Colmenar Viejo is a town and municipality of about 48,614 inhabitants,[2] located in the Community of Madrid, Spain, 30 kilometers north of Madrid on the M-607 motorway.[3] It belongs to the comarca of Cuenca Alta del Manzanares.

Colmenar Viejo
Hermitage of Santa Ana
Hermitage of Santa Ana
Flag of Colmenar Viejo
Coat of arms of Colmenar Viejo
Location of Colmenar Viejo in Madrid
Location of Colmenar Viejo in Madrid
Colmenar Viejo is located in Community of Madrid
Colmenar Viejo
Colmenar Viejo
Location in Spain
Colmenar Viejo is located in Spain
Colmenar Viejo
Colmenar Viejo
Colmenar Viejo (Spain)
Coordinates: 40°39′32″N 3°45′57″W / 40.65889°N 3.76583°W / 40.65889; -3.76583
Country Spain
Community Community of Madrid
ProvinceMadrid
ComarcaCuenca Alta del Manzanares
Government
 • MayorJorge García Díaz (PP)
Area
 • Total182.6 km2 (70.5 sq mi)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total49,498
 • Density270/km2 (700/sq mi)
DemonymColmenareños
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
28770

Main sights edit

In the town, there are many archeological sites, most of them come from hispanic- visigothic times, with household areas and burials.

 
Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción

The most important tourist attractions places in Colmenar Viejo are:

Physical environment edit

Colmenar Viejo's municipality has a size of 182.6 square kilometres (70.5 square miles), the third largest in the province of Madrid, after Madrid and Aranjuez.[4]

Traditional granite mining has been changing Colmenar Viejo's landscape. As a result of livestock farming, mainly cow and horse cattle, grassland has been taking a main role.

A large part of land under Colmenar Viejo's jurisdiction is inside of the Parque regional de la Cuenca Alta del Manzanares (Manzanares Upper Basin Regional Park), causing that land to be under a high protection environmental level. The Navalvillar Grassland is protected by the municipality and, albeit it does not belong to the Park, it is quite rich in flora and fauna.

Climate edit

Colmenar Viejo has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) with cold winters.

Climate data for Colmenar Viejo, 1982–2010
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 8.0
(46.4)
10.0
(50.0)
13.9
(57.0)
15.2
(59.4)
20.0
(68.0)
26.0
(78.8)
30.0
(86.0)
29.7
(85.5)
24.3
(75.7)
17.4
(63.3)
11.7
(53.1)
8.7
(47.7)
17.9
(64.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 4.8
(40.6)
6.3
(43.3)
9.3
(48.7)
10.5
(50.9)
14.8
(58.6)
20.1
(68.2)
23.8
(74.8)
23.6
(74.5)
19.0
(66.2)
13.4
(56.1)
8.3
(46.9)
5.6
(42.1)
13.3
(55.9)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.6
(34.9)
2.5
(36.5)
4.7
(40.5)
5.7
(42.3)
9.6
(49.3)
14.1
(57.4)
17.4
(63.3)
17.6
(63.7)
13.8
(56.8)
9.4
(48.9)
4.9
(40.8)
2.5
(36.5)
8.6
(47.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 52
(2.0)
41
(1.6)
36
(1.4)
52
(2.0)
57
(2.2)
28
(1.1)
14
(0.6)
16
(0.6)
36
(1.4)
76
(3.0)
78
(3.1)
68
(2.7)
537
(21.1)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) 5.7 5.3 5.0 6.7 7.6 3.5 1.9 1.8 4.0 7.4 7.2 7.5 62.5
Average snowy days 3.1 3.0 1.4 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.8 1.9 11.4
Average relative humidity (%) 77 70 61 60 58 48 40 42 54 70 75 78 61
Source: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología[5]

Demography edit

Vertical bar chart Demographic of Colmenar Viejo between 1900 and 2009[6]

Cinematography edit

Estudios Tablada in Madrid used the Dehesa de Navalvillar as a filming location for films such as El Cid, Spartacus, Alexander the Great, For A Few Dollars More, La última aventura, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Conan the Barbarian.[7]

The television series Locked Up (Vis a vis) also commissioned a studio in Colmenar Viejo for most of its filming.[8] Lately, the Netflix series Money Heist and Sky Rojo took several scenes filmed there.

Transport edit

Bus edit

Urban lines edit

  • L-1: Las Adelfillas - Train Station
  • L-2: Remedios Avenue - Train Station

Interurban lines edit

Train edit

Colmenar Viejo has a train station in the outskirts of the town, which is the terminal of line C-4 of Cercanías Madrid. From the station, you can go to Tres Cantos in about 8 minutes, to Cantoblanco University in about 15 and to Madrid (Chamartin) in about 23. Since 2011, they used to pass trains to Burgos in Colmenar, but due to a detachment in the Somosierra tunnel, the trains to Burgos no longer pass through here.

Festivities edit

  • Fiesta de la Vaquilla, February 2
  • Fiesta de la Maya, May 2
  • Festivities in honour of the Virgen of Remedios, last weekend of August
  • Day of Colmenar Viejo, commemorating the villages endorsement by Ferdinand II of Aragon, November 22

Twin towns edit

References edit

  1. ^ Municipal Register of Spain 2018. National Statistics Institute.
  2. ^ "Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero. Madrid: Población por municipios y sexo". Instituto Nacional de Estadística (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Colmenar Viejo". Ayuntamiento de Colmenar Viejo (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Ayuntamiento". Ayuntamiento de Colmenar Viejo (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Valores climatológicos normales. Colmenar Viejo" (in Spanish). AEMet. 14 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Series históricas de población". Instituto Nacional de Estadística (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
  7. ^ "Presentación del libro "Colmenar Viejo, Tierra de Cine"". colmenarviejo.biz (in Spanish). 4 May 2009. Archived from the original on 19 August 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  8. ^ Redondo, David (27 April 2015). "Así se transforma una nave de oficinas en la cárcel de 'Vis a vis'". Cadena SER (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 January 2021.

External links edit