Rutas del Toro
La Comunidad de Madrid has recently produced fresh publicity for its website Madrid Rutas del Toro | Comunidad de Madrid, giving details of 14 ganaderías in Madrid Province with whom visits can be arranged.
Amongst the ganaderías involved are Aurelio Hernández (Casta Veragua), Quintas (which has three herds, one pure Vicente Martínez, another a mix of Martínez and Santa Coloma, and the third of Marqués de Domecq heritage), El Retamar (Casta Núñez), Fernando Gúzman Gúzman (Casta Santa Coloma) and Heredera de Juan Julián Sanz Colmenarejo (whose herd is a mix of Contreras and Domecq bloodlines). Each ganadería page sets out what attractions its finca can offer, e.g. ranch tours, classes in toreo, tertulias taurinas, attendance at capeas, encierros, tentaderos, recortador exhibitions or other events. Payment arrangements for visits and the other offerings will vary from ganadería to ganadería.
The website also contains contact details, maps and directions on how to get to each ganadería. One, Aurelio Hernández, can even be reached by public transport by taking a bus from Madrid’s Plaza de Castilla!
This is not the only Ruta del Toro in Spain, Cádiz Province also having had one for some time, the route running from Jerez de la Frontera to Tarifa and incorporating such ganaderías as Martelilla, Torrestrella and Cebada Gago. Salamanca Province has a Ruta del Toro Bravo that runs through the Campo Charro, Ciudad Rodrigo, the Campo de Ledesma and the surroundings of Salamanca itself. The website Toro bravo y la dehesa | Salamanca Emoción (salamancaemocion.es) provides further details with linked information on the ranches involved and the activities they offer. Extremadura has a Ruta de la Dehesa y el Toro based on the provinces of Badajoz and Cáceres, although the Turismo Extremadura website provides few details. France does not appear to have a Route de Toro as such, but contact details for over 40 French ganaderías can be found at Les éleveurs (toros-de-france.fr).
For a comprehensive list of which ganaderías offer visiting opportunities, possibly the best web page to visit is the Real Unión de Criadores de Toros de Lidia’s ‘Tourism’ web page Tourism | UCTL (torosbravos.es), where you can investigate offerings on an individual province basis. Amongst those willing to host visits are Barcial, Antonio Bañuelos, Daniel Ruiz, Araúz de Robles, Victorino Martín, El Pilar, Garcigrande, Montalvo, the Portuguese ganadería of Murteira Grave, Puerto de San Lorenzo, Reta de Casta Navarra, Saltillo and Samuel Flores. Again, each individual ganadería page reached from the ‘Tourism’ page gives contact details and shows whether visits and other services (e.g. food and lodging, tentaderos, etc.) are offered.
The RUCTL list is unfortunately not a comprehensive one; for instance, the RUCTL ganaderia of Dolores Aguirre (where the photos accompanying this article were taken) is not shown as offering visits when, in fact, it does. So, if you are interested in visiting a particular ganadería that isn’t shown on the RUCTL or any Ruta del Toro list, it is always worth checking to see if the ganadería has its own website indicating that visits are a possibility. This may require some ingenuity: unhelpfully, for instance, the Dolores Aguirre website is based on the ranch name rather than the ganadería - Ganadería • Finca Dehesa Frías (fincadehesafrias.com).
In recent years, a growing number of ganaderías of toros bravos have diversified their activities in order to attract income, with the result that several have opened their gates to visits by aficionados and the general public. Please note, though, that visits should be arranged in advance - ranches are essentially workplaces and drop-in visitors cannot be easily accommodated.