Guided Visit to the Atapuerca Sierra Sites

The sites of the Sierra de Atapuerca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 30 November 2000, hold information about the last million and a half years of human evolution, and have been systematically excavated since 1978. They can only be visited with an official booking and on a compulsory guided route: you cannot reach them by private car. Visits leave from the CAYAC, in Ibeas de Juarros, or from the CAREX, in Atapuerca, and last between an hour and a half and an hour and three quarters.

What you see in the Trinchera

At the end of the 19th century, an English mining company opened a trench in the limestone more than 500 metres long and up to 20 high for a railway. By cutting through the sierra it exposed caves filled with sediment, which are the sites you visit:

• Sima del Elefante: the oldest cave site under excavation on the peninsula, with levels more than a million years old. In 2022 it yielded part of a face about 1.2 million years old.
• Galería complex: a vertical shaft that trapped animals about 400,000 years ago; in the Covacha de los Zarpazos you can see claw marks from bears that hibernated there.
• Gran Dolina: a cave more than 16 metres high with eleven levels. In level TD6, about 850,000 years old, more than 170 remains of at least eleven individuals appeared, which led to the definition of the species Homo antecessor.

The guides reconstruct the history of the excavations and how the people who lived in the sierra lived. The Sima de los Huesos, with more than 6,500 remains of pre-Neanderthals, is inside the Cueva Mayor, which is not visited because access is difficult and dangerous. According to the museum, the Trinchera is closed to visits during the excavation campaign; if you go in summer, confirm when you book what can be seen that day.

Times and departures

In November and December, outside Christmas, there are departures Tuesday to Friday at 10:00 and 11:00, and at weekends at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00. At Christmas, on 22, 23, 26, 27, 29 and 30 December, at 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and 13:00. In January there are no visits. In spring and autumn afternoon sessions are added on Saturdays, and in August there are departures until 18:00. On Mondays there are no visits, with some exceptions.

Price and booking

It costs €8; reduced, €7, for students, young people aged 8 to 18 and pilgrims. It is free for under-8s, large families, the unemployed and people with disabilities, with proof, and for everyone on Wednesdays, always with booking. There are combined visits: site and Cueva Peluda, €22, and site and botany, €16.

There is no online sale: book by phone, on 947 421 000, by email, at [email protected], or at the ticket offices of the museum, the CAREX and the CAYAC. In November and December the line is open until 14:00.

Tips

It is an outdoor walk through the sierra: wear comfortable shoes, warm clothing in winter and water in summer. The order that works best is to see the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos first, where the original fossils are, and then the Trinchera. With children, combine the visit with the CAREX, which is more hands-on, and in the afternoon with the Mina Esperanza in Olmos. To stay next to the CAYAC, the Casa Rural Camino Blanco.