Laguna de los Peces, an absolute must for road lovers

Laguna de los Peces (Lake of Fishes) is a high mountain lake at an elevation of 1.725m (5,659ft) above the sea level, located on the north-eastern part of the province of Zamora, in northern Spain.

Laguna de los Peces

Nestled in Montes de Leon mountain range, the road to the lake is totally paved but quite a bumpy ride. It’s called ZA-103. The summit hosts a big parking lot, so the road becomes busier on weekends in good weather. The lake with glacier origin is virtually inaccessible in the winter due to large amounts of snow. The road to the lake offers some viewpoints with spectacular views of the lake and the area.

The climb is pretty steep, hitting a 9% through some of the ramps. Starting from Vigo de Sanabria, the ascent is 16.8 km long. Over this distance, the elevation gain is 699 meters. The average percentage is 4.2 %. The paved road ends at the small parking at 1.725m (5,659ft) above the sea level, but a gravel road follows to the lake, at 1.696m (5,564ft) asl. The final gravel part is closed to private vehicles.