Logbook · 4 places

What to see and do in La Cabrera

What to see and do in La Cabrera (Sierra Norte, Madrid): 4 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of La Cabrera

Pico de la Miel 1.7 km
Convent of San Antonio de La Cabrera 2.1 km

Towns near La Cabrera

Spain › Community of Madrid › Sierra Norte › La Cabrera

What to see and do in La Cabrera

La Cabrera
Village
La Cabrera is a municipality of almost 2,900 inhabitants in the Sierra Norte district of Madrid, 56 km from the capital, situated at the foot of a granite massif of Palaeozoic origin whose peaks reach the Cancho Gordo (1,564 m) and the Pico de la Miel (1,392 m); the town centre sits at an altitude of 1,038 m in the eastern part of the range. It preserves a traditional farrier's shoeing frame on its main street, and within its boundaries are the Tumba del Moro, a 7th-century Visigothic necropolis with ten graves linked to a settlement of the same period, and the convent of San Antonio, a Romanesque building on the flank of the Cancho Gordo, about 2 km from the town centre, through which several nature trails pass.
Convent of San Antonio de La Cabrera
Monument
Romanesque temple located on the slope of the Cancho Gordo, the highest peak of the sierra de La Cabrera, about two kilometres from the village centre. Its origin is uncertain: tradition places it in the 11th century, promoted by Alfonso VI during the conquest of Toledo, although it has also been suggested that it dates from the 12th century or is of Romanesque-Visigothic origin, built over an earlier temple. Consecrated to San Julián, it was run by Benedictines until the 14th century; in 1404, already in the 15th century, it passed to the reformed Franciscans of Pedro de Villacreces, who turned it into the convent of San Antonio de Padua. Abandoned after the Napoleonic invasion and secularised in 1835, it passed through private hands until, restored by the Community of Madrid between 1987 and 1993, it was occupied by the Idente missionaries.
Pico de la Miel
Nature
A granite summit of 1,392 metres that closes off the Sierra de La Cabrera to the south; its great wall of bare rock, visible from the northern motorway, is one of the most popular climbing spots in the Region of Madrid.
The monastery of San Julián passes to the Franciscans
Historical milestone
The old Benedictine monastery at the foot of the range was handed over to the reformed Franciscans of Pedro de Villacreces and took the dedication of San Antonio de Padua. It served as a hermitage, school and novitiate until the disentailment of 1835.