Parque Natural de Peñalara

Peñalara Natural Park has 768 hectares and lies in the central part of the Sierra de Guadarrama, on the southeast slope of Peñalara peak, which reaches 2,428 metres. It was declared on 15 June 1990 (Law 6/1990 of the Community of Madrid) and since 2013 has been part of the Sierra de Guadarrama National Park.

Its glacial relief includes three cirques, about twenty lakes of glacial origin and moraines; the cirques were covered by ice up to 300 metres thick. Below 2,000 m grow juniper, mat-grass and Scots pine, and 343 vascular plants, 10 amphibian species and 97 bird species have been catalogued.

It was a Natural Site of National Interest in 1930, and the Valcotos ski resort (1969) has been dismantled since 1998. You get there by the M-601, CL-601 and M-604 roads to the Cotos pass, or on the C-9 commuter line. The highest summit of Guadarrama, with glacial cirques and lakes.

Source of the information: Parque natural de la Cumbre, el Circo y las Lagunas de Peñalara (Wikipedia)