If every October you like to watch Practically Magic (Griffin Dunne, 1998), Evermore is your favorite Taylor Swift album, you drink black tea with a cloud of milk every morning and dream of a vacation in Scotland, but you live in Madrid, these places will quench your autumnal thirst. An hour or two from the capital are some of the most unique deciduous forests on the peninsula, such as the southernmost beech forests. The golden and reddish colors cover the humid forests from mid-October until their leaves resist, usually a few weeks in which autumn competes with spring in beauty.
1. Montejo de la Sierra
Montejo de la Sierra is home to the famous Hayedo de Montejo, a unique forest in the Community of Madrid, recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. With around 250 hectares, this forest offers a chromatic spectacle every autumn with red, yellow and orange tones. To visit it, it is necessary to book in advance due to its status as a Protected Natural Area. Places are activated by fortnights. That is to say: on the 1st and 16th of each month at 9:30 a.m. places are available for free reservation.
📍1 h 20 min drive from Madrid Center.
2. El Tiemblo
The neighboring province of Avila, specifically in the town of El Tiemblo, is the Castañar, a forest full of centenary chestnut trees, which make up the ideal landscape for an autumn getaway. In addition to mushrooms and chestnuts (which are forbidden to pick) in the area you can also visit the Guisando bulls: four animal-shaped figures from the third and second centuries BC.
The village and the Castañar are linked by a path that also adds a stream of crystal clear water.
📍A 1 h drive from Madrid Center
3. Rascafría
The whole village of Rascafría looks like the perfect setting for an autumn excursion, its stone houses and tents, the river that runs through the village, the monastery and as a culmination, the small Finnish forest.
It is a small reservoir with a jetty and a cabin surrounded by birch, poplar and fir trees a few meters from the monastery. From here you can take a short walk back to the village or following the straight road after the bridge, you can make a longer hike, about 10 km, to the Purgatory waterfall.
📍A 1 h 30 min drive from Madrid Center
4. Cantalojas
Following the route of the beech forests, the next point is Cantalojas, the municipality to which the Hayedo de Tejera Negra belongs, located in the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara Natural Park. This forest is one of the most important beech forests in Spain and becomes a visual spectacle during autumn with its vibrant colors. It has also been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, so to visit it you must book your ticket beforehand on this website.
📍A 2 h 18 min. drive from Madrid Center.
5. Riaza
In La Pedrosa beech forest, 9 km from Riaza, the red of the leaves clashes with the green of the moss growing on the tree trunks, creating one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the area. This beech forest is located on the north face of the Ayllón massif and is part of the ancient orchard of leafy species of the Central System. It is known not only for its centennial trees covered with lichen, but also for its impressive views of the Riaza River Valley and the Riofrío reservoir. With 87 km of trails varying between 1500 and 1700 meters above sea level, it is an ideal destination for family hiking and mountaineering, allowing ascents to peaks such as Pico de Lobo and Pico del Granero.
📍A 1 h 30 min drive from Madrid Center.