Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Ferreras de Arriba

What to see and do in Ferreras de Arriba (La Carballeda, Zamora): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Ferreras de Arriba

The Miño Cuevo 4.7 km

Towns near Ferreras de Arriba

Spain › Castile and León › Zamora › La Carballeda › Ferreras de Arriba

What to see and do in Ferreras de Arriba

Ferreras de Arriba
Village
Ferreras de Arriba is a village in the province of Zamora, with 350 inhabitants according to the 2025 census, which also includes the settlement of Villanueva de Valrojo. Its name comes from the Leonese word fierro or fierru, and attests to the abundance of this metal in the area: five Celtic hillforts and the route of a Roman road, the Via XVII that linked Braga with Astorga, have been found within its municipal area. Located about 70 kilometres north-west of Zamora, in the heart of the Sierra de la Culebra — a protected natural area and regional hunting reserve — the village has houses of adobe, stone and slate and retains mills still in operation on the Castrón river. Every 26 December it brings La Filandorra out into the street, one of its winter masquerades.
The hermitage of the Cristo de las Aguas
Monument
It stands on the Peña la Lleira dominating the valley of the Castrón; up to it climbs the pilgrimage festival of the first Sunday of August, in which the village asks for water from the Christ that gives the hermitage its name.
The Miño Cuevo
Nature
At 1,207 metres, it is one of the highest points in the Sierra de la Culebra, after Peña Mira; on its slopes the native Pyrenean oak mixes with reforested stands of Scots pine, maritime pine and black pine. It lies about five kilometres west of Ferreras de Arriba, in the heart of the range, whose terrain is generally gentle, with altitudes mostly ranging between 800 and 1,200 metres; the rise was formed by Hercynian folding. At the summit stands a geodetic marker, reached by a track suitable only for off-road vehicles and a final stretch on foot.
The Castrón river and its mills
Nature
The Castrón crosses the municipal district among alders and poplars and drove several flour mills that are still standing; its basin was in the front line of the great fires that devastated the sierra in 2022.
The circular stone sheepfolds
Curiosity
Spread across the woodland are preserved yards of circular plan raised in dry stone to shut in the sheep at night and protect them from the wolf, a pastoral architecture today almost without use.
The iron that gave the village its name
Curiosity
The place name comes from the Leonese fierro and the slag spread across the municipal district confirms an ancient working of the metal; in the same ground five castros and the remains of a Celtic city have been identified.
The Filandorra of 26 December
Activity
Every 26 December the masquerade pits the Guapos against the Feos: the Filandorra, in black with coloured ribbons, and the Devil, with billy-goat horns, scatter ash among the residents of the village.
The fire of the Sierra de la Culebra
Historical milestone
The fire declared on 15 June 2022 between Ferreras de Arriba and Sarracín de Aliste, caused by a dry storm, burned 29,670 hectares before being brought under control on 24 June; a second fire, which began on 17 July in Losacio from the same cause, reached 35,960 hectares and was not controlled until 14 August. The flames affected 52 localities in the comarcas of Aliste, La Carballeda, Tábara, Tierra de Alba and Benavente y los Valles, with two fatalities and the Ferreras woodland destroyed. Although more than twenty kilometres apart, the two fires went on to merge their perimeters, together covering almost 66,000 hectares, of which 34,000 belonged to the Sierra de la Culebra nature reserve: the two largest fires in the history of Castile and León.
The mushrooms of the pine forests
Food and drink
In autumn and spring the pine and Pyrenean oak woods of the municipal district give boletus, saffron milk caps and parasol mushrooms that are gathered for the table; in winter the pig slaughter still marks the calendar of the village's houses.