Señorío de Bertiz – a natural park with six centuries of history

Señorío de Bertiz is a natural park in the municipality of Bertizarana, tucked into the Bidasoa valley in northern Navarre, just a short drive from the French border. It combines a wild Atlantic forest with a historic landscaped garden, a pairing that makes it one of the most distinctive protected areas in the region.

Where does the name come from?

The name traces back to the Bértiz family, first documented in 1392, when Pedro Miguel Bértiz was appointed "merino de las montañas" (steward of the mountain lands) by King Charles III of Navarre. Decades later, in 1421, the family was granted a coat of arms bearing a lamia, a mermaid-like mythological figure. For centuries the estate functioned much like a small feudal domain, spanning roughly 2,000 hectares of forest and valley, passed down within the same family from generation to generation.

Why did the forests survive in such good condition?

The estate's private status turned out to be its greatest protection. While surrounding land was being cleared for crops, grazing or timber industry, the forests of Señorío de Bertiz stayed largely untouched, since they belonged to a single family and were never subjected to the pressures typical of communal land.

Who built the gardens visitors can walk through today?

The estate's true transformation began in 1898, when it passed to Pedro Ciga and Dorotea Fernández, a cosmopolitan and culturally engaged couple with a deep love of nature. They restored the damaged sections of forest and, around the old palace, laid out formal gardens in the style of the era, complete with fountains, ponds, pergolas, gazebos and viewpoints. Their work gave the estate the character that still draws visitors interested in the meeting point of nature and landscape architecture.

How did a private estate become a public park?

In 1949 the last owner, Don Pedro de Ciga, donated the entire property, 2,052 hectares of forest, gardens and highland terrain, to the Foral Community of Navarre. That gift opened the door to large-scale protection: in 1984, Señorío de Bertiz was officially declared the first natural park in all of Navarre, setting a precedent for the protected areas that followed in the region.

What is there to see in the park?

The centerpiece is the historic landscaped garden designed during the Ciga-Fernández era, with paths lined by century-old trees brought in from various corners of the world, ponds, and nineteenth-century ornamental features. Beyond the garden stretches an extensive beech and oak forest, typical of the humid Atlantic climate of this part of Navarre, crossed by hiking trails of varying difficulty that lead deeper into the Bidasoa valley.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the park located? In the municipality of Bertizarana, in the Bidasoa river valley in northern Navarre, close to the border between Spain and France.

What sets this park apart from typical natural areas? It pairs a wild Atlantic forest with a designed historic garden built at the turn of the twentieth century, an unusual combination of nature and garden art in one site.

When did the park gain protected status? In 1984, after the last owner had handed the estate over to the Navarre authorities in 1949.

Where does the name Bertiz come from? From the Bértiz family, whose history at this site goes back to the late fourteenth century.