European Brown Bear Tours

Although the polar, grizzly and kodiak bears are better known than most, there are plenty of fantastic bear-watching opportunities available in Europe. European brown bear tours are available throughout the continent, offering holiday makers the chance to view one of the continent's most legendary and misunderstood animals - but where are the best places to go on bear tours?

The largest populations

The Eurasian brown bear used to be found across the whole of Europe. The species was driven out of Britain and Ireland well over a millennium ago, but it has continued to thrive on the continent. Large populations live east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, making their home in the Siberian forests. Bear tours to this area tend to be more difficult to arrange, due to the vastness of the territory and the transitory nature of bear populations.

Scandinavian populations

One of the best regions for bear tours is Baltoscandia: bear tours to this area are well organised, allowing visitors to stay close to the Finland/Russia border. The area is a true wilderness, and in the summer months large groups of bears can be watched from specially constructed bear-hides. Scandinavia, and the area around the Baltic Sea, has seen an increase in bear numbers in recent years, thanks largely to ongoing conservation efforts, and bear tours are a great way to support these efforts while getting to enjoy the creatures in their natural habitat. There are reported to be around 2,000 bears in Sweden, 1,200 in Finland, 700 in Estonia and 70 in Norway.

Bears elsewhere

There are opportunities for tours in other parts of the continent, allowing you to experience bears in a variety of climates. The population of bears in the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian mountains are both very small, with the French authorities importing bears from Slovenia in an attempt to bolster the numbers. In Italy, there are small populations of bears in the Abruzzi and Trentino regions.

There are larger populations in Romania, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria, while smaller groups are found in Albania, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Ukraine. Researchers divide these populations into two groups: the Balkan group, comprised of around 3,000 individual bears, and the Carpathian group, numbering over 5,000 bears.

Bear tour opportunities

Across much of Europe there are great opportunities for seeing bears on tours. Despite relatively healthy numbers, European brown bears are still at risk, being driven in to smaller and smaller isolated patches. As their habitat is destroyed, and unwanted human to bear contact becomes a justification for governments to hand out hunting licences, there is a greater need for us to protect these magnificent creatures: properly organised and responsible tours are a fantastic way of doing this.

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