La Pinilla

Q: Is La Pinilla better than the Madrid resorts?

For anyone past a first day, usually yes. It has over 700 m of vertical and runs long enough to feel like a proper descent, which neither Valdesquí nor Navacerrada can offer, and it is quieter at weekends. The cost is distance: around an hour and a half from Madrid by the A-1, an hour from Segovia. Beginners still get a nursery area at the base and, unusually for the Central System, somewhere to progress to.

Segovia, Central SystemSee it on the map

Foto: FDV · CC BY-SA 3.0

Region

Segovia, Central System

Country

Spain

Local time

Europe/Madrid

Currency

EUR

La Pinilla is on the Ayllón massif in Segovia, and it has something the other Central System resorts do not: real length. The descent from the top to the base is long enough to feel like a proper run rather than a lap, with over 700 m of vertical.

In summer the same mountain becomes one of the best-known bike parks in Spain, which is why the lifts and the trails are in better shape than a resort of this size would normally manage.

Last reviewed 14 September 2026

Best suited to

Beginners
Families
Intermediates

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Where lessons start

The beginner area is at the base and the long runs give somewhere to progress to, which is more than most resorts this size offer. Quieter than the Madrid mountains at weekends.

Getting there

Madrid is around an hour and a half via the A-1, and Segovia about an hour. Riaza, at the foot of the road, is the nearest village.

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Qualifications required in Spain

Teaching skiing or snowboarding for payment in Spain is a regulated profession: an instructor must hold the Técnico Deportivo en Deportes de Invierno (TD1/TD2/TD3). Instructors listed as certified on Alpine Pal have either sent theirs to us for review or are vouched for by the ski school that invited them.

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La Pinilla: common questions

Is La Pinilla better than the Madrid resorts?

For anyone past a first day, usually yes. It has over 700 m of vertical and runs long enough to feel like a proper descent, which neither Valdesquí nor Navacerrada can offer, and it is quieter at weekends. The cost is distance: around an hour and a half from Madrid by the A-1, an hour from Segovia. Beginners still get a nursery area at the base and, unusually for the Central System, somewhere to progress to.