's second largest country in area. A single of Germany or France's largest parks can exceed Spain's total national parks. 

*Sweden*

Sweden currently has 29 national parks, and 13 more scheduled to open until 2013. Altogether the present parks cover ca *7,000 km²*. That's only 1.5% of the country's land area, although it should almost double by the end of 2013. 

*Norway*

Norway is certainly one of the greenest country in Europe. It boasts 38 national parks (37,500 km²), including 7 on Svalbard, and a mind-blowing 1,701 nature reserves (3,418 km²), for a total of nearly *41,000 km²*. Nature parks and reserves make up 12% of Norway's mainland area.

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## LearningSign

What good parks are in Austria?

Thanks.

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## Maciamo

Austria has 6 national parks covering 2,356 km² (2.8% of the land area).

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## sawyer

There are 23 national parks in Poland. All are beutiful and untamed. Nature is the number one of all polish "things to proud of"

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## Eireannach

There are 6 national parks in Ireland.

Glenveagh National Park 110 Km2 

Ballycroy National Park 120 Km2 

Connemara National Park 30 Km2 

The Burren National Park 15 Km2 

Killarney National Park 100 Km2 

Wicklow Mountains National Park 200 Km2

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## Gwyllgi

Wales IS a National park! 

(Well, I think so anyway!)

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## Maciamo

> Wales IS a National park! 
> 
> (Well, I think so anyway!)


Yes, you could say so.  :Satisfied:

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## emilyedison

I visited only Spain's national park. Here is a list that i visited: :Rolleyes: 

Cabañeros National Park
Garajonay National Park
Teide National Park
Timanfaya National Park

In my next vacations , I am planning to visit Italy, but there are a no. of national parks around 20-25. Can anyone suggest me few best out of them


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## greyd

To add the beuatiful country of Finland: The national parks cover a total area of 8,873 square kilometres there. The largest one is the Lemmenjoki covering 2,850 km².

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## InMotion

In my opinion most beautiful national parks are in England & Wales, there are a lot of them and I have only managed to be in 5, so still a room for more.

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## alayka

Yorkshire Dales, England
Pirin, Bulgaria
Peak District, England
Etna, Italy
Garajonay , Spain
Oulanka, Finland

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## alayka

there are many interesting parks in europe, visit this page for more information https://www.cubancigarsbest.com/inde...-robustos.html

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## Boreas

national parks.jpg

These three national parks are located in East Thrace / Turkish part of Thrace

Yellow one is Gallipoli

Blue one is Lake Gala

Red one is İğneada Flooded Forest

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## Sable

Guys! Here I am going to share some names of national parks of Europe: 
Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatia) 
Oulanka National Park (Finland) 
Göreme, Capadocia (Turkey) 
Saxon Switzerland National Park (Switzerland) 
Lake District (England) 
These are really some good parks for tourism.

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## tomammi

national park in MONTENEGRO is a breathtaking place in the world. I want to visit there again in my life for enjoying holidays. I know here many travelling lovers as can anyone like to share his [personal experience with me of national parks in MONTENEGRO?

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## gemma

My father recently come back from his tour of Europe.He told about his memorable tour,he says that he enjoy very well there.He stayed there 2 weeks he told that there are a large number of National Parks there and it looks so attractive because of its lush green views.He told the names of these parks are Politvice lakes National Park,Monte Sibillini National Park and Helventinjarvi National Park.

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## johncatre

Top 10 park in *Europe* . 
*Triglav* in Slovenia
*Gran Paradiso* in Italy
*Oulanka* in Finland
*Peneda-Gerês* in Portugal
*Saxon* Switzerland in Germany
*Sarek* in Sweden
*Kalkalpen* in Austria
*Rago* in Norway
*Port-Cros* in France
*Ordesa* in Spain

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## Maleth

Filfla (Malta) marine nature park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isFBQFhfI

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## Volat

Belarus has 4 national parks, 1 biosphere reserve and 1 unique reserve.


Belovezhskaya Pushcha is home last primeval forest of Europe and European bisons. It is a preserved part of the UNESCO. The area of the park is 153,000 ha. The average age of trees in the forest is 90 years. 

The Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve is also preserved part of the UNESCO. It's the oldest one in Belarus with area of 85,200 ha.

Pripyat National Park. Pripyat marshland sometimes labeled as Amazon of Europe here. There is so much marshes and floods during the season. It's located in Polessie which is a beautiful place. The area of the park is 188,000 ha

Braslau lakes national park is another beautiful place attracting many tourists during summers. Braslau lakes maybe the reason Belarus has a nick-name the blue-eyed due to many lakes and waterways in the country. The area of the national park is 69, 115 ha.

Narachansky national park is also covered with many lakes located in north-western part of the country. The largest lake of the country Narach is located in this national park. The area of the national park 93,300ha\

This is an interesting reserve most people would not visit. Polesie State Radioecological Reserve in southern Belarus in the area that is affected by Chernobyl accident. People have left the area creating ideal conditiona for fauna and flora to recover. Wild animals , trees and plants flourished. There are many fish in rivers, birds and animals that are not scared of people, whom animals don't see often. If not for housing , factories and other signs of civilisation, the area would have looked like nature from the 18th-19th centuries. 





> Despite radiation, nature has recolonized Chernobyl and is even flourishing there. Within the exclusion zone that surrounds the ex-nuclear power plant, there are ten times more wild boars than there were before the explosion, and almost 3000 elks, wolves and lynxes have returned. Many species of wild birds threatened with extinction in other parts of Europe have also returned. Does this mean wildlife is outwitting radiation? The reality is more complex and calls for an investigation into the abandoned forests and villages of Chernobyl. In this unplanned self-created “nature reserve” on the ruins of human habitation destroyed by the disaster, in this strange world where radiation shifts with seasons, radioecologists and zoologists are making extraordinary discoveries. An investigation that also opens up new directions for research in the area of human radioprotection.

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