41.00° N · 3.64° W
Patones de Arriba, the wall of Buitrago del Lozoya and the Montejo Beech Forest, with a free pass: Madrid's quietest sierra, an hour along the A-1.
Part of The Central System
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Guided path · Free with a pass · One of the southernmost beech forests in Europe, a World Heritage Site; the pass is booked or collected in Montejo
Walk · 1 h 30 · Free · Cobbled streets and slate houses, a Site of Cultural Interest since 1999, on a hillside above the Jarama valley
Visit · 1 h · €5 · The best-preserved walled enclosure in the Community of Madrid, with wall-walk, Clock Tower and siege weapons
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
Autumn for the Beech Forest, in October and November. Spring for Patones and climbing; summer for Riosequillo. In winter, few people and some snow in Montejo.
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 Sierra Norte is done by car: Patones, the Pontón de la Oliva, Buitrago and the Hayedo de Montejo are far from each other and have no bus linking them. The A-1 is the backbone: exit 74 for Buitrago and Riosequillo, and the turn-off via Torrelaguna for Patones.
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.
The Sierra Norte makes for a good family day if you choose one area: Patones with its village and climbing, or Buitrago with the wall and, if you have a pass, the Hayedo de Montejo. The distances between them are long for children.
Patones is one of the sierra villages where it is easiest to travel with a dog: two places to stay and two restaurants accept them. The limit is the Hayedo de Montejo, where they cannot enter.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Small rural hotel with four double rooms in Patones de Arriba, with a shared lounge with fireplace and kitchen, which accepts dogs.
Why we like it: Four stone-named studios in a house on Calle de las Escuelas in Patones de Arriba, with kitchen and shared courtyard; dogs accepted in three.
Why we like it: Rural accommodation in two joined houses on the Buitrago wall, with rooms built against 10th-century wall sections and code entry.
Services for this trip
Areas, for any way of travelling
| Area | Who it's for | Average night |
|---|---|---|
| Patones | Slate village, climbing and Pontón de la Oliva | |
| Buitrago del Lozoya | Wall, Picasso Museum and Riosequillo | |
| Sierra del Rincón | Montejo Beech Forest |
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: suckling kid or migas, and whatever is in season at the weekend
What to order: chargrilled meat with sautéed vegetables, or migas with chorizo
What to order: a spoon dish and whatever the garden gives that week
What to order: Torreznos or ham with beans to start, a roast Sierra de Guadarrama meat and, for dessert, French toast with ice cream
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
41.13° N · 3.81° W
By car
40.90° N · 3.88° W
By carCar-freeOn foot
40.74° N · 3.88° W
40.78° N · 4.00° W
By carCar-free
Tips
The online pass for the Beech Forest is by lottery on those days; if you do not win, start early and go for an in-person pass.
It is closed every Monday, in autumn too.
At weekends the entrance to the village fills up; the bus links Patones de Abajo and de Arriba.
On Sundays, the high wall at Buitrago closes at 13:45 and you cannot go in during the last quarter of an hour.
The Sierra Norte is the third of the Community of Madrid that lies north of the A-1: valleys of the Lozoya and the Jarama, reservoirs, villages of slate and granite and the Sierra del Rincón, a biosphere reserve, next to Guadalajara and Segovia. It is the Madrid sierra with the fewest people. This guide gathers its three clearest visits for a day or a weekend: Patones de Arriba, Buitrago del Lozoya and the Montejo Beech Forest.
Patones and Buitrago are about 40 minutes from each other. Buitrago and the Beech Forest, about 40 minutes via Montejo de la Sierra. Combining all three in a day is not worth it: choose two, or sleep a night.
Yes: the visit is free but always with a pass, because the beech forest has a limited number of visits a day. There are two ways. The online booking is by lottery, from the 1st to the 5th and from the 16th to the 20th of each month, on the Sierra del Rincón Biosphere Reserve website. The other is to turn up on the same day at the Information Centre, at Calle Real 64 in Montejo de la Sierra, 8 km before the beech forest, where they hand out the passes that remain. In both cases the pass is collected there: at least one hour before the trail, at 9:30 for the 10:00 one and before 14:30 for the afternoon ones. Children count in the quota, except babies in carriers. Dogs are not allowed. It is closed on Mondays, on 24, 25 and 31 December and on 1 and 6 January.
By car. For Patones, along the A-1 and Torrelaguna, around an hour; the car stays at the entrance to Patones de Arriba, and at weekends from September there is a shuttle from Patones de Abajo, from 11:30 to 19:00. For Buitrago, the A-1 to exit 74, about 75 km. For the Beech Forest, continue from Buitrago towards Montejo de la Sierra. From Guadalajara you reach Patones via Torrelaguna in less than an hour; from Segovia, Buitrago via the Navafría pass or along the A-1.
Without a car, ALSA's line 191 goes from Plaza de Castilla to Buitrago. For Patones and for the Beech Forest there is no bus that lets you go and return in the day comfortably.
In Buitrago all the parking is free: the municipal car park on Calle Tahona, with about 65 spaces and open from 8:00 to 21:00, the Plaza del Belén Viviente and Calle Fuente de Arriba, among others. Non-residents may neither enter nor park inside the walled enclosure. At Riosequillo there are 700 free spaces. In Patones de Arriba the village is pedestrian: park at the entrance.
The Beech Forest is in demand above all in autumn, when the beeches turn yellow, in October and November: it is when it is hardest to get a pass. Spring is the best time for Patones and for climbing; in summer, the Riosequillo pool is the plan with children, and the walls at Patones burn at midday. In winter it may snow in Montejo and the wall at Buitrago opens only in the morning on Sunday.
Questions
By lottery on the Sierra del Rincón website (from the 1st to the 5th and from the 16th to the 20th of each month) or in person on the same day at the Information Centre in Montejo de la Sierra. In both cases it is collected there.
Nothing. It is free, but with a pass.
To Patones and to Buitrago, yes; to the Montejo Beech Forest, no.
The slate village, a Site of Cultural Interest since 1999, and nearby the dam of the Pontón de la Oliva. For eating, El Rey de Patones or Las Eras.
€5 for the high wall and the Clock Tower; €4 reduced and free up to age 10. The low wall, by the river, is open to all.
No, it is temporarily closed.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/community-of-madrid/sierra-norte
