Ruta de la Plata

The Cooperation Network

The Cooperation Network of the Towns on the Ruta de la Plata is a voluntary Association made up of towns and cities situated on the so-called "Silver Trail", identified in this respect with the N-630 Gijón-Seville National Road, founded to act jointly to defend and promote their touristic, historical, cultural and economic resources.

The Association is an entity with a full, public, legal personality and is open to the incorporation of new members.

The Network of Cooperating Towns on the Ruta de la Plata got underway in April 1997 when the Mayors of Gijón, León, Zamora, Salamanca, Cáceres and Seville signed its governing statutes. The municipalities of Mieres, Aller and Lena (Principality of Asturias), Benavente and Béjar (Castilla y León), Plasencia and Zafra (Extremadura) and Carmona and Santiponce (Andalucía) were incorporated during 1998. Casar de Cáceres (Extremadura) was incorporated in 1999. Ribera de Arriba and Morcín (Asturias) joined the association in 2004 and Baños de Montemayor (Extremadura) in 2005. Riosa (Asturias) and Fuente de Cantos (Extremadura) were incorporated in 2006.The latest incorporations were: La Pola de Gordón (Castilla y León), Fuente de Cantos, Calzadilla de los Barros, Monesterio, Carcaboso and Mérida (Extremadura) in 2007, La Bañeza (Castilla y León) in 2009 and Hervás (Extremadura) in 2010.

With these incorporations, the Network became integrated by the following towns and villages, grouped according to their autonomous communities:

Principado de Asturias	Castilla y León	Extremadura	Andalucía
Gijón	La Pola de Gordón	Baños de Montemayor	Sevilla
Ribera de Arriba	León	Hervás	Santiponce
Morcín	La Bañeza	Carcaboso	Carmona
Riosa	Benavente	Plasencia
Mieres	Zamora	Casar de Cáceres
Aller	Salamanca	Cáceres
Lena	Béjar	Mérida
		Zafra
		Calzadilla de los Barros
		Fuente de Cantos
		Monesterio

The Ruta traverses 4 regions and 7 provinces on a North-South axis of about 800 km and more than 120,000 sq. kms. and has strong links with neighbouring Portugal.

Since its beginnings, the Network has carried out important actions related to training, promotion and marketing in the field of tourism, all of which have raised local awareness about the potential of this area. It has also been decisive in popularising the incomparable though not yet sufficiently well known touristic resources along this route among both the Spanish and European public.

The Ruta de la Plata is based along an old communication axis of the West of Spain. Nowadays, it constitutes a rich and varied itinerary possessing several World Heritage Sites and represents a top-level cultural and touristic potential in both the Iberian Peninsula as well as the European Union.