page_title: Peñalara Natural Park
section_title: Tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Peñalara Natural Park / Conservation issues / Tourism
caption_attribution_description: Español: Puerto de Cotos, Sierra de Guadarrama, España.
context_page_description: The Peñalara Natural Park is a natural park of 7.68 km² in the northwest of the Community of Madrid, Spain. It was designated in June 1990.
  The park is situated in the central zone of the Sierra de Guadarrama. Since 2013 the Sierra de Guadarrama has also been protected by a national park designation.
  The reserve includes Peñalara, the highest peak of the mountain system, and an area to the south-east of the peak in Rascafría district.
  The zones of lowest altitude hold white pine forests and grasslands. Bushes grow higher up in the mountains, which are predominantly composed of alpine meadows and rocky areas. The park is home to the black vulture and the Spanish imperial eagle, and also many small mammals and amphibians.
  The park is accessible from Puerto de Cotos, the region's center of tourism. Especially popular on the holidays, the reserve provides a venue for hiking, mountain climbing, and skiing.
context_section_description: For centuries Peñalara has drawn hundreds of sightseers with its magnificent views and landscape. Today, the natural park is visited by an average of 130,000 people every year. Puerto de Cotos, a mountain pass at the reserve's southern boundary connecting the Community of Madrid and the province of Segovia, is the center of tourism and point of departure for all routes crossing the reserve. From the same place runs the C-9 line of the Cercanías Madrid, which leaves from Cercedilla and is known as the Guadarrama rail. This transportation route sees massive use during the festive days. There is also a bus line running through the mountain pass. The major parking lot in the tourism center accommodates cars and buses. An information building at Puerto de Cotos dispenses maps of trails and safety rules. The tourism center also holds a restaurant, the headquarters of the Spanish Alpine Club, a mountain-climbing school, and a sled rental. In winter the large esplanade of Puerto de Cotos becomes a sledding track.
  At the foot of the Older Sister, some 300 m south of Peñalara Great Lake and 2.075 km high, is the obsolete Zabala mountain shelter, which is now used only for storage of maintenance supplies. The hotels and lodges nearest to Peñalara Nature Reserve are in Puerto de Navacerrada and the town of Rascafría.
  The flood of sightseers during the festival days is intense. The most popular activity in the park is hiking. Extra precautions are needed in winter, when the bad weather and thick snow and ice make for hard travel and easy disorientation.
  Another popular activity is mountain climbing, which can be done in authorized areas on the Peñalara cirque. The mountain-climbing sectors are Two Sisters, Cosaco, Placas Duro, Teresa, Trapecio, and Zabala. In winter one can also ski cross-country on the broad paths and areas near Puerto de Cotos, which are vestiges of the old Valcotos ski resort. This is particularly popular with Madrid and Segovia residents.
caption: Winter view of Puerto de Cotos.
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