We stopped at Salas de los Infantes during the day, mainly to visit the town and its dinosaur museum. We parked at 42.023899, -3.290590, in a free parking area close enough to reach the centre on foot. The car park was quite busy and a little noisy because it is right beside a road, but it was perfectly suitable for leaving our 23-foot motorhome while we explored the town. We arrived at around 8 am and easily found a space. There were rubbish bins, and parking was completely free. Even in the rain, the ground remained perfectly manageable. It was a straightforward stop, especially for anyone interested in the area’s prehistoric discoveries.
Salas de los Infantes is located in the province of Burgos, in Castile and León, about 60 kilometres south-east of the city of Burgos. It is one of the main towns in the Sierra de la Demanda area, a region of forests, hills and small settlements. The town is particularly known for its Museum of Dinosaurs, which contains an important collection of fossils discovered in the surrounding countryside. The local geological record preserves evidence of dinosaurs that lived here during the Early Cretaceous, roughly 120 million years ago.
The Museo de Dinosaurios opened on 21 September 2001. It was established thanks to the work of the Colectivo Arqueológico y Paleontológico de Salas, a local archaeological and palaeontological group that collected, studied and donated fossils to the municipality. The collection includes dinosaur bones, fossilised eggs, footprints and remains of other animals that lived in the same environment. There are also reconstructions, models, illustrations and displays explaining the region’s prehistoric landscape. Although the museum itself is relatively small, its collection includes fossils of considerable scientific importance, including specimens that have helped researchers describe previously unknown species.
One of its most important discoveries is Demandasaurus darwini, a sauropod dinosaur belonging to the rebbachisaurid group. Sauropods were long-necked, four-legged herbivores, and this species is estimated to have reached around 12 metres in length. Its remains were discovered in the Sierra de la Demanda and described scientifically after detailed work on the fossil bones. Demandasaurus is especially interesting because it is related to dinosaurs known from Africa and South America. Studying these relationships helps palaeontologists understand how dinosaur populations were distributed when the continents had different geographical connections from those seen today.
The museum also contains remains of Arcanosaurus ibericus, an ancient lizard, and the fossil turtle Larachelus morla. Other displays include fossilised bones belonging to iguanodonts, small herbivorous dinosaurs, armoured dinosaurs such as Polacanthus, and large carnivores including Baryonyx. Fossils of crocodile relatives, fish, molluscs and other animals help reconstruct the ecosystem in which the dinosaurs lived. Dinosaur eggs and eggshell fragments are particularly interesting because they provide evidence of reproduction as well as the animals themselves.
Around 120 million years ago, this part of Burgos looked very different from the present-day landscape. The region contained a broad valley with rivers, wet ground and shallow bodies of water. The climate was warmer and more humid than today, with vegetation including ferns, conifers and other plants adapted to the conditions. Herbivorous dinosaurs moved through these environments to feed, while carnivores lived in the same landscape. When animals died or walked across muddy ground, their remains and tracks could become buried in sediment. Over time, geological processes transformed that sediment into rock, preserving some of the evidence for millions of years.
The museum explains this world through actual fossils as well as reconstructions. Visiting the collection also gives context to the many dinosaur sites found around the Sierra de la Demanda. The surrounding area is particularly important for fossil footprints, known as ichnites. These are different from bones: they record the movements of animals rather than their skeletons. A footprint was made when a dinosaur stepped on soft sediment, and it could be preserved if later layers covered the impression before erosion exposed it again.
One of the best-known local sites is Costalomo, near Salas de los Infantes. Its footprints are unusual because many of them appear as raised shapes protruding from the rock, rather than as depressions in the surface. They are natural casts formed when sand filled the original impressions in soft mud and later hardened. Erosion eventually removed some of the surrounding material, exposing the cast footprints. In some examples, the shape of the toes and claws can still be recognised.
Costalomo is especially significant because its footprints have an unusual three-dimensional preservation. The impressions are attributed to dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous, around 120–125 million years ago. Some of the trackways are associated with large herbivorous dinosaurs, including iguanodonts. Researchers have also identified details in individual tracks that may provide information about the animals’ movement. The site is part of the wider palaeontological heritage of the Sierra de la Demanda.
However, visitors should not assume that Costalomo can always be explored directly. Local tourism information states that the site has been covered to protect the footprints from deterioration and theft and that it is currently not open for ordinary visits. This is an important practical point if the purpose of travelling to Salas is specifically to see dinosaur tracks. The museum is the most straightforward place to see the area’s fossils, while other footprint sites elsewhere in the region may provide outdoor alternatives.
There are several other important sites in the wider area. El Frontal, near Regumiel de la Sierra, contains trackways attributed to small herbivorous dinosaurs. La Pedraja, near Mambrillas de Lara, preserves numerous footprints in a relatively small area. Further south-west, the Las Sereas tracksite around Quintanilla de las Viñas and Mambrillas de Lara extends across several kilometres and contains hundreds of footprints. Some of these tracks have been attributed to large sauropods and stegosaurids. The sites are spread across the countryside, so visiting several of them requires driving between different locations rather than simply walking from the museum.
The region has a longer archaeological history as well. Evidence of human presence in the area extends from the Palaeolithic through the Bronze Age and Iron Age, with additional Roman remains. The museum therefore includes an archaeology section alongside its dinosaur collection, presenting objects and evidence from the different populations that lived in the surrounding region. This broader collection helps place the prehistoric landscape in the context of the much more recent history of human settlement.
Salas de los Infantes is traditionally dated to the year 974, when Count García Fernández of Castile granted land and privileges to Gonzalo Gustios as part of the settlement of the frontier territory. The town later became closely associated with the legend of the Seven Infantes of Lara, a medieval Castilian epic involving family rivalries, betrayal and revenge. According to the story, seven brothers were killed following a dispute involving their relatives and the forces of Almanzor. Their half-brother Mudarra later sought revenge for their deaths. The legend combines historical elements with literary tradition, so not every event can be treated as established history.
The Church of Santa María is closely connected with the story. It contains an ornate chest, dating from 1592, which is traditionally associated with the heads of the Seven Infantes of Lara. The church itself has Gothic origins and a Renaissance portal dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Inside, visitors can see a Renaissance altarpiece associated with the school of Berruguete. The church is one of the most important historic buildings in the town and provides a connection between Salas’s medieval traditions and its later religious heritage.
Another historic building is the municipal cultural centre, housed in a modernist-style palace constructed in 1920. It incorporates surviving remains of an older medieval wall associated with the former palace of the Fernández de Velasco family. The town also retains other traces of its historical development, although it is relatively small and does not require a long time to explore. Its main appeal lies in the combination of local history, the church and the dinosaur collection.
The wider Sierra de la Demanda is known for its forests, traditional villages and outdoor activities. Pine and oak woodland covers large areas, while higher ground offers walking routes and views across the surrounding hills. The local economy has traditionally depended on forestry, livestock farming and agriculture, alongside services for the smaller settlements. In recent decades, the dinosaur discoveries have provided another reason for visitors to come to the area, and the museum has become one of the town’s most important attractions.
For us, Salas de los Infantes was a convenient daytime stop. The free parking area was close to the town centre, easy to use with our motorhome and manageable even in the rain. The road noise was noticeable, but it did not prevent us from visiting the town. The main reason to come here is the dinosaur museum and the remarkable fossil heritage of the surrounding region. For anyone interested in dinosaurs, it is worth knowing that the museum contains genuine fossil material, including important specimens such as Demandasaurus, while the surrounding countryside preserves additional evidence in the form of footprints. It is a small town, but its palaeontological importance is much greater than its size might suggest.