Enciso, in the Cidacos Valley in La Rioja, is best known for its dinosaur footprints, but there is more to discover here than prehistoric remains. The village has a medieval castle, historic churches and bridges, walking routes through the surrounding hills and a large dam on the Cidacos River just upstream from the settlement. These different attractions tell the story of a place shaped by geology, water, agriculture and several centuries of economic change.
The main reason to visit Enciso is its extraordinary collection of fossilised dinosaur footprints, known in Spanish as icnitas. More than 3,000 footprints have been identified in the wider area. They date from the Early Cretaceous, approximately 120 million years ago, when this part of La Rioja looked very different from today. Instead of the dry hills and river valley visible now, the landscape included muddy environments around bodies of water where dinosaurs moved, fed and crossed one another’s paths.
These fossils are not dinosaur bones. They are traces left by animals as they walked across soft sediment. When a dinosaur stepped on wet mud, its foot left an impression. Later layers of sediment covered the tracks, preserving their shape as the deposits gradually hardened into rock. Subsequent geological changes and erosion eventually exposed the surfaces we can see today. The footprints allow palaeontologists to study how dinosaurs moved, the size of their feet, the direction in which they travelled and, in some cases, how different animals crossed the same area. They also show why trackways are scientifically important: even when the animal’s skeleton has never been found, its movements can still be recorded in stone.
The three main sites on Enciso’s Dinosaur Trail are Valdecevillo, Virgen del Campo and La Senoba. Each has its own features, and together they offer a more complete picture than a single fossil site.
Valdecevillo is particularly significant because it contains the first dinosaur footprints to be described scientifically in Spain. The site has 168 recorded footprints and six life-size dinosaur replicas. The tracks include those attributed to theropods, generally carnivorous dinosaurs, ornithopods, herbivorous dinosaurs that commonly walked on two legs, and sauropods, the large herbivores that walked on four legs. One of the most interesting features is the range of trackways at different levels of the exposed rock. There are tracks attributed to a carnivore, impressions from several ornithopods and the marks of a larger four-legged dinosaur, possibly a brachiosaur-like sauropod. Some of the trackways cross one another, but this does not necessarily mean that the animals encountered each other at the same time: their footprints could have been made at different moments.
Virgen del Campo contains more than 500 footprints and a particularly varied geological record. Alongside dinosaur tracks, the rock preserves evidence of the environment in which the animals lived, including fossilised bivalves, traces of mud flows, marks left by water currents and cracks associated with the drying of sediment. The site also contains distinctive traces interpreted as the marks of swimming dinosaurs and crocodile relatives. Among the best-known features are two crossing trackways attributed to a carnivore and a herbivore. Their arrangement has led to the suggestion that the animals may have been involved in a confrontation, although the footprints cannot prove exactly what happened. The site also has dinosaur and crocodile replicas and a self-guided interpretation system with a mobile application, allowing visitors to explore the evidence without necessarily joining a group tour.
La Senoba, situated approximately 2.2 kilometres uphill from Virgen del Campo, contains around 130 footprints. Ten trackways are attributed to theropods and two to ornithopods. Many of the footprints form roughly parallel paths, which may indicate that several animals moved through the same area or followed a similar route through the landscape. The site is also worth visiting for its surroundings, with views towards the beech forest of Poyales and the holm oak woodland near Garranzo. There is a recreational area with picnic tables, making it a possible place to take a break during a day exploring the different tracksites.
Other dinosaur footprints are scattered around the wider municipality, including sites associated with El Villar-Poyales and Navalsaz. Some preserve small and unusually shaped tracks, while others contain long sequences of footprints that allow researchers to reconstruct the animals’ direction of travel and approximate speed. These are not merely decorative impressions in the rock: they are evidence used to investigate dinosaur behaviour and the ancient environments of the Cameros Basin.
Visitors who would like more explanation before exploring the outdoor sites can go to the Centro Paleontológico de Enciso, at Calle El Portillo 3. The centre is dedicated to fossils, footprints and the interpretation of the local palaeontological heritage. Its published usual opening hours are Wednesday to Sunday, from 11:00 to 15:00, with Monday and Tuesday closed. Special holiday arrangements may differ, so it is advisable to check before travelling. Guided visits to the museum and selected tracksites can also be arranged in advance.
Another attraction connected with the dinosaurs is El Barranco Perdido, a seasonal palaeo-adventure park outside Enciso. It combines educational activities about the Cretaceous with outdoor entertainment. Depending on the season, attractions have included a Cretaceous-themed swimming area, geysers, adventure circuits, climbing facilities, zip lines and activities aimed at younger children. The park also has a Cretaceous Museum and a palaeontological circuit that introduces visitors to the methods used to interpret fossils and footprints. Guided visits combining the museum with the Valdecevillo site are organised on selected dates and require advance booking. This is important because the park does not operate on the same schedule throughout the year, and some attractions are seasonal. The official park website publishes opening dates, ticket prices and booking information. Parking at the park is advertised as free.
Beyond its prehistoric heritage, Enciso has a long human history. Archaeological discoveries beneath the present village indicate settlement during the Celtiberian period. The area was also occupied during the Muslim period, and the remains of the castle on the hill above the village are associated with its medieval defensive history. The earliest solid documentary reference to the town dates to 1109, when Enciso and its fortification were governed by Fortún Íñiguez. During the following centuries, the settlement became an important fortified place in a region affected by the political struggles between the kingdoms of Navarre and Castile.
The Castle of Enciso occupies a strategic position above the Cidacos Valley. Its origins are usually dated to the tenth century, and it is thought to have had a Muslim foundation. From the hill, defenders could watch the valley and the routes crossing the area. Only ruins and fragments of the original walls and towers remain, but a circular walking route around the site offers views over the village and surrounding countryside. The castle helps explain why the settlement developed around a fortified hill rather than spreading freely across the valley floor.
The village’s religious buildings also reflect its development over several centuries. The Church of Santa María de la Estrella stands in the upper part of Enciso. It has Gothic origins and was developed in different phases between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Its stone construction, Latin-cross plan, tall bell tower and Baroque main altarpiece make it one of the principal landmarks in the village. In the lower part of the settlement, the Church of San Pedro dates mainly from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, although its older tower, dating from around the twelfth or thirteenth century, may originally have had a defensive function. The adjoining Hermitage of Saints Emeterius and Celedonius has Romanesque origins.
The historic bridges are another part of Enciso’s heritage. The Bridge of Santa Bárbara crosses the Cidacos and has long connected different parts of the village. The Bridge of La Concepción, on the road towards Arnedo, is thought to date from the sixteenth century, with later alterations in the eighteenth century. Both reflect the importance of crossing the river safely in a settlement where the valley and its watercourse have always influenced movement and development.
Enciso also has a less obvious industrial history. During the sixteenth century, transhumant livestock farming and the wool trade became important sources of local wealth. In 1530, the town adopted an ordinance regulating cloth production and the textile trade, regarded as an early example of formal textile-industry organisation in La Rioja. Wool processing continued for generations, and by 1847 the Cidacos was powering two mechanised factories. The industry eventually declined as manufacturing shifted towards better-connected towns such as Arnedo, Calahorra and Logroño. The arrival of the small railway known locally as the trenillo in 1920 contributed to this change, as transport links made it easier for factories and economic activity to move elsewhere. The decline of industry and the lack of convenient communications contributed to the population loss experienced by Enciso and some of its outlying villages.
The Cidacos River remains central to the landscape, and today one of the most prominent modern structures nearby is the Enciso Dam. The dam stands approximately 700 metres upstream from the village. Construction had a long and complicated history, but the works were completed by the end of 2018, and the reservoir began its controlled filling process in January 2019. The project represented a major investment in water infrastructure, with an official construction cost of approximately €98.2 million.
The dam is around 103 metres high and has a useful reservoir capacity of approximately 46.5 million cubic metres. Its main purpose is to regulate the flow of the Cidacos and improve the reliability of water supplies for the surrounding area. The Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition reported that the infrastructure was intended to benefit around 63,000 people through improved urban and industrial water supply. The project also supports irrigation across approximately 5,500 hectares of agricultural land in municipalities including Arnedillo, Santa Eulalia, Herce, Arnedo, Quel, Autol and Calahorra.
The dam is therefore much more than a structure built to hold back water. It forms part of the wider water-management system of the Cidacos basin, where water availability is important for towns, industry and agriculture. The reservoir changes the appearance of the valley, and the road infrastructure had to be modified because the new body of water affected part of the former LR-115 route. A replacement road was built as part of the works. The reservoir’s water level varies with rainfall, river inflow and water-management decisions, so the amount of water visible from public roads can change significantly over time.
For visitors, the dam offers a contrast with the much older landscape revealed by the dinosaur footprints. The tracksites preserve evidence of a world more than one hundred million years old; the reservoir represents a modern attempt to manage the same river for contemporary needs. However, it is important to remember that the dam is a working piece of infrastructure, not a museum. Visitors should follow local signs and use public roads or permitted viewpoints rather than assume that the dam crest or technical areas are open to the public.
Enciso brings together several very different reasons to stop: authentic dinosaur footprints, a seasonal family attraction, a medieval settlement and a major water-management project. A visit can focus on the outdoor fossil sites, include the palaeontological centre or El Barranco Perdido, and continue into the village to see the castle, churches and bridges. The dam adds a further dimension to the visit by showing how the Cidacos Valley continues to change, from its prehistoric ecosystems to its medieval communities and the infrastructure that supports the region today.