Navalmoral de la Mata

Navalmoral de la Mata combines a rich cultural heritage with museums, recurring festivals, and protected wetlands. To plan your stay, you can first consider which focus interests you most: religious and urban history, carnival and events, or landscapes and birdlife. These themes offer different ways to guide your choice of hotel, without requiring a specific occasion.

Cultural history between church and town center

The Iglesia de San Andrés brings together several historical periods. Construction began in the 15th century and was completed in the 16th century. The gilded wooden altarpiece in the Renaissance style dates from the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The church also has an organ dating from 1778, with 54 keys and 16 stops. Its construction history, the altarpiece, and the precise details about the organ make the church a destination in its own right for anyone interested in architecture and historical instruments.

Buildings and squares outside the church also tell the story of the town. Plaza Vieja dates from the 17th century and, together with the adjacent streets, formed the original town center. The Rollo, also called the Picota, dates from 1637 and symbolizes the municipal administration of justice of its time. It is also a historical symbol of Navalmoral de la Mata’s municipal autonomy. The Ermita de las Angustias stands outside the town in open countryside beside the old royal road; its original construction is dated to the 15th or 16th century. It houses the Virgen de las Angustias, the town’s patron saint.

Another historical landmark is Casa Comillas, an 18th-century building originally constructed to administer the El Espadañal estate. Today, it houses the UNED, the town library, and spaces used for annual cultural events. The building thus brings together its former administrative function and its current educational and cultural offerings.

Museums and festival periods

The Museo del Carnaval is located on the second and third floors of the Centro Cultural «La Gota». Costumes, photographs, and distinctive objects offer a glimpse of local carnival. The Carnavales moralos have held Fiesta de Interés Turístico Regional status since 1986. Their annual dates follow the Easter calendar, so check the dates for your travel year if you would like to plan your stay around the carnival.

The San Miguel festivities are another major event. They take place on the weekend closest to September 29. The program described includes, among other things, an agricultural and food fair, a horse fair, parades, concerts, street performances, and sporting events. As the specific program may change, it is a good idea to check the details for the relevant year when planning. If you are planning your trip around an event, you should also take its dates into account when choosing your travel period.

The Museo Arqueológico offers a different cultural focus. It preserves around 800 objects from the Campo Arañuelo, La Jara, and Los Ibores regions. The collection spans from the beginning of the Paleolithic to Islamic culture and also includes the Iron Age and the Roman and Visigothic periods. It therefore covers a broad sweep of time. Together with the carnival museum, it offers two different ways to explore the region’s history: archaeological evidence on the one hand and objects relating to local festival culture on the other.

Springs and wetlands

The landscape and natural environment also offer practical points of interest for planning your trip. The 4.5-kilometer Ruta de las Fuentes leads to various springs in the Berrocal moralo and offers views of the comarca along the way. If you include this route in your stay, you can make it a dedicated focus for nature and landscape.

The Ejido Nuevo lagoon complex is within the municipality of Navalmoral de la Mata, is a ZEPA bird protection area, and consists of four ponds. It is home to an internationally significant concentration of aquatic birdlife according to the criteria of the Ramsar Convention. Charca Dehesa Boyal Navalmoral is another ZEPA area within the municipality and is described as a wetland; here too, aquatic birdlife is considered internationally significant under the Ramsar criteria. The descriptions distinguish the sites by their form: Ejido Nuevo comprises four ponds, while Charca Dehesa Boyal is classified as a wetland.

Parque Municipal Casto Lozano offers a different kind of green space: this one-hectare park is used for recreation, is located near the railway station, and was inaugurated in 1940. If you are weighing cultural interests against landscapes when planning your trip, the municipality offers a range of different focuses—from historic buildings and collections to springs, wetlands, and a green space.

Getting there and planning your stay

Road connections are available via the A-5 and the A-EXA1; the A-EXA1 also connects Navalmoral de la Mata with the A-66 Ruta de la Plata. The town is also served by the Madrid–Badajoz railway line. Check current connections and road conditions for your travel dates.

Discover more destinations: Navaconcejo, Cedillo, Aliseda, Valdencín, Zarza De Granadilla, Berzocana, Jaraíz De La Vera, Torre de Don Miguel.

For the overview of the wider region: Cáceres.