Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Fontanar

What to see and do in Fontanar (La Campiña, Guadalajara): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 2 Activities

When to go to Fontanar: festival calendar

February: San Blas in Fontanar (February 3)
May: Festivities of San Matías de Fontanar (mid- May)

Towns near Fontanar

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Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Guadalajara › La Campiña › Fontanar

What to see and do in Fontanar

Fontanar
Village
Fontanar is a municipality of the La Campiña del Henares comarca, in the province of Guadalajara, about 10 km from the capital, which owes its name to the springs that proved decisive for its settlement. It had 213 inhabitants in the mid-19th century; today it has 2,630 (INE 2025), following the urban growth that began in the 1980s with the arrival of families from Madrid and the Henares corridor. Its parish church of Santa María la Mayor preserves old olive-mill stones beside it. On 3 February, the feast of San Blas, bread is blessed and then handed out among the villagers together with a piece of chorizo, and at the festivities of San Matías, in mid-May, a bonfire is lit in memory of the village's old charcoal burners.
Church of Santa María la Mayor de Fontanar
Monument
The church of Santa María la Mayor is the parish church of Fontanar (Guadalajara), next to which old olive-mill millstones are preserved. In the Diccionario geográfico by Pascual Madoz, published in 1847, it already appears as a parish church, served by a priest appointed by competitive examination, confirming its role as the village's religious seat since at least the mid-19th century.
The springs of Fontanar
Nature
Springs and fountains that gave the village its name and that were decisive in its settlement beside the Henares valley. Already in the 19th century, on the outskirts of the town, four fountains of good water were recorded, supplying the residents' domestic needs.
San Blas in Fontanar
Activity
The feast of San Blas is celebrated in Fontanar on 3 February with an evening mass at which bread is blessed and afterwards shared among the residents together with a piece of chorizo. Since 2025 the Amigos de San Blas group has also organised, on the Saturday of that week, a vermouth gathering with flamenco music, communal meals, encierros and a verbena, broadening the traditional celebration with new festive activities.
Festivities of San Matías de Fontanar
Activity
Patronal festivities, held on the weekend closest to 14 May, with verbenas, encierros, mass and a procession in honour of San Matías, together with the traditional luminaria bonfire in memory of the village's old charcoal burners. On Friday night several trailers of firewood are burned, a gesture representing the tribute that the woodcutters of the hills traditionally paid to their patron saint. Tradition recalls that until the mid-20th century the holm oak wood of Fontanar was an important source of charcoal production.