# A weekend in La Alberca and the Sierra de Francia, an hour from Salamanca

Two nights in La Alberca to go down to Las Batuecas, climb the Peña de Francia, see the portraits of Mogarraz and eat patatas meneás and kid.

Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/castile-and-leon/la-alberca/itineraries/la-alberca-sierra-de-francia-weekend · Revisado: 2026-11-12

Dónde: La Alberca and the Sierra de Francia

The Sierra de Francia asks for two nights: one for La Alberca and its streets, another for heading out into the sierra. It is an hour from Salamanca, about two from Zamora and Cáceres and three from Madrid, and in autumn, with the golden chestnut trees, it is one of the prettiest inland getaways in Spain. This plan sleeps in La Alberca and goes out each day to a different place: the Las Batuecas valley and its rock paintings on Saturday morning, the Peña de Francia at sunset, and on Sunday Mogarraz and Miranda del Castañar before lunch.

## Where to sleep?

In La Alberca, to walk out and back to the Plaza Mayor. The Hotel Batuecas, the first in the village, from 1959, has private parking and suites for four. The Hotel Doña Teresa is a hundred metres from the square, with cabinet-maker's furniture and views of the Peña de Francia. If you want a spa or come with a dog, the Abadía de los Templarios, a kilometre and a half away, has villas that admit pets, a spa and activities. With a tent or motorhome, Camping Al-Bereka, two kilometres away, has bungalows and pools.

## What changes with the season

In autumn, the whole plan, and if it coincides, the Magosto with chestnuts roasted in the street. In spring, water runs in the fountains and the gorges. In summer, do Las Batuecas very early and leave the Peña for the afternoon; on 15 August the village is celebrating and full. In winter, check the weather: with snow the Peña de Francia can't be climbed and the PRSA-10 is not recommended in rain.

## El plan

### Friday · 19:00 · Arrival and a walk round La Alberca
Park, drop your bag and go out into the streets in the evening light. Dinner on the Plaza Mayor.

### Saturday · 9:30 · Park House
On the Las Batuecas road, open Friday to Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00. A model of the sierra and the condition of the trails.

### Saturday · 10:30 · Down to the Las Batuecas valley
On foot along the PRSA-10 (8 km, four hours, 650 m of ascent, high difficulty) or by car to the Portillo and the monastery, and a walk along the valley to the shelters with rock paintings. Stay on the path.

### Saturday · 14:30 · Kid at La Catedral
The grill on the Plaza Mayor: La Alberca bean casserole, patatas meneás and grilled kid or roast lamb from the wood oven. Book.

### Saturday · 17:30 · Sunset at the Peña de Francia
A little under half an hour by car to the sanctuary, above 1,700 m. The Blanca chapel, the Santiago balcony and the whole sierra at your feet. Bring a coat.

### Sunday · 10:00 · Mogarraz and its portraits
Ten minutes by car. Neighbours' faces on the façades. If you want to walk, the Camino del Agua: a 6 km loop, two hours.

### Sunday · 12:30 · Miranda del Castañar
The town inside its wall, with the castle at one end. An hour.

### Sunday · 14:00 · Lunch at the Mirasierra and the drive back
Back in Mogarraz, a dining room with views and mountain cooking. Then back to Salamanca in a little over an hour.

## Un consejo más

Before you leave, buy nougat, perrunillas biscuits, honey or sierra cured meats in La Alberca to take home.

## Cuándo no ir

The PRSA-10 with small children: the return is all uphill. With them, drive down to the valley and do the accessible 1.5 km trail.

## Preguntas frecuentes

### How long does it take from Salamanca?
A little over an hour by car, about 75 km. From Madrid, about three hours.

### How much does the weekend cost?
About €170–280 per person with two nights, meals and fuel. The visits are free.

### Can I bring a dog?
Yes: in the streets and on public paths, on a lead. The villas of the Abadía de los Templarios and Camping Al-Bereka admit pets.

### Can the Las Batuecas paintings be seen?
Yes, from the trail that goes up the valley from the monastery, or on the PRSA-10 from La Alberca.

### Do I need to book?
Accommodation in autumn and on long weekends, well ahead. Weekend meals too.

## Dónde dormir if you're driving
- **Hotel Abadía de los Templarios**, desde 138 € / night: The Abadía de los Templarios is a ten-hectare complex a little over a kilometre from the Plaza Mayor of La Alberca, inspired by a medieval abbey: a superior four-star hotel and 47 villas among gardens and lakes, with the Sierra de Francia and the Las Batuecas Natural Park all around. It has a thousand-square-metre spa, an outdoor pool, four restaurants and organised activities.
Rooms with fireplaces
All the hotel's rooms have a fireplace; lighting it is a separate service, requested at reception until 22:00 and costing €15. The published prices are indicative, from:

Attic room: 25 m², sloping wooden ceiling, from €155 a night.
Junior suite with balcony: 35 m², with living room and a balcony facing the sierra, from €182.
Junior suite with terrace: 35 m², with a terrace facing the sierra, from €193.
Two-bedroom suite: 50 m², living room with fireplace, a double bedroom with balcony and another with two beds; designed for families, from €285.
Presidential suite: 120 m², two bedrooms, round hot tub, a 150 m² terrace and a 40 m² private pool, from €500.

The villas, with your dog
The 47 villas are two-storey houses with a living room and fireplace. The standard, of 100 m², is for two or three people (from €138); the deluxe, of 125 m², for two to four (from €182). The villas accept pets, with a charge of €12 per night; the website does not offer this in the hotel rooms.
Acueducto Spa
The spa has a ninety-minute thermal circuit: foot bath, dry sauna and steam bath, cold plunge pool at 10 ºC, showers, jacuzzi at 36 ºC, thermal pool at 31-32 ºC and a flotarium with Dead Sea salts. There are massages and à la carte treatments. Book on 923 423 116, from 10:30 to 13:30 and from 16:30 to 20:30.
Pool, courts and children
The outdoor pool, El Lago, imitates a natural pool. There are free tennis and padel courts, a gym, a reading room, a children's playroom and play area, and a nightclub set apart from the rooms. The hotel organises quads with an instructor (€45 single, €60 double), buggies, one-hour horse rides, archery, bicycles and, for groups, canoeing on the Alagón or balloon flights.
Eating
In the complex, the Las Bóvedas restaurant, facing the sierra, and the Mudéjar café; on the Plaza Mayor, the grill of the same group, La Catedral, with kid and lamb from the wood-fired oven.
Conditions
Check-in from 15:00 and check-out before 12:00. A card is taken when you book; cancelling with less than 72 hours' notice incurs the full charge. On offers, children under 12 sleeping with two adults get a 50% discount.
To explore the area, the old town of La Alberca is a walk away and the Peña de Francia half an hour by car.
- **Hotel Doña Teresa**: The house
A hotel a hundred metres from the Plaza Mayor, right in the historic centre of La Alberca, the first village in Spain declared a historic-artistic site. From several rooms you can see the sierra and, from some, the sanctuary of the Peña de Francia. It is decorated with cabinet-made headboards and furniture, hand-embroidered bedspreads, paintings by Salamanca artists and local crafts, so that the interior follows the aesthetics of the village.
The rooms
The website distinguishes four types, all with a full bathroom with shower, wooden floor and beamed ceiling. The matrimonial has a double bed and an embroidered linen bedspread. The standard double can have a double bed or two beds. The room with a balcony adds just that, a balcony over the village, and some look onto the Peña de Francia. The superior is larger, with a double bed and, in some cases, also a balcony.
The prices it publishes are indicative and start at €79 a night for the matrimonial, €110 for the standard double, €121 for the balcony room and €131 for the superior; they change according to the date, so it is best to check them on its booking engine. The website does not detail the number of rooms, check-in and check-out times, parking or pet policy: it is best to ask by phone, especially about where to leave the car, because the old town is pedestrianised.
Eating and the spa
It has its own restaurant, La Abuela Carmen, with typical dishes of the area, and a café for a relaxed drink. It belongs to the same group as the Abadía de los Templarios, whose spa with thermal circuit and massages is a kilometre and a half away, as is its Las Bóvedas restaurant. In the village, the group also has the La Catedral grill, on the Plaza Mayor, about 300 metres away, with roasts cooked over oak embers, and the El Castillo restaurant, serving home cooking, about 200 metres away.
Who it suits
It suits those who want to sleep inside the village and walk out to dinner or stroll at night in the square, the Crucero. It works well for couples and for those who arrive without a car. From here you drive up the Peña de Francia, go down to the Las Batuecas valley or visit Mogarraz and Miranda del Castañar.
- **Hotel Batuecas**: The house
The Hotel Batuecas opened in 1959 and was La Alberca's first hotel. It is on Avenida de Las Batuecas, a few metres from the historic centre, so you walk to the Plaza Mayor but sleep away from the bustle of the narrow streets. It now has new management and keeps its traditional air, with a stone façade and porch, a social lounge, reception, café, a panoramic terrace with tables and sofas, a garden with tables and even a ping-pong table.
The rooms
There are 34, spread over five types. The family junior suites have a living room and sleep up to four people, with views of the garden or the countryside; the superior doubles take two or three; the standard doubles are air-conditioned and have different layouts; the basic doubles have a double bed or two beds, and the singles measure 16 m². The hotel provides cots free of charge in all rooms if you ask when booking, which, together with the suites, makes it practical for families with small children.
Services and hours
It has no à la carte restaurant: it serves only breakfast and a café. Breakfast is a buffet, from 8:30 to 10:30, and costs €10. The café is open from 9:00 to 24:00, with no table service or service on the terrace. Check-in is from 14:00 and check-out until 12:00. Pets are not accepted.
What is most appreciated in La Alberca is its private car park, because the old town is pedestrianised and parking in season is hard. It is paid and the website itself gives two different rates for the weekend (€2 on other days), so confirm it when you book. It also has four electric-car chargers. The website states that the online rates are the same as by phone.
Who it suits and what is nearby
It suits those travelling by car who want to get around the Sierra de Francia without struggling to park, and families who need a large room. For dinner you will have to go out: the Plaza Mayor and its restaurants are a short walk away.
From the village itself starts the Camino de las Raíces, a circular route of about 8 kilometres and low difficulty among oaks and chestnuts with open-air works of art, one of the sierra's Art in Nature Trails. By car, nearby are Mogarraz, Miranda del Castañar, San Martín del Castañar and Sequeros, all historic sites, the climb to the Peña de Francia, at 1,727 metres, and the Las Batuecas valley.
- **Al-Bereka Campsite**, desde 6.5 € / night: Al-Bereka is a holiday complex 2 km from La Alberca, on the Salamanca road, inside the Las Batuecas-Sierra de Francia Natural Park. It brings together on one 15,000 m² estate, with plenty of shade from oaks and chestnuts, a campsite with spacious pitches, apartments in the main building, stone bungalows in La Alberca style and wooden houses. The house boasts more than fifteen years of experience.
The campsite: March to October
The campsite is open from 15 March to 15 October. The 2026 rates, per night, VAT included:

Adult: €6.50; child: €5.
Tent, car or caravan: €6 each.
Motorhome or pitch: €12; the pitch includes one vehicle and one tent or caravan.
Electricity: €4.
Pet: €3.

Hot water and the pool are not charged separately. There are toilets, one of them accessible, a laundry, wifi, a barbecue and swings. If you want to leave a caravan all year, they have seasonal prices: ask.
Bungalows all year
Outside the campsite season, the bungalows stay open. The three-person bungalow is a semi-detached little house of a single refurbished space, divided at mid-height: one area with a double bed and a single, and another with kitchen and dining, plus a bathroom with shower. It has a garden and terrace furniture, heating, fridge, microwave, utensils, sheets and towels, and free parking at the door. It costs €85 a night in low season and €100 in high season. There is a five-night offer, Sunday to Friday, for €375 in low season and €450 in high season, except 7 to 20 August.
For two, the studio apartment in the main building has a low-season offer with a minimum of two nights.
Café and two pools
The café is at the entrance and is open every day from 9:00 to 22:00, with free wifi, breakfasts with toast to your liking and raciones, including La Alberca cured meats. It has a large terrace. The two pools, one for adults and one for children, are open from late June until early September and are free for guests; next to them is a playground.
From the campsite
By car you are a few minutes from the old town of La Alberca and the villages of the sierra: Mogarraz, Miranda del Castañar, San Martín del Castañar or Sequeros. The Peña de Francia is about half an hour by car, and the descent into the Las Batuecas valley starts from La Alberca.
- **Hotel Antiguas Eras**: The house
A small, quiet three-star hotel on Avenida de Las Batuecas, sunny and surrounded by trees, about a five-minute walk from the Plaza Mayor of La Alberca. The architecture is that of the sierra: chestnut beams, stone and wrought iron, with a shared lounge with a wood-burning fireplace and a terrace with a garden of native plants. It is run by its owners, and it shows in the service and in the recommendations for getting around the sierra.
The hotel is proud of its environmental commitment: it has a European sustainable tourism certificate and belongs to the Spanish ecotourism association. It also works with services for cyclists and motorcyclists, useful in an area of mountain passes and winding roads.
Rooms
There are four types: double and special for two people, triple for three and single. All have a private bathroom, television and views of the surroundings, with rustic decor in keeping with the rest of the house. The website does not publish sizes or fixed prices; rates appear when you check dates.
If you book on its website, breakfast is included, with fair-trade arabica coffee and organic and local products, and there is a discount for stays of two, three or more nights, though it does not state the percentage. It also does not publish check-in and check-out times or whether pets are accepted, so it is best to ask beforehand.
Parking and getting around
Parking is free and right at the hotel door, a clear advantage in La Alberca, where the old town is pedestrianised. There is access for people with reduced mobility. The hotel estimates about 55 minutes by car from the south of the province of Salamanca, 35 to Ciudad Rodrigo and under 20 to Las Hurdes, already in Extremadura.
Who it suits
It suits couples and walkers who want a quiet base in the sierra, and those who do the area by bike or motorbike. From La Alberca start walking routes such as the Camino de las Raíces, and in under half an hour by car are the Peña de Francia, the Las Batuecas valley and villages such as Mogarraz or Miranda del Castañar. For dinner, the Plaza Mayor is a short walk.

## Dónde dormir without a car
- **Hotel Doña Teresa**: The house
A hotel a hundred metres from the Plaza Mayor, right in the historic centre of La Alberca, the first village in Spain declared a historic-artistic site. From several rooms you can see the sierra and, from some, the sanctuary of the Peña de Francia. It is decorated with cabinet-made headboards and furniture, hand-embroidered bedspreads, paintings by Salamanca artists and local crafts, so that the interior follows the aesthetics of the village.
The rooms
The website distinguishes four types, all with a full bathroom with shower, wooden floor and beamed ceiling. The matrimonial has a double bed and an embroidered linen bedspread. The standard double can have a double bed or two beds. The room with a balcony adds just that, a balcony over the village, and some look onto the Peña de Francia. The superior is larger, with a double bed and, in some cases, also a balcony.
The prices it publishes are indicative and start at €79 a night for the matrimonial, €110 for the standard double, €121 for the balcony room and €131 for the superior; they change according to the date, so it is best to check them on its booking engine. The website does not detail the number of rooms, check-in and check-out times, parking or pet policy: it is best to ask by phone, especially about where to leave the car, because the old town is pedestrianised.
Eating and the spa
It has its own restaurant, La Abuela Carmen, with typical dishes of the area, and a café for a relaxed drink. It belongs to the same group as the Abadía de los Templarios, whose spa with thermal circuit and massages is a kilometre and a half away, as is its Las Bóvedas restaurant. In the village, the group also has the La Catedral grill, on the Plaza Mayor, about 300 metres away, with roasts cooked over oak embers, and the El Castillo restaurant, serving home cooking, about 200 metres away.
Who it suits
It suits those who want to sleep inside the village and walk out to dinner or stroll at night in the square, the Crucero. It works well for couples and for those who arrive without a car. From here you drive up the Peña de Francia, go down to the Las Batuecas valley or visit Mogarraz and Miranda del Castañar.
- **Hotel Batuecas**: The house
The Hotel Batuecas opened in 1959 and was La Alberca's first hotel. It is on Avenida de Las Batuecas, a few metres from the historic centre, so you walk to the Plaza Mayor but sleep away from the bustle of the narrow streets. It now has new management and keeps its traditional air, with a stone façade and porch, a social lounge, reception, café, a panoramic terrace with tables and sofas, a garden with tables and even a ping-pong table.
The rooms
There are 34, spread over five types. The family junior suites have a living room and sleep up to four people, with views of the garden or the countryside; the superior doubles take two or three; the standard doubles are air-conditioned and have different layouts; the basic doubles have a double bed or two beds, and the singles measure 16 m². The hotel provides cots free of charge in all rooms if you ask when booking, which, together with the suites, makes it practical for families with small children.
Services and hours
It has no à la carte restaurant: it serves only breakfast and a café. Breakfast is a buffet, from 8:30 to 10:30, and costs €10. The café is open from 9:00 to 24:00, with no table service or service on the terrace. Check-in is from 14:00 and check-out until 12:00. Pets are not accepted.
What is most appreciated in La Alberca is its private car park, because the old town is pedestrianised and parking in season is hard. It is paid and the website itself gives two different rates for the weekend (€2 on other days), so confirm it when you book. It also has four electric-car chargers. The website states that the online rates are the same as by phone.
Who it suits and what is nearby
It suits those travelling by car who want to get around the Sierra de Francia without struggling to park, and families who need a large room. For dinner you will have to go out: the Plaza Mayor and its restaurants are a short walk away.
From the village itself starts the Camino de las Raíces, a circular route of about 8 kilometres and low difficulty among oaks and chestnuts with open-air works of art, one of the sierra's Art in Nature Trails. By car, nearby are Mogarraz, Miranda del Castañar, San Martín del Castañar and Sequeros, all historic sites, the climb to the Peña de Francia, at 1,727 metres, and the Las Batuecas valley.