At Canto Cochino, inside La Pedriza, there are tables, benches and a signposted path, and no day of the year on which you may light a fire. According to Comunidad de Madrid, lighting one to cook or keep warm is prohibited all year round, under the INFOMA plan.
A picnic area here is a laid-out site on forest or mountain land, and per Comunidad de Madrid the regional list details up to 12 facilities for each one plus a rating of the road in. Entry costs €0 and needs no booking. There are areas at La Pedriza, at km 28,600 of the M-604 in Rascafría and at km 42 for the Cotos pass, and the fire rule covers every one of them.
Can you have a barbecue in a Madrid picnic area? No, on none of the 365 days. According to Comunidad de Madrid, lighting a fire to cook or keep warm is prohibited all year round, under the INFOMA plan. What the areas do carry is up to 12 facilities, including tables, a drinking fountain, toilets and parking, with the access road rated good, fair or poor.
The wording, because it is what settles the question
The question appears on the region’s own page with its answer in capitals, and the Region publishes it as the first thing a visitor reads.
Can I have barbecues in the picnic areas of the Comunidad de Madrid? NO! Under the Special Civil Protection Plan for Forest Fire Emergencies in the Comunidad de Madrid (INFOMA), lighting a fire to cook or keep warm is PROHIBITED ALL YEAR ROUND.
Three things in that sentence matter. All year round rules out a winter window, an off-season exception or a daily risk threshold that might open the door. To cook or keep warm covers both of the uses people assume are fine. And the rule it invokes is not a park by-law but the region’s civil protection plan for forest fire emergencies.
In packing terms: the food comes ready from home, and the portable barbecue stays in the boot, in January as much as in July.
What you will find when you get there
The regional list marks facilities one by one, and no area carries the full set.
The twelve possible entries are tables, benches, bins, waste containers, a drinking fountain, signage, a playground, footpaths, a kiosk, toilets, parking and an outdoor fitness circuit. One area may have a kiosk and toilets while the next one along stops at tables and signage.
The drinking fountain is the facility that changes a summer day most, and it works on the same network as the 2,268 working street fountains in the city, covered in where to find drinking water in Madrid.
How to tell if the road in is any good
This column exists nowhere else and it saves a wasted turn-off.
Each area lists its access road with the kilometre point and a condition rating: good, fair or poor. Laguna del Campillo in Rivas-Vaciamadrid, reached from the N-III at exit 18, is rated fair. El Berzalejo in Hoyo de Manzanares, on the M-618, is rated poor.
| Picnic area | Municipality | Access | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Berzalejo | Hoyo de Manzanares | M-618 | Poor |
| Laguna del Campillo | Rivas-Vaciamadrid | N-III, exit 18 | Fair |
| La Cabilda | Hoyo de Manzanares | M-618, cemetery turn-off | Not rated |
| Las Lagunillas | Lozoya | M-637, km 11 | Good |
| Beside the Montejo beech forest | Montejo de la Sierra | M-139, km 5.9 | Good |
| Puerto de Los Cotos | Rascafría | M-604, km 42 | Good |
| Las Presillas | Rascafría | M-604, km 28.600 | Good |
| La Barranca | Navacerrada | M-607 | Good |
| Fuente del Cura | Miraflores de la Sierra | M-611 | Good |
| Canto Cochino, La Pedriza | Manzanares el Real | M-608, La Pedriza entrance | Good |
The kilometre point separates places more than the municipality name suggests. In Rascafría alone, Las Presillas sits at km 28.600 of the M-604 and the Cotos pass at km 42, which is 13.4 kilometres of mountain road between the two.
Why the road can be shut with the tables empty
A picnic area inside a protected space carries a second layer of rules, and that layer is what stops the day.
The regional government notes that areas sit in protected natural spaces, on hills and on forest land, and that different public-use rules may apply depending on where each one is. That is not boilerplate: it changes what is allowed a hundred metres from the table.
Canto Cochino is the clearest case, because it is the picnic area of La Pedriza and sits inside a site capped at 75 vehicles, explained in how that quota works. The tables can be empty while the road in is already shut.
Las Presillas in Rascafría doubles as an authorised bathing area, open 15 May to 15 September, set out in where you can swim in the Madrid region. And the Cotos pass is one of the national park gateways with its own vehicle counter, in how access to the Sierra de Guadarrama works.
What to pack instead
Three swaps cover the whole ban, and none of them needs a shop.
- Bring the food cooked. Tortilla, empanada or bocadillos travel better than anything that needs heat.
- Fill the bottle on site. Many areas list a drinking fountain among their facilities, at €0.
- Leave the portable grill at home. The ban covers cooking and warming alike, on all 365 days.
Where to check before you set off
The administration names its own channel, which is quicker than searching.
For any doubt about what is allowed at a specific area, the region points to its Forest Rangers, the Agentes Forestales de la Comunidad de Madrid. They are also the people who can confirm a temporary restriction, the kind that appears and disappears with a fire-risk campaign.
For free organised activity, the route is the region’s 12 centres, with timetables that do not match each other, several of them open from 9am and one for just 90 minutes a day. The wider map of what needs booking is in how access to nature works here, and the closest walk with a reserved place is Las Dehesas de Cercedilla, capped at 240 vehicles.
One last practical note for anyone arriving from abroad. Lunch in Madrid does not start before about 2pm and dinner before 9pm, which suits a morning at a picnic area, and the tap water is soft and safe everywhere, so a bottle filled at the area’s fountain costs €0. Reaching the mountain areas means a car or a regional coach rather than the metro, since fare zone A stops at the city boundary and a single inside it runs €1.50 to €2.00.
Lunch comes ready from home, all 365 days.
Frequently asked questions about Madrid picnic areas
Can you have a barbecue in a Madrid picnic area?
No. The regional government publishes it in capital letters, that lighting a fire to cook or keep warm is prohibited all year round, under the INFOMA civil protection plan for forest fire emergencies.
Is there any season when fires are allowed?
None at all. The ban carries no high or low season and does not track the daily risk level. The published wording is all year round, with no monthly window and no exception written into it.
What facilities do Madrid picnic areas have?
Up to twelve, marked one by one in the regional list: tables, benches, bins, waste containers, a drinking fountain, signage, a playground, footpaths, a kiosk, toilets, parking and an outdoor fitness circuit. No area holds all twelve, and Las Presillas in Rascafría adds a kiosk and toilets.
Do the same rules apply at every picnic area?
No. Areas inside protected natural spaces or on forest land add their own public-use rules, so an activity allowed at one can be restricted at another a few kilometres away, depending on what surrounds it.