Route by the Arkaute pond, Salburua.

Family tour through the Arkaute pond, a route to enjoy Salburua.

The route through the Arkaute pond encourages us to enjoy the small pleasures of Salburua. Undoubtedly one of the most important and emblematic natural areas of Vitoria Gasteiz. A place where storks, ducks and deer encourage us to enjoy the wonders of nature while we do some sport.The Arkaute pond is one of the great attractions of the Green Belt of Vitoria Gasteiz. A place that, located in front of the Ataria interpretation center, is part of the different routes that surround the city. We must remember that this park was declared a Site of Community Importance of the European Natura 2000 Network of Protected Natural Spaces and a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2002. Would you like to join us on the Arkaute rafting route?

This walk through Arkaute is an exceptional option to enjoy ornithology in the Salburua park. A small oasis just 4 kilometers from the city center. Impressive.

Route by the Arkaute raft.

The route that we present today runs along a track suitable for children’s strollers. Thus, this route of about 4 kilometers long and 1 hour long, takes us to contemplate deer, storks and other animals with the family. The track that we indicate you skirts the pond of Arkaute creating a circular route that has the Center of Interpretation Ataria as point of origin and destination.The route, only counts on 5 detours, 2 of them to accede to the observatory Los Fresnos and Las Zumas. The other 3 are located at the beginning and end of the route and correspond to the forks that we have to take to start the route and reach the interpretation center. As we have already mentioned, we start the route from the interpretation center. We leave the center and turn right. We follow the signs for the Green Belt Tour, towards the Zadorra River. After 170 meters we find a detour, turn right and cross the river. In the rainy season the bridge may be cut by the flooding of the river. Be careful. Crossing the bridge we find another detour, this time, we must opt for the track on the left. We continue straight on while crossing the Larregana lagoon through several wooden walkways.Soon we will find the Errekabarri river (on our left) that will accompany us for a good stretch. To our right, we will continue to enjoy the pastures and wetlands where we find a good number of deer and birds. We follow the track, you can’t miss it.We continue around the pond for 1 kilometer until we find a new detour, although the way back to the interpretation center is on the left, we recommend you turn right to reach the observatory of Los Fresnos and enjoy the deer, ducks, storks and other animals. After enjoying the views offered by this observatory, we must retrace our steps until we reach the main road. Straight ahead.After 160 meters, we find what used to be the information point of the park. At this point we must turn right. After about 500 meters, we will find a new detour, this time we go straight ahead, on the right. A few meters ahead we find a detour on the right that takes us directly to the bird observatory Las Zumas.After enjoying this observatory, we return on our own steps, with the exception of taking the detour to the right back to the main track. Following this path we will arrive at the point from which we started this journey.

Video of the route along the Arkaute raft.

As usual in all our publications, we wanted to accompany the words and photographs of this route through the Arkaute reservoir with a short video. A perfect element to show you in a more real way what awaits you in this beautiful corner of Euskadi. In case you like this kind of videos we encourage you to subscribe to our YouTube channel to discover all the places and experiences that we recommend in Euskal Herria. We are waiting for you!

Points of interest of the Arkaute raft.

The Arkaute pond is one of the attractions of this route, but it is not the only one. After the recovery of the Arkaute, Betoño, Duranzarra and Larrenaga ponds, the Salburua lagoon complex has a sheet of water of more than 60 hectares (in the rainy season). The observatories of Las Zumas and Los Fresnos are another great attraction. 2 strategically located spaces, which offer us the possibility of enjoying the forest mass that surrounds us, but above all, the herd of deer that was introduced in order to control the vegetation surrounding the lagoons.

History.

The Salburua lagoons have not always been as we know them. In the past, before being drained, this area of Vitoria Gasteiz was famous for its natural wealth. Unfortunately, from 1857 onwards, the wetland was drained in favor of agricultural fields. In 1994, this great ecological space began to be recovered. In addition, spaces for bird watching were incorporated. This recovery project was so successful that in 2002 it was declared a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. Today Salburua is a true oasis just 4 kilometers from the city center.

Family routes in Euskadi.

This is one of the many routes that we find in our land. Simple and beautiful routes that we recommend you to enjoy with your family. If you want to know each and every one of them, we encourage you to read our article about the best family routes in Euskadi. We hope it will inspire you to enjoy our mountains, rivers, reservoirs and cliffs in style.

What to see in Vitoria Gasteiz.

If you are planning to visit Vitoria Gasteiz, we recommend you to read our article about what to see in Vitoria Gasteiz. In any case, we leave you some of the most important places in the city.

What to see near Vitoria Gasteiz.

The towns surrounding the city of Vitoria Gasteiz perfectly complement each and every one of the spaces that we recommend you to visit in the capital of Araba. We leave you some of these spaces in case you want to visit them.

Experiences from Euskadi.

If you are looking for original plans in Euskadi, we encourage you to take a look at our reservation center. We are sure you will find experiences that will catch your attention. Here are some examples to whet your appetite.

This route through the Arkaute pond is one of the many routes that we can find in the Green Belt of Vitoria Gasteiz. In case you have any doubts, we recommend you to use the comment system that you will find under these lines to send them to us. We will try to respond as soon as possible. Ondo pasa!