We want to introduce you Colmenar de Oreja, a small town in the southeast of Madrid but with a lot to offer.

The town itself preserves a beautiful main square, a regular venue for events of all kinds, an extremely interesting museum, the Czech Ulpiano museum, an unexpected surprise for art lovers, to be able to enjoy what was the artist's house, converted into a museum of the Master of movement and fantasy. Colmenar is also famous for its wines. Madrid has the Designation of Origin Wines of Madrid and Colmenar de Oreja belongs to one of the three zones into which the DO is divided.

CiclaMadrid one of the great projects that General Directorate of Tourism of Madrid is being launched and which represents one of its bets on the sustainable tourism, It passes through the town and has been one of the pilot sections where the signage has been implemented. The municipal area is crossed by livestock tracks and also some old railway lines, those Greenways that we like as much as the Arganda train (today part of the Via Verde del Tajuña) and the one called Rompepas.

Last May, they inaugurated the Ciclamadrid Route “Entre Viñedos”, a 13-kilometer cycle tourism itinerary that runs through the wine-growing landscape between Colmenar de Oreja, Belmonte de Tajo and Chinchón.

You should not miss the visit of the Farm El Socorro, one of the best wine experimentation centers in Europe. Its activity is mainly research within the wine field, in addition to offering technical support to the sector as a whole within the Community of Madrid. It has a very interesting collection of vineyard varieties, a visit in which we can learn a lot about the different ways of cultivating the vineyard, a visit that we can complement with a visit to one of the wineries in the municipality, included in the catalog of Madrid Wine Tourism.

This southeast of Madrid, where limestone rock predominates, has left its mark on the city of Madrid. Stone has been produced from the Colmenar de Oreja quarries for the Royal Palaces of Madrid and Aranjuez, the Royal Theater and fountains such as Cibeles and Neptune, among others.

It also had an important industry around the ovens where jars for wine and oil were manufactured, an activity that continued until the end of the 20th century and is today part of the town's industrial heritage. One more resource to value and continue encouraging visits to this small town that actively works to attract visitors, relying mainly on resources such as heritage, wine and gastronomy.

In short, a more than pleasant day trip through the southeast of Madrid that can complement a bike tour along the Vía Verde del Tajuña or a tour through the Tajuña and Tajo valleys that includes the nearby towns of Chinchón and Aranjuez. If you want to know more about Colmenar de Oreja we leave you the link to the interview we did with Isabel Trujillo, from the Colmenar de Oreja tourist office for Traveling Slowly, our bike travel radio show.

A abrazo.