National Parks in Europe Map

Below is my National Parks in Europe Map. I collected parks in January of 2025 and included all national parks within the geographic region of Europe. This means no Greenland, only the European part of Turkey and Russia, and none of the smaller countries in the Caucasus. In total there are 489 national parks in Europe by this definition.

What counts as a National Park?

The national parks in Europe map features anything named as a “National Park” by a country. These are typically nature areas that receive special protection due to their unique features and pristine nature. However, there are a few national parks such as Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre and Butrint National Archaeological Park which focus on the cultural richness of the area – although they have nice nature as well!

As you can see in the national parks in Europe map, some countries have more parks than others. This is because each country has a unique definition of what can be considered a national park with countries like the Netherlands naming any green space left after industrialization a national park and other countries, like France, providing stricter rules on what can be classified as a national park.

Although you cannot visualize it on this national parks in Europe map, it is also interesting to note the difference in national park size from one country to the next. The United Kingdom has very large parks such as Lake District National Park at 2,362 km² (912 sq mi). However, Romania has much smaller parks throughout the country like Piatra Craiului National Park at 147.7 km² (57 sq mi). While the British parks contain more towns, roads and commerce, the Romanian parks are more wild and less trafficked.

The idea of National Parks as we know today started in the early 1900’s. However, in many European countries the idea has taken a while to catch on. Most national parks in Europe are therefore recent creations. In Belgium, for example, 5 of 6 national parks in the country have been created from 2022 and beyond. The other park, Nationaal Park Hoge Kempen, was created in 2006. In order to keep up with this, I plan on updating the national parks in Europe map every January – noting the changes here.

The national parks in Europe map also features Ukraine which is currently fighting a war with Russia. Due to the ongoing conflict, creation of Ukrainian national parks which were planned has been halted and therefore I’ve only added the national parks that have been properly established. Furthermore, the territory disputes will likely lead to changes in the national park system of Ukraine and Russia. Looking at Crimea, for example, Russia has set up 2 national parks -Crimean National Park and Tarkhankut National Park. Whereas Ukraine previously had 1 national park on the peninsula – Charming Harbor National Park, same as Russian named Tarkhankut National Park.

I hope you enjoy looking around and if you like parks like I do, be sure to check out the guides and blog to learn more about nature parks in Europe!

Other National Parks in Europe Maps

Coming soon!