Top 4 Lakes around Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de l'Empordà

It’s a beautiful open area in the Parc. Grazing cattle and a few ruins give the plain character. The gravelroad is super smooth and accessible for all kind of bikes.

A beautiful small gravel path perfect for gravelbiking. This gravel is super smooth. This path takes you away from the main road so you can enjoy the beauty of the natural park.

Aiguamolls and ruins

Please note, within the Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de l'Empordà, bicycles are not allowed. However, it seems that the practice is tolerated out of season and outside busy periods. While respecting the calm of the reserve.

"Slow down and quietly approach the pond at the end of the trail. It won't be long before you start seeing birds you've never seen before, and hopefully, maybe some more surprises. In my case, the surprise was a beautiful one example of a feral cat. Due to the strong north wind, the cat had not seen me when I approached. However, when it noticed my presence, it chose to crouch down and blend in with its surroundings. I knew I had seen it, and the distance between us was of only 5 meters. The cat used a surprising tactic by moving its eyes in the direction I had come as if something was going to happen. When I turned my head in that direction, I gained a few precious seconds to disappear among the weeds. It was a memorable encounter with nature and a lesson on the cunning and adaptability of feral cats in their natural environment. Feral cats are domestic cats that return to a wild state due to the lack of interaction with humans. They often originate from abandoned or lost cats. They have a similar appearance to domestic cats and are good hunters. In some areas, they form feral colonies. Overpopulation can be a problem, and it is controlled by sterilization. The presence of feral cats raises public health concerns and can have a negative impact on the local fauna. Animal welfare organizations often work in programs for their management and care. The lake of Cortalet is a wetland with a surface area of about 146 hectares. It consists of the Cortalet lake itself and an additional plot located to the north, called Les Mollerusses, made up of some closes and also managed as a wetland, with a sheet of water during most of the year. Estany del Cortalet is a large artificial pond designed and built in old meadows adjacent to the Information Center of the Natural Park. Its main purpose is to facilitate the observation of birds for many of the Park's visitors, its ecological interest being basically ornithological. The most abundant community in the space is the reedbed.

L'Estany d'en Túries is a coastal lagoon, located in the municipality of Castelló d'Empúries, which had been an ancient arm of communication between continental waters and the sea. It is a very halophilic lake where saline soil vegetation such as salicornaria, halophilic and spartinaria jonkeras, fixed coastal dunes, with communities of Crucianellion maritimae and Ruppia populations under the water stand out. It is a very halophilic pond where vegetation of saline soils stands out, such as salicornars (habitat of community interest, code 1420), halophilic jonqueras and spartinaria (habitats of community interest, codes 1410 and 1320, respectively), the dunes fixed coastlines, with communities of Crucianellion maritimae (habitat of community interest, code 2210) and Ruppia populations under water (habitat of community interest, code 1150). In terms of fauna, the Túries lake also stands out for the presence of Odessia maeotica, a cnidarian of temporary coastal waters, and Eurytemora velox, a copepod with a more northern distribution. Likewise, there is a consolidated population of shrike (Aphanius iberus).

The Matà lakes (also known as Matar rice paddies) are a wet area of artificial origin that occupies an approximate area of 91 hectares. In the past, rice was cultivated on this surface. The space is currently flooded by pumping, trying to maintain optimal levels for the populations of waterfowl that frequent the space.