Parque Natural Valle de Alcudia y Sierra Madrona
Stretching south of Puertollano, the Valle de Alcudia and Sierra Madrona natural park is one of Spain's most biodiverse and least-visited protected areas — a rolling landscape of holm-oak dehesa, granite ridges and river valleys that shelters Iberian lynx, black vultures, imperial eagles and red deer. It is wilderness on a scale that feels almost implausible so close to a city.
Wildlife Watching
The Sierra Madrona is one of the strongholds of the Iberian lynx recovery programme, and while a sighting is never guaranteed, patient dawn visits to the dehesa edges around Fuencaliente and Solana del Pino give real chances. Red and fallow deer are far more reliably spotted, especially during the October rut when stags bellow across the valleys in an unforgettable natural soundtrack.
Black vultures — Europe's largest raptor — nest in the rocky outcrops and are visible year-round soaring on thermals above the ridgelines. The park also hosts Montagu's harriers, black storks and the increasingly rare black-winged kite.
Hiking and Landscape
The GR-114 long-distance trail crosses the park, but shorter day walks from the village of Fuencaliente lead through cork-oak groves to Roman thermal baths and ancient rock paintings at the Baños de Fuencaliente — a remarkable concentration of culture and nature in one short excursion.
Spring (April–May) turns the dehesa floor into a wildflower carpet of rockroses, lavender and wild peonies. Autumn brings rich amber and russet tones to the oak canopy and fills the air with the smell of damp earth and mushrooms.
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