The Barranca Valley

Navacerrada.

The Barranca Valley is a place of exceptional beauty, a paradise for hiking and active tourism, and has the widest legal frameworks in the Sierra de Guadarrama: Biosphere Reserve, Regional Park, National Park, Natura 2000 Network.

The Barranca Valley was part of the great royal hunting territory known as Real de Manzanares, same as it was Navacerrada Municipality, at its origin.

 Throughout history it has been used for different purposes: forestry and livestock, including the not so common industry of ice making; the snow, essential for preserving and transporting food to the big city during summer seasons, was gathered and treated.

Water is another of the main protagonists of the Barranca Valley, along with its pine landscape and several riverside forests, habitat for wide animal biodiversity.

Since the opening of the TB hospital, at the beginning of the 20th century, and once the benefits of the air of the valley in the treatment of respiratory diseases were known, health has also started to play an important role in the history of the Barranca Valley.