The part of the range lying in Gipuzkoa was established as a conservation area called Aralar Natural Park in 1994.

In addition to its natural features, scenery, recreational use and habitation, the range is home to a number of Basque mythology milestones and legends.

The range is located in the Basque Country of northern Spain, straddling the boundaries of south-eastern Gipuzkoa and north-western Navarre.

The Spanish coastline at the Cantabrian Sea (the southern Bay of Biscay) and the town of San Sebastian are approximately the same distance to the north north-east.

The range is mountainous with large limestone massifs (formations resulting from movement of the Earth's crust into faults and flexures).

The range has a karstic lithological appearance, i.e. parts of the calcareous (calcium carbonate, limestone) rock outcrops have been dissolved away in water.

This cracked, permeable geologic milieu has provided the perfect grounds for a wide range of mythological accounts and characters.

Also, a local mythology of legends, folk beliefs and tales, which is dependent on the nature of the landscape has emerged.

[5] Records about the church date from the 11th century (1032) and it contributes to the history of Christianity in northern Spain—San Miguel is an iconic and one of the oldest saints of the Basques.

Legend holds that in a case of mistaken identity a crusader knight, the lord Teodosio of Goni, accidentally killed his own parents.

The apparition left an image, a figure with a glass (or crystal) head and face and a helmet adorned with a cross.

[5][7] Between May and November, livestock, especially latxa sheep which provide the milk for Idiazabal cheese, dairy cattle and a herd of wild horses, graze in the park's public pastures.

[10][11] Although the ranges are generally uninhabited, some people of Aralar follow a nomadic life, tending their animals.

Approximately 5112 people live in villages in the range; Abaltzisketa (290), Amezketa (1075), Ataun (1822), Zaldibia (1696) and Bedaio (229).

This plateau feature is created by the peaks of Jentilbaratza, Aizkoate, Aizkorrandi, Arastortz, Agautz, Leizadi, Asundi, Loibideko Mailoak and Ikarandieta.