Barruecopardo lies west of the Arribes del Huebra. When planning your trip, two distinct focal points stand side by side: the town’s history, with traces of mining, and its MTB routes. Local sights include the parish church, a hermitage on the edge of town and castle ruins. For cycling, the Centro BTT connects Barruecopardo with four other towns; the surrounding landscape between Tierra de Vitigudino and Las Arribes adds to the setting. This makes it possible to decide in advance whether cultural history or cycling should be the focus of your stay.

Mining History in Barruecopardo

The former tungsten mine in Barruecopardo was the largest in Spain. The former miners’ settlement is a reminder of the mining past: it and some of the machinery are outdoors and can be visited by tourists. The local mining heritage therefore includes both the remains of a settlement and technical relics. The small mineralogy museum offers a different thematic focus. The municipality opened it with the support of numerous residents. Before visiting, it is worth checking the museum’s current visiting arrangements. The local themes thus lead from the visible traces of former mining to mineralogy.

The Church and Other Heritage

The Iglesia Parroquial de Santa María Magdalena is one of Barruecopardo’s sights, while the Ermita del Cristo de las Mercedes is located on the edge of town. The two religious buildings can therefore be distinguished not only by name, but also by location. This difference in location offers a practical point of reference when planning a visit focused on culture.

The castle ruins add another form of heritage to the religious buildings. They include rocky outcrops connected by passageways and caves. The passages and hollows shape the ruins as much as the rock formations themselves. This gives them a different character from the church and hermitage: at the ruins, the focus is on the connections between the rocks, passageways and caves.

By Bike: Routes and Landscapes

The Centro BTT de Barruecopardo has more than 220 kilometres of signposted trails. Its network connects Barruecopardo, El Milano, Cabeza del Caballo, Villasbuenas and Saldeana. Two details are therefore important when planning: the size of the signposted trail network and the towns it connects. The list shows that the cycling focus is not limited to Barruecopardo. When choosing a cycling trip, you can first consider whether the size of the network or the connections between several towns matter more to you.

Another landscape setting lies between Tierra de Vitigudino and Las Arribes, where seven MTB routes explore these landscapes. Two routes are rated easy, two intermediate and three difficult. This classification answers a different question from the Centro BTT’s total distance: it indicates the routes’ difficulty, while the more than 220 kilometres describe the size of the signposted trail network. You can therefore sort the route options using two separate criteria: geographical extent on the one hand and difficulty level on the other.

Discover more destinations: Santibáñez De Béjar, Cristóbal, Encinas De Abajo, Herguijuela de la Sierra, San Pedro Del Valle, Aldeanueva De La Sierra, Villoria, Parada De Arriba

For the main travel overview: Salamanca.