Spain Valdavia · CC BY-SA 3.0
The cut
230 metres, to scale.
A slice through Cañón de la Horadada where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Great Pyramid · 139 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.
230m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
10.5km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
24°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
868m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
Afternoons, up top and down below.
In August the afternoon reaches 24 °C. The best months to hike are from June to September. The wettest months are from November to December.
- 7°5°Jan
- 8°6°Feb
- 11°9°Mar
- 14°12°Apr
- 17°15°May
- 21°19°Jun
- 23°22°Jul
- 24°22°Aug
- 21°19°Sep
- 16°14°Oct
- 10°8°Nov
- 8°6°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Pisuerga river Canyon in Palencia, Spain
Cañón de la Horadada is a canyon in Spain, cut by the Río Ritobas. The relief model measures 230 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 299 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 11 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Aguilar de Campoonearest town · 4.9 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,080 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 7.6 km from the floor
- Seve Ballesteros-Santander Airport (SDR)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 84 km in a straight lineCar hire at SDR airport (Santander)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From June to Septemberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The Río Ritobas runs highest from November to April.
The Río Ritobas carries about 14 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to April. It is lowest from July to August.
- 26 m³/sJan
- 23 m³/sFeb
- 23 m³/sMar
- 21 m³/sApr
- 17 m³/sMay
- 11 m³/sJun
- 5.4 m³/sJul
- 3.9 m³/sAug
- 6.1 m³/sSep
- 16 m³/sOct
- 26 m³/sNov
- 26 m³/sDec
From about 3.9 m³/s in the lowest month to 26 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 1,006 km².
Follow the Pisuerga River from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
6 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 23 × 23 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 2viewpoints within 5 km
- 2marked hiking routes within 4 kmCamino del Besaya: Palencia, Camino Labirento Tuerces
- 1caves within 3 km
- 9car parks within 3 km
- 8information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 2campsites within 8 kmCamping Monte Royal, Las Campas
- 14hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmLa Posada de Campoo, Monasterio Santa María la Real, El Cortés and 11 more
- 6restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- bus stops within 2 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Aguilar de Campoo4.9 km in a straight line
- Rebolledo de la Torre7.9 km in a straight line
- Pomar de Valdivia8.9 km in a straight line
- Santibáñez de Ecla9.5 km in a straight line
- Prádanos de Ojeda9.9 km in a straight line
- Alar del Rey11 km in a straight line
- Olmos de Ojeda13 km in a straight line
- Salinas de Pisuerga14 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Cañón de la Horadada.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Peakyas3 mountains within 15 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 kmComing soonFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 7 | 8 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 23 | 24 | 21 | 16 | 10 | 8 |
| Afternoon · rim | 5 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 8 | 6 |
| Night · rim | -1 | -2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 2 | -1 |
| Rain (mm) | 87 | 75 | 72 | 69 | 60 | 49 | 34 | 36 | 49 | 87 | 110 | 91 |
| Rainy days | 14 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 2.7 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 7.4 | 6.8 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 10 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7 | 5 | -1 | 87 | 2.7 |
| Feb | 8 | 6 | -2 | 75 | 3.8 |
| Mar | 11 | 9 | 0 | 72 | 5.2 |
| Apr | 14 | 12 | 2 | 69 | 6.2 |
| May | 17 | 15 | 5 | 60 | 7.1 |
| Jun | 21 | 19 | 8 | 49 | 7.3 |
| Jul | 23 | 22 | 10 | 34 | 7.7 |
| Aug | 24 | 22 | 10 | 36 | 7.4 |
| Sep | 21 | 19 | 8 | 49 | 6.8 |
| Oct | 16 | 14 | 5 | 87 | 4.8 |
| Nov | 10 | 8 | 2 | 110 | 3.0 |
| Dec | 8 | 6 | -1 | 91 | 2.8 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (868 m) and the rim (1,166 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 43% | 32% | 133% | 138% | 104% | 154% | 57% | 173% | 193% | 284% | 32% | 312% |
| 2021 | 166% | 111% | 34% | 69% | 83% | 191% | 98% | 64% | 147% | 59% | 189% | 176% |
| 2022 | 60% | 33% | 126% | 113% | 38% | 85% | 31% | 100% | 186% | 44% | 113% | 101% |
| 2023 | 222% | 76% | 31% | 36% | 81% | 136% | 57% | 99% | 178% | 105% | 121% | 72% |
| 2024 | 106% | 134% | 132% | 46% | 119% | 116% | 67% | 143% | 253% | 172% | 61% | 97% |
| 2025 | 77% | 79% | 238% | 88% | 101% | 77% | 90% | 171% | 148% | 35% | 124% | 109% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Cañón de la Horadada
Spain
- 230 mDepth
- 11 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 24°Steepest wall
Desfiladero de La Hermida
Spain · 69 km
- 767 mDepth
- 3.5 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 45°Steepest wall
Desfiladero de Los Beyos
Spain · 86 km
- 1,022 mDepth
- 5.9 kmRim to rim
- 20 kmLength
- 36°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q17803269) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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