The park was built on the site of the former Cabárceno mine, which supplied iron ore to the Nueva Montaña Quijano steelworks.
It is home to one of the largest breeding groups of brown bears in captivity worldwide.
The topography of the park is defined by karstification, where limestone has been dissolved to create complex, canyon-like geological structures.
The site covers a total area larger than many urban neighborhoods, allowing for multi-kilometer grazing zones for herbivores.
The park operates its own internal cable car system with multiple stops to facilitate navigation across its massive, hilly terrain.
It maintains a specialized rescue center for injured Cantabrian brown bears found in the wild.
The park's layout was designed to minimize the visual impact of fences, using the deep mine pits as natural boundaries.
It has served as a filming location for several international movie and television productions due to its dramatic, alien-like rock formations.
Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno is a 750-hectare wildlife park situated within a former open-pit iron mining site in Cantabria, Spain. The park features a unique karst landscape characterized by jagged limestone rock formations shaped by industrial excavation. Unlike traditional zoos, animals roam in large, semi-free enclosures that span the valleys and hills of the decommissioned mine. The park includes a cable car system that provides aerial views of the varied animal enclosures and geological terrain. It hosts over 100 animal species, including significant populations of brown bears, Iberian wolves, and elephants. The site is actively managed to support environmental education, research, and international breeding programs for endangered species. The park infrastructure leverages the existing topography to create natural barriers and viewing points. It remains one of the largest wildlife enclosures in Europe.
The highest point of the cable car route offers a panoramic view over the entire former mining crater.
Download the park map and route guide before arrival, as cellular reception can be intermittent in the deeper valley sections.
Carry your vehicle identification clearly, as the park is designed to be explored primarily by car.
Visit the animal feeding demonstrations listed at the entrance, as they occur at specific times and offer the best visibility of the larger mammals.
Attempting to explore the entire park on foot; the distances between enclosures are significant and hilly.
Open year-round, though some cable car operations may be suspended during periods of high wind.
Maintain a quiet environment to avoid disturbing wildlife and stay strictly within designated viewing areas for safety.
