Canal de Berdún & Yesa Reservoir Sunset
Most visitors to Jaca never make it the 30 kilometres east to the Embalse de Yesa, a vast turquoise reservoir pinched between limestone ridges where the pre-Pyrenean landscape meets the Ebro basin. At sunset the water turns molten gold and the silence is absolute — this is the Aragon that tourism forgot.
The reservoir and its surroundings
The Embalse de Yesa was created in 1959 by damming the Río Aragón and stretches for nearly 20 km through a landscape of eroded grey cliffs, scrubby rosemary hillsides and the occasional half-submerged medieval ruin. The ruins of the old village of Ruesta — partially flooded by the reservoir — are visible near the eastern shore and lend the place an eerie, melancholy beauty.
Kayaks and paddleboards can be rented from a small outfit near the Yesa village dam wall in summer, and the calm water makes for effortless paddling even for beginners. The turquoise colour of the water, caused by mineral-rich limestone runoff, photographs spectacularly.
The Canal de Berdún viewpoint and drive
The N-240 highway between Jaca and Yesa runs along the Canal de Berdún, a wide pre-Pyrenean valley corridor with a string of hilltop villages — Berdún, Sigüés, Mianos — perched on dramatic escarpments above the valley floor. Pull over at the mirador above Berdún for a view that takes in the whole tectonic drama of the landscape: flat cereal fields below, jagged peaks above, and the silver thread of the Río Aragón winding between them.
This drive is best done in the late afternoon so you arrive at Yesa in time for the sunset. Pack a bottle of local wine, a blanket and something from Jaca's morning market — the reservoir shore has flat rocks perfect for an impromptu picnic as the sky turns pink.
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