Enciso Dinosaur Footprints

La Rioja holds one of the densest concentrations of dinosaur trackways in the world, formed around 120 million years ago when the area was a shallow lake margin and animals crossed mud that later hardened and was tilted upright by the Pyrenean uplift. Around ten thousand prints have been catalogued across the region, with the largest concentration around Enciso in the Cidacos valley: theropod tracks with three clawed toes, sauropod prints in pairs, and in some cases trackways long enough to show gait and speed. Sites such as Valdecevillo, La Senoba and Virgen del Campo are open, signposted and free, with life-size models at some. The Centro Paleontologico in Enciso interprets them.

What you actually see

• The trackways - theropod and sauropod prints on tilted rock slabs.
• The open sites - free signposted trackways across the Cidacos valley.
• The life-size models - reconstructions placed beside some print sites.
• The Paleontological Centre - the interpretation museum in Enciso.

When to go

April to June and September to November; summer is hot on the exposed rock and winter can be icy. Low sun in morning or late afternoon shows the prints far better than overhead light.

Honest expectations

Prints are shallow and weathered, and in flat midday light many are hard to make out. The sites are spread across the valley and need a car. There are no facilities at most of them.

Nearby

Arnedillo's thermal springs are close; the Sierra de Cebollera lies west.