Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in Alcorcón

What to see and do in Alcorcón (Área Metropolitana, Madrid): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of Alcorcón

Towns near Alcorcón

Spain › Community of Madrid › Área Metropolitana › Alcorcón

What to see and do in Alcorcón

Alcorcón
Village
Alcorcón is a city of the Community of Madrid, in the metropolitan area southwest of the capital, with about 175,000 inhabitants who grew mainly in the 1970s with the arrival of migrants from other regions. Its name may come from the Arabic al-corcón or al-qadir, referring to a hill, and its origins go back to a settlement of Hispano-Muslim potters next to the Cañada de Alcorcón, already documented in 1208. That pottery tradition, which in the time of Philip II supplied Madrid with jugs and cooking pots, is recalled in the three pots on its coat of arms, approved in 1974. The castles of San José de Valderas, from 1917, today house the Museum of Glass Art.
Castles of San José de Valderas
Monument
Pair of historicist buildings completed in 1917 for the Marquis of Valderas on his country estate; one of them today houses the Alcorcón Museum of Glass Art, devoted to contemporary glass.
Castle of San José de Valderas
Monument
A Saxon-looking palace built around 1916 and 1917 by the architect Luis Sainz de los Terreros for the Marquis of Valderas; handed over to the municipality in 1988 and restored afterwards, it has housed the Alcorcón Museum of Glass Art since 1997.
Park of las Presillas
Nature
The Parque de Las Presillas extends over the northeast of the municipality of Alcorcón, next to the M-40 motorway, and is the area of greatest environmental importance in the municipality: 57.5 hectares physically joined to the linear park of the Arroyo Butarque, in neighbouring Leganés. Its land was formerly occupied by an old military farm owned by the Ministerio de Defensa, expropriated by Alcorcón town council for public use after the M-40 was built, in the early 1990s. It is a green space linked to the Butarque stream where a cork oak grove, listed as a seed-producing stand, survives — a rarity in southern Madrid — alongside riverside vegetation and waterfowl such as ducks and cormorants; it also has children's play areas and rest areas.