Guided 4x4 tour of the Bardena Blanca

Any car can drive the perimeter track of the Bardena Blanca with care. With a local guide you go further: they take you along the tracks that reach the landforms in the interior, stop at them so you can get out and walk, and explain why the clay crumbles like this, which birds live on the steppe, who works these lands and what a firing range is doing in the middle of the park.

The Rallón, the Pisquerra and Castildetierra

Enjoy Bardenas' Bardena Blanca route lasts about three hours, counted from when you get in the vehicle. It is private: a seven-seat air-conditioned 4x4 just for your group, with a qualified guide. The three fixed stops are the Rallón, the Pisquerra and Castildetierra, and at each one you walk for a while through the desert while the guide talks about the wildlife, minerals and plants. They pick you up from your accommodation if it is within 25 km of the park, and the route includes a drink and insurance. Guides speak Spanish, French and English.

It costs €160 per vehicle for up to four people, and €10 for each extra person, up to two. When booking you pay 30%, €50, and the rest, €110, before starting.

When the sun drops over the landforms

The same company has a sunset outing of about two and a half hours. It begins about two hours before sunset, so the time changes with the season and is agreed with them by phone, WhatsApp or email. It passes through the best-known spots of the Bardena and ends with the light already low. It costs €150 for up to four people, with €10 per extra person up to two, and the deposit is €35.

From Valtierra, without driving yourself

Bardenas Buggies Tour, the buggy company in Valtierra, also runs 4x4 outings with a driver-guide for up to four people: €150 for the two-hour one and €220 for the three-hour one. It includes guide, fuel, insurance, park access and a snack with a drink.

If you are torn between a guide and your own car

On your own you can do the loop around the Bardena Blanca: about 25 km of track from the information centre, in around two hours with stops. The guided outing is worth it if you do not want to put your car on dirt tracks, if you are travelling with children or older people (the routes are designed for them) or if you want to understand the landscape. Since you pay per vehicle, it works out better in a group of four to six.

The rules apply just the same with a guide: no leaving the track, no climbing the landforms, no taking stones. The park is open from 8:00 until an hour before dusk, and the information centre, in autumn, from 9:00 to 14:00 and from 15:00 to 17:00. For a full Sunday with lunch in Tudela, see the plan 4x4 through the Bardena Blanca and vegetables in Tudela.