Five of Europe’s best national parks – with all the beauty but none of the crowds

Late afternoon in Aigüestortes national park. Photograph: Sergi Boixader/Alamy

Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, Spain

There is a wild and wonderful water world in the north-eastern corner of Spain. The Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici national park, in the central Pyrenees north of Lleida, is characterised by more than 200 lakes fed by melting snow and ice, plus rivers and streams, gorges, waterfalls and marshes. (Aigüestortes means “winding waters” in Catalan, and Sant Maurici is the biggest lake.)