Cabañeros National Park in Toledo
A Mediterranean forest
A jewel among the national parks
Main attraction.
Cabañeros is much more than a national park: it is a unique place in the world. Because here the great Mediterranean forest of Europe survives intact, where visitors can still be surrounded by the most endangered Iberian fauna, and see fossils more than 500 million years old. Its exceptional conservation allows visitors to enjoy the great Iberian nature reserve.
One of the park's attractions is the rutting season, the biological cycle of deer mating, which for weeks can be heard and observed at different times of the day, with its piercing and striking bellows. The drop in temperatures and the arrival of the first rains (September-October) mark the beginning of the rutting season, a time when it is easier to observe the large deer in their wild state, far from the leafy forest that usually hides them.
What we will see
In its landscape of "rañas" (plains) and open forest live large mammals such as the mountain goat, the Iberian imperial eagle and the black vulture, as well as the Iberian deer. Its more than a thousand plant species, its Ordovician fossils, and the charcoal burners' huts that give the park its name are only a small part of its attraction.
The park has a great botanical value, with different bioclimatic floors that make up unique ecosystems, with 22 species catalogued as vulnerable or of special interest. Among the most representative species are: holm oak and cork oak groves, scrubland, scrubland and scrubland and trap fields.
Accesses
The Cabañeros National Park is located in the northwest of the province of Ciudad Real, occupying an area in the southwest of the province of Toledo. The road leading to the entrance of the park is the CM-4017. From Toledo it will be taken after the CM-4013 and from Ciudad Real it will be the detour after the CM-403.
Best time to visit. What to bring
It is essential to organise your tour from one of the visitor centres. Any time of year is a good time to visit Cabañeros, with hot, dry summers and cold, wet winters. It is an ideal place to visit with children, and for anyone who wishes to get in touch with nature as it is. The park offers 4x4, cycling and walking routes.
More information:




The rut
From mid-September to mid-October, one of nature's most impressive spectacles takes place, the bellowing of the deer in the mountains of Toledo.
The rutting of the males of this species, gives us the opportunity to observe the magnificent specimens, as well as their fights and of course their peculiar sound.
Accompanied by an interpreter guide and aboard all-terrain vehicles, we approach the best observation areas located in private estates in the mountains of Toledo.
The rutting of the deer in the Cabañeros National Park has several options and timetables.