The Barranca valley is a place of exceptional beauty, a paradise for hiking and active tourism, and has the most extensive protection status in the Sierra de Guadarrama: Biosphere Reserve, Regional Park, National Park, Natura 2000 Network.

It was originally part, like the municipality of Navacerrada, of the great royal hunting territory known as Real de Manzanares.

Throughout its history and up to the present day, it has been used for a wide variety of purposes, both forestry and livestock, including the unique snow-making industry, which accumulated and treated snow, essential for the preservation and transport of food in the big city during the summer seasons.

Water is the other great protagonist of the Barranca valley, together with its landscape of pine trees and some riverside forests, which are home to a great biodiversity of animals.

Health has also played a major role in the history of the Barranca valley since the opening of the anti-tuberculosis hospital at the beginning of the 20th century, when the great virtues of its air for the treatment of respiratory diseases became known.