Spain 
In numbers.
0.09m³/s
Average flow
estimate
Mar–May
Nov
Best months
1,384m
Elevation
The water at Cascadas del Purgatorio, month by month
It roars from February to May and from November to December.
The fullest months: from February to May and from November to December. The thinnest: from July to September.
- 0.2 m³/sJan
- 0.2 m³/sFeb
- 0.2 m³/sMar
- 0.2 m³/sApr
- 0.2 m³/sMay
- 0.1 m³/sJun
- 0.0 m³/sJul
- 0.0 m³/sAug
- 0.0 m³/sSep
- 0.2 m³/sOct
- 0.2 m³/sNov
- 0.2 m³/sDec
From about 0.01 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.22 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to May and November.
Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.
Cascadas del Purgatorio is a waterfall in Spain.
Getting there.
- Rascafríanearest town · 6.3 km in a straight line
- Parking 1,630 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 46 km in a straight lineCar hire at MAD airport (Madrid)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From March to May and Novemberbest months to go (estimate)
Plan your visit
Stay, explore and get there
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.
Seen from the sky.
8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.
N
2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.
Around the falls the river drops 264 m in 3.6 km. Here the river runs about 198 m below the lower rim of its valley.
What is around.
- 2viewpoints
- 4waymarked walking routesCascadas del Purgatorio, Camino de Santiago Complutense, Valle de la Angostura and 1 more
- 2car parks
- —swimming spots
- 1picnic sites
- —toilets
- 1information boards and visitor centres
- —bus stops within 1 km
- 2other named waterfalls within 4 kmCascadas del Arroyo Aguilón, Cascada pequeña
- —caves
- —campsites
- 6hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 kmRestaurante Hotel Rural Marcos, Hospedería del Monasetrio, Refugio Juvenil Puerto de la Morcuera and 3 more
- 3restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Rascafría6.3 km in a straight line
- Alameda del Valle7.9 km in a straight line
- Miraflores de la Sierra9.0 km in a straight line
- Pinilla del Valle9.1 km in a straight line
- Lozoya13 km in a straight line
- Soto del Real13 km in a straight line
- Bustarviejo13 km in a straight line
- Manzanares el Real14 km in a straight line
Weather
The weather, month by month.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon °C | 4 | 6 | 10 | 13 | 18 | 24 | 28 | 28 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 5 |
| Night °C | -4 | -4 | -2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 4 | -1 | -3 |
| Rain & snow (mm) | 48 | 44 | 53 | 59 | 51 | 30 | 13 | 17 | 27 | 72 | 63 | 49 |
| Wet days | 9 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 9 |
| Sun h/day | 3.9 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 7.7 | 9.4 | 11.0 | 12.3 | 11.0 | 8.9 | 6.4 | 4.5 | 4.1 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,384 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.
Photos
Through visitors' eyes.
Recent years
Wet years and dry years
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 73% | 7% | 162% | 197% | 128% | 102% | 191% | 130% | 249% | 129% | 100% | 253% |
| 2021 | 153% | 151% | 12% | 145% | 53% | 201% | 61% | 24% | 286% | 175% | 73% | 83% |
| 2022 | 32% | 18% | 225% | 112% | 26% | 16% | 36% | 43% | 133% | 69% | 111% | 249% |
| 2023 | 108% | 18% | 50% | 21% | 104% | 306% | 36% | 102% | 451% | 200% | 83% | 90% |
| 2024 | 173% | 104% | 188% | 29% | 65% | 198% | 36% | 256% | 140% | 178% | 40% | 20% |
| 2025 | 133% | 64% | 400% | 160% | 129% | 101% | 146% | 22% | 18% | 53% | 127% | 97% |
130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual
Compare with the waterfalls nearby.
Cascadas del Purgatorio
Spain
- —Height
- 0.09 m³/sAverage flow
- Mar–May, NovBest months
About these numbers
| Names, height, width, river | Wikidata (Q5755969) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| River flow and catchment | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Relief, river profile, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Paths, viewpoints, parking | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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