Top 5 Things to Do in Patones de Arriba, Madrid

The short answer

Patones de Arriba is the Comunidad's black-slate showpiece: a hamlet of dark dry-stone houses stacked up a ravine in the arid northeastern hills, abandoned in the mid-20th century and revived, roof by roof, as the capital's favourite romantic escape. Cars stay below in Patones de Abajo; you climb the old path in, and the village unfolds as lanes, terraces and candle-lit restaurants folded into the slate.

The list, ranked

1. The slate lanes at dusk — The village's whole fabric is the sight — climb to the ermita's viewpoint as the lights come on and the slate turns blue-black.

2. Cancho de la Cabeza viewpoint — The signed loop above the village to the 832 m summit — the Atazar reservoir spread below like a fjord.

3. El Atazar dam & reservoir — Madrid's biggest water — a dramatic dam, kayak rentals in season and the barrage-top road view, 15 minutes' drive.

4. Torrelaguna's plaza — The handsome Renaissance town below — Cardinal Cisneros' birthplace, with a Gothic church and porticoed square worth the detour.

5. Barranco path & the Cancho loop — 8 km · 3 h. Patones de Abajo → the old ravine footpath up into Patones de Arriba → lanes and ermita → the Cancho de la Cabeza circuit for the Atazar panorama → descend to your dinner reservation. Dry country: hat and water.

Make a day of it

Bus 197 from Plaza de Castilla to Patones de Abajo (~1 h 10), then the 2 km path or weekend shuttle up. Drivers take the A-1 + N-320 (55 min); the upper village is pedestrian — park below. No rail.