Laguna del Marquesado Nature Reserve

A tufa dam

Laguna del Marquesado formed when a tufa barrier blocked the Arroyo del Soto, the same process that formed the Lagunas de Ruidera. Its maximum depth is 5.5 metres. Downstream, the barrier drops in small cascades, and above it are an old mill and vegetable gardens; the surrounding walls and boundaries are made of the same tufa. It is a nature reserve, covering 373 hectares.

What lives beneath the water

The most valuable features are submerged: beds of stoneworts and other threatened aquatic plants. This is the only place in the peninsula where Sparganium natans, an endangered plant, grows. Orchids, monkshood and alder buckthorn grow along the banks, with riverside woodland.

There are brown trout, tree frogs, painted frogs, water snakes and ocellated lizards. Coots, mallards, grebes and water rails can be seen all year; grey herons, teal, pochards and cormorants arrive in winter. Dippers and kingfishers live along the stream, and otters, genets and wildcats in the surrounding countryside. Around it are terraces with vegetable gardens, fruit trees and walnuts.

Plan your visit

Two paths circle the lake. View it from them.

Before you travel

Do not enter the water or tread on the shores: a plant found nowhere else in the peninsula depends on the water remaining clean. The reserve’s rules are on the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha’s portal.

Combine with

The village, under Laguna del Marquesado, and the protected area, in its entry.