Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Alcoba de los Montes

What to see and do in Alcoba de los Montes (Montes de Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature · 3 Activities · 1 Curiosities

When to go to Alcoba de los Montes: festival calendar

January: The San Sebastián bonfire log (January 19)
May: Santa Quiteria of Alcoba (May 22)
September: Festivities of el Cristo de la Vera Cruz de Alcoba (September 14)

How far each place is from the centre of Alcoba de los Montes

Church of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación 50 m

Towns near Alcoba de los Montes

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Ciudad Real › Montes de Ciudad Real › Alcoba de los Montes

What to see and do in Alcoba de los Montes

Alcoba de los Montes
Village
Municipality of the comarca of Montes de Ciudad Real, in the province of Ciudad Real, whose name comes from Arabic and is connected with the public weighing station: the place was linked to the Roman road between Mérida and Toledo and functioned in the Middle Ages as a toll collection point. It contributes some 18,000 hectares to Cabañeros National Park and houses the Casa Palillos visitor centre, the main gateway to the park, with viewpoints over the raña, the piedmont plain; it also preserves an ethnographic museum with a restored shepherd's hut and the church of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación.
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación
Monument
Parish church of Alcoba de los Montes, dominated by a bell tower that overlooks the hamlet, and the main historic building of this village in the Montes de Toledo. It is a masonry church with brick corners and a single nave, with the wooden choir at the foot and a semicircular-arched chancel; the vault is a coffered barrel vault with paired tie-beams on corbels. The main altar preserves an oil painting of the Pietà by the 17th-century Toledo school.
Casa Palillos Visitor Centre
Nature
The main gateway into the Cabañeros National Park, with an exhibition on the park's natural assets, an audiovisual room and two viewpoints over the raña. Guided visits by off-road vehicle set out from here.
Ethnographic Museum of Alcoba
Monument
A local museum that preserves a restored chozo and implements from traditional life in the Montes de Toledo. Three reconstructed chozos of stone and wood can also be visited in the municipality.
The raña of Cabañeros
Nature
A vast plain of grassland and scrub that makes up the most characteristic landscape of the Cabañeros National Park. Alcoba de los Montes contributes some 18,000 hectares to the park, and deer can be watched on the raña from its viewpoints.
Festivities of el Cristo de la Vera Cruz de Alcoba
Activity
Patronal festivities of Alcoba de los Montes in honour of the Christ of the True Cross, with a procession, bullfighting events and popular festivities. They are held in September and usually last between four and five days; on the 14th, the patron's feast day, the procession in his honour takes place. The programme includes a bullfight and the release of young cows into the ring for attendees to jump in, a countryside meal courtesy of the Town Council, and the traditional vermouth dance.
Santa Quiteria of Alcoba
Activity
On 22 May, the feast of Saint Quiteria, patron saint of Alcoba de los Montes (Ciudad Real), a procession is held in her honour; when the image is returned to the church, an auction takes place in which residents bid to carry the litter, using celemines, the old grain measure now equated to one euro. The traditional aigas, baked sweets, are also auctioned, and the proceeds go to the brotherhood, which offers the typical drink, lemonade, in return. The following day, 23 May, the procession of Saint Rita is held in parallel fashion, with an identical auction at the end of the route.
The San Sebastián bonfire log
Activity
Traditional bonfire lit in Alcoba de los Montes every 19 January, the feast of Saint Sebastian, around which the neighbourhood gathers in the depths of winter. It is the village's quintos, young men approaching military-service age, who are responsible for building this great bonfire known as the leño (the log), thus perpetuating a custom that marks their passage into adult life before the rest of the community.
The Arabic place name of Alcoba
Curiosity
The name Alcoba comes from Arabic and is connected with the public weighhouse. The town was linked to the Roman road between Mérida and Toledo and in the Middle Ages served as a toll collection point between the Order of Calatrava and Toledo.