Sandwiched between the Andújar and Hornachuelos mountain ranges, the Cordoban region of Los Pedroches is the northernmost territory of Andalusia. It borders Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha. Although it is dotted with a string of towns of great architectural quality, they are small towns, which in no case reach 20,000 inhabitants. A mountainous and wooded environment and the absence of light pollution give it the advantage of being an ideal location for sighting the night skies. Hence, in 2016 it was declared a Starlight Reserve, a distinction reserved for the places with the best conditions for astronomical contemplation in the world. Los Pedroches were the tenth place on the planet to receive it.
In Los Pedroches, fans of contemplating the night skies have a network of places to set up their telescopes: there are in peri-urban parks, in hermitages or even in old mines distributed more or less regularly throughout the seventeen towns that make it up, always in isolated environments that do not receive light interference from roads, industrial estates or towns.
This type of tourism is booming. In the last year, the different Spanish enclaves distinguished with the Starlight (there are up to ten spread throughout Andalusia, Aragon, the Canary Islands and Catalonia) have experienced an increase of up to 300% in visitors who want to spend the nights outdoors identifying stars, galaxies and planets.
The average altitude in Los Pedroches is not exaggerated (around 650 meters above sea level), so night temperatures, if you are well equipped, are not too strict.
The Córdoba region also already has a network of four itineraries in place that practically cover its territory and that make fans “pilgrimage” to the best locations. And the creation of 17 more viewpoints is planned to join the existing ones.
If the sleep accumulated during the awake nights does not prevent it, Los Pedroches also has hiking, architectural and gastronomic attractions to enjoy during the day. The region has a good network of interesting paths for walkers, and large expanses of pasture where pigs roam freely whose final destination is to become Iberian hams and sausages, which also offer an itinerary to learn about their production process. .
Pozoblanco acts as the capital of the region, and is a good base from which to approach all these activities. However, we must not miss visiting towns like Belalcázar, which has a beautiful Roman bridge, two castles (Zúñiga and Sotomayor) and the convent of Santa Clara; Pedroche –which gives its name to the region even though it is not its capital–, located on a hill crowned by the sharp bell tower of its church; Alcaracejos, one of those that most faithfully maintains the typical whitewashed houses and granite block lintels; or Santa Eufemia, also with two fortresses (Miramontes and Viogue).
Even with its rural and remote universe, Los Pedroches has good access communications. The 80 kilometers between the provincial capital, Córdoba, and Pozoblanco can be easily covered in one hour on the N-432 highway, bordering the Puente Nuevo reservoir and entering the region through the Calatraveño port.
