Home › Long-distance routes › Gredos Cirque › 1 day · out and back from the Plataforma
One dayOn footRayodistancia — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Plataforma de Gredos
The best-known route in Gredos and the one everyone does at least once: from the Plataforma you climb the Trocha Real — the path opened in 1914 for Alfonso XIII's hunting trips — up to the Los Barrerones viewpoint at 2,200 metres, where the whole cirque opens up at once. Then you descend to the Laguna Grande, of glacial origin, with the Almanzor opposite and the Elola refuge across the water. Fourteen kilometres and eight hundred and fifty metres of ascent: manageable but no stroll, and always walking above seventeen hundred metres. Notes: this is high mountain terrain. You walk between 1,765 and 2,181 metres, without a scrap of tree shade and with fast-changing weather: take warm clothing and a waterproof even if you set off in sunshine. Fill your bottles at the fountain by the start. In winter the lake freezes and some people cross over the ice, but do not do it without first checking its condition. And one warning worth taking seriously: the ground around the cirque is climbing and high-mountain terrain, and Gredos claims lives every year. This route is manageable, but do not stray off it unless you are properly equipped. The ibex are used to people and will come close looking for food: do not feed them, they are still wild animals.
Out and back from the Plataforma de Gredos along the Trocha Real to the Laguna Grande and the Elola refuge, by way of the Los Barrerones viewpoint.
Practical / Access
The car park where the road up from Hoyos del Espino ends, at around 1,765 metres. It is the starting point of almost every route in the cirque. At the turn-off in the village stands a monument to the ibex, the animal you will meet higher up.
Fill your bottles at the fountain by the start: it is the last reliable water on the route. And come early, because the car park fills up in summer and at weekends.
History / Royal path
The stretch that drops towards the lake is known in many route guides as the Trocha Real, after the path opened between 1914 and 1915 to make King Alfonso XIII's hunting trips easier. A century on, the path opened so a monarch could hunt ibex is the one everyone now takes up to see the cirque.
Look at how it is laid out: it was designed for pack animals and laden people, not for mountaineers. That is why it feels so easy despite the gradient.
Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Nature / Turning point
At 1,932 metres, a bridge over the stream where small pools form and serve as a watering place. It is the most likely spot on the whole route to see ibex, and also the point most people reach if they are not doing the full walk.
With small children this is the perfect goal: cross the bridge, look for ibex, and turn back before the steep climb to the Barrerones begins. If you carry on, the viewpoint and the descent to the lake are still ahead: allow a good hour and a half more.
isol — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Nature / Viewpoint
At 2,200 metres, the highest point of the route and the moment when everything falls into place at once: the whole Gredos Cirque opens up, with the Laguna Grande below in the shade and the Almanzor opposite, flanked by the Cuchillar de las Navajas and the Portilla Bermeja.
You reach it in an hour and a half from the Plataforma. Stop here: it is the best view of the day, and you still have the descent to the lake ahead.
Manuel Velazquez — CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Nature / Glacial lake
The lake, of glacial origin, lies at 1,940 metres in the floor of the cirque, and you must skirt it on the left to reach the Elola refuge at 1,950, owned by the Castilla y León regional government and run by a private concession. It is the departure point for ascents of the Almanzor and La Galana. Following the water that feeds the lake you come to the Charco Esmeralda, a pool of clear, greenish water.
Some people swim in the Charco Esmeralda, but the water is freezing. And if you fancy sleeping up here, the refuge must be booked ahead: waking up in the cirque is another thing altogether.
Thomas Holbach — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Nature / Endemic wildlife
Two species endemic to Gredos that are easily seen: the ibex, grazing the meadows around the lake, and the Almanzor salamander. Overhead, griffon vultures, eagles and kites above the granite crags; and among the broom, bluethroats, dunnocks and stonechats.
The ibex are so used to people that they will come over to see whether you have food. Do not feed them: they are still wild animals and feeding them does them harm.
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