Village
Las Majadas is a municipality in the Serranía Alta district, in the province of Cuenca, with 214 inhabitants (INE 2025), part of whose municipal area lies within the Serranía de Cuenca natural park. It is next to Los Callejones, a karst complex where erosion carved streets and passageways into the limestone, used as livestock pens, and to the El Hosquillo game park, a reserve created in 1964 in a valley of the river Escabas with brown bear and Iberian wolf. In the 12th century the Jaraba family held the lordship here, linked to the Christian conquest of Cuenca by Alfonso VIII. In the 18th century its craftsmen made sieves, hoops and cattail-rush seats that they sold around the district. Its church of Nuestra Señora del Sagrario, patron saint shared with Cuenca Cathedral, preserves an altarpiece with polychrome Corinthian capitals.
Nature
Los Callejones de Las Majadas is a natural site three kilometres from the village of Las Majadas (Cuenca), where the erosion of Cretaceous limestone rock has carved passages, arches, monoliths and bridges, in a landscape similar to that of the Ciudad Encantada though smaller in scale. Geologically they are an example of lapiaz, a karstic formation caused by the action of water, ice, wind and temperature changes. Shepherds traditionally made use of them as sheepfolds, using the rock walls as part of the livestock enclosure, and some of these pens are still preserved today. They form part of the Serranía de Cuenca natural park, created in 2007.
Nature
Natural balconies close to the Callejones looking out over the canyon of the River Júcar, among pine, gall oak and juniper woods, from which griffon vultures are often seen flying below the viewer.
Nature
Reserve created in 1964 as a big-game hunting preserve in an enclosed valley of almost 1,000 hectares, run through by the río Escabas, which enters the park forming a spectacular waterfall on the cliffs known as the Rincón del Buitre, today home to brown bears, at the heart of the Parque Natural de la Serranía de Cuenca. Originally created by ICONA as a breeding centre for game species for their later reintroduction, it has depended since 1986 on the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, which, besides research, carries out environmental education activities. It is home to brown bear, Iberian wolf, deer, wild boar and birds of prey, and can only be visited with a guide and prior reservation.
Monument
Parish church of Las Majadas dedicated to Our Lady of the Sagrario, whose patronage it shares with Cuenca Cathedral since the time of Alfonso VIII. The building consists of three sections: the bell tower to the west, the main nave and that of the altar, separated by a round arch resting on ashlar pillars. It preserves in good condition its Mudéjar coffered ceiling of western roots and a retable dated 1618, with columns of polychrome Corinthian capitals, reliefs of the Adoration of the Shepherds and of the Kings, and paintings of Saint Lucy, Saint Christopher, the Veronica and the Immaculate Conception. It was built by the Albornoces and Carrillo families. In the access courtyard, with its continuous stone bench, stands the Rollo de la Justicia, where justice was administered in medieval times.
Monument
The Rollo de la Justicia of Las Majadas is preserved in the courtyard of the village's parish church. It is a jurisdictional pillory where justice was administered during medieval times, a symbol of the judicial power held by the town.
Curiosity
The brown bear of El Hosquillo was the subject of the first documentary on Spanish wildlife in Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente's series El Hombre y la Tierra, which brought national fame to this corner of the Serranía.
Curiosity
The cuisine of Las Majadas revolves around morteruelo, a stew made with sirloin, liver, chicken, rib, ham, lard, rabbit, breadcrumbs, paprika, cinnamon and clove, to which game meat is added. Migas de pastor are prepared with breadcrumbs, garlic, paprika, bacon fat and water, and are usually accompanied by grapes. Both dishes, together with lamb and game stews, are a direct legacy of the shepherding culture of the Cuenca mountains.
Monument
Graves of Arab origin found next to the fuente del Tejo, the oldest archaeological evidence documented in the municipality of Las Majadas. They lie near a cave known as “de los Moros”, and both remains are cited as evidence of Arab presence in the area prior to the Christian conquest of Cuenca by Alfonso VIII.
Historical milestone
In the 12th century, when Alfonso VIII conquered Cuenca in 1177, the Jaraba family, of Catalan origin, held the lordship over this mountain territory. Their presence explains the early organization of settlement around the livestock majadas (shepherds' folds).
Historical milestone
The Libro de la Montería, compiled in the time of Alfonso XI between 1340 and 1350, cites these hills among the royal hunting preserves. The abundance of bear and wild boar drew the parties of the Castilian court up into the sierra.
Historical milestone
In the eighteenth century the town's craftsmen made sieves, hoops, rush seats and kneading troughs that they sold throughout the comarca. It was an indispensable supplement for families who could not live on livestock and woodland alone.
Food and drink
Slices of day-old bread soaked in milk or wine, coated in egg and fried, served dusted with sugar and cinnamon or bathed in honey. They are the sweet of Lent and Semana Santa in the towns of the sierra.