40.49° N · 6.11° W
La Alberca, Mogarraz and Miranda del Castañar, the Peña de Francia and the Las Batuecas valley, an hour from Salamanca: walks, food and places to sleep.
Part of The Central SystemHorse riding routes in Spain
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Walk · 1 h 30 · Free · Streets of stone and timber framing, dated lintels and the arcaded square with its cross; Spain's first Historic Site, from 1940.
Viewpoint · 1 h 30 · Free · The Dominican monastery at the summit of the sierra, with the Chapel of the Blanca over the Virgin's cave and views of the campo charro and Las Hurdes.
Route · 4 h · 8 km · PRSA-10 from La Alberca to the valley via the Portillo, to the Carmelite monastery and the shelters with schematic rock paintings.
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
October and November, with golden chestnut trees and the magosto, and spring, with cherry trees and water in the gorges. In August, festivals and midday heat. In winter the Peña de Francia may have snow.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
The car is the natural way to tour the sierra: La Alberca, Mogarraz, Miranda del Castañar, the Peña de Francia and the Portillo de Las Batuecas are all less than half an hour from each other. From Salamanca it is about 77 km, a little over an hour.
There is a scheduled bus from Salamanca every day, also on Sunday, and La Alberca is toured on foot. What you cannot reach without a car is the Peña de Francia or the Las Batuecas valley, except by walking the waymarked paths that leave the village.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Children like La Alberca for its storybook feel: half-lit streets, houses that lean together at the top, a pig that wanders loose through the village and faces painted on the façades of Mogarraz.
For a teenager, the Sierra de Francia is better on a route than in the village: going down to Las Batuecas to look for rock paintings, climbing the Peña de Francia or going out on a quad.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Superior four-star hotel on the outskirts of La Alberca, with spa, rooms with fireplaces and 47 duplex villas that accept pets.
Why we like it: Hotel in the old town of La Alberca, 100 metres from the Plaza Mayor, with cabinet-made furniture, embroidered bedspreads and views of the sierra and the Peña de Francia.
Why we like it: La Alberca's first hotel, opened in 1959, a few metres from the old town; 34 rooms, family junior suites, garden and private parking.
Why we like it: Campsite with apartments and bungalows 2 km from La Alberca, among oaks and chestnuts, with two pools, a playground and barbecue; pets accepted.
Why we like it: Three-star hotel in sierra-style architecture, surrounded by trees, a five-minute walk from the Plaza Mayor; breakfast included when booking on its website.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: patatas meneás and limón serrano to share, and spit-roast kid or grilled morucha T-bone; ask for La Salita.
What to order: grilled kid or wood-fired roast lamb shoulder; to start, the La Alberca bean casserole.
What to order: a wood-fired roast from the seasonal menu.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
40.27° N · 5.86° W
By carBy bike
40.60° N · 6.54° W
40.20° N · 5.81° W
By carCar-freeLuxuryOn foot
40.96° N · 5.66° W
By carCar-freeLuxury
Tips
On Sundays the village fills up at midday. First thing you find parking and empty streets.
The restaurants of the sierra fill up at weekends, especially in autumn.
It is open Friday to Sunday and gives you the map and the state of the routes.
The stone streets are slippery when it rains.
If you come in autumn, leave the car and do the Camino de las Raíces: eight flat kilometres among chestnut trees that start from the village itself.
The Sierra de Francia is the mountainous corner of southern Salamanca, on the border with Extremadura: chestnut trees, oaks and cork oaks, gorges with water almost all year and villages of stone and timber that preserve mountain architecture as in few places in Spain. La Alberca is the gateway and the best known: it was the first Spanish village declared a Historic Site, in 1940. Around it, Mogarraz with its portraits on the façades, Miranda del Castañar within its walls, the sanctuary at the summit of the Peña de Francia and the closed valley of Las Batuecas, with a Carmelite monastery and rock paintings. All of it is the Las Batuecas-Sierra de Francia Natural Park.
By car it is about 75 km to the south, around an hour: you leave along the Vecinos and Tamames road and enter the sierra via El Cabaco. From Ciudad Rodrigo it is about 35 minutes. From Cáceres, along the A-66 and Béjar, allow about two hours, and from Madrid, nearly three. Without a car, Autocares V. Cosme has a scheduled bus from Salamanca station, on Sundays too: according to the town council, that day it leaves Salamanca at 10:00 and returns from La Alberca in the afternoon (at 18:20 on the winter timetable). Confirm it with the company before going.
The old town of La Alberca has narrow stone streets, almost all pedestrian in practice. Leave the car in the car parks at the entrance to the village and walk in: the Plaza Mayor is five minutes away. On Sundays and long weekends, it is hard to find a space by mid-morning. If you sleep there, the Hotel Batuecas has private parking. In Mogarraz and Miranda del Castañar you also have to park at the entrance.
One day covers La Alberca in the morning, lunch in Mogarraz and in the afternoon going up the Peña de Francia or down to the Portillo de Las Batuecas viewpoint. With two days you can do a proper walking route, such as the PRSA-10 to the Cabras Pintadas or the Camino de los Prodigios, and call at Miranda del Castañar. With three, combine it with Ciudad Rodrigo or with Las Hurdes, on the other side of the Portillo, already in Cáceres.
Autumn is the best time: in October and November the chestnut groves turn golden and at the Magosto festivals chestnuts are roasted in the street. Spring brings water in the fountains and the green. In summer it is hot at midday, but the nights are cool and the water of the gorges is welcome; La Alberca's main festival is on 15 August, with the Diagosto, and the village fills up. In winter there are foggy, cold days, and the Peña de Francia road may have snow: the park advises against walking up in snow.
The sierra is a land of Iberian pork, cured meats air-dried in the sierra, hornazo and kid. There are two dishes you will not see elsewhere: patatas meneás, with paprika and fried pork scratchings, and limón serrano, a cold salad of lemon, orange, boiled egg and chorizo. For dessert, turrón, wafers, perrunillas and local honey. In the shops of the Plaza Mayor you can buy them to take away.
Questions
An hour by car, about 75 km. There is a scheduled bus on Sundays too.
La Alberca in the morning, lunch in Mogarraz and in the afternoon going up the Peña de Francia or looking out over the Las Batuecas valley.
Yes, along a mountain road, in a little under half an hour from La Alberca. The last stretch is narrow.
In the shelters of the valley, upriver from the monastery. The PRSA-10 goes from La Alberca to the Cabras Pintadas.
In the streets and public paths, yes, on a lead. In the Las Batuecas valley you do not leave the path. The Al-Bereka campsite and the villas of the Abadía de los Templarios admit pets.
No. The village, the Casa del Parque and the Peña de Francia are free.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/castile-and-leon/la-alberca
