Know when the forest wakes up

The best places to find mushrooms this week

We work out where and when the mushrooms you are waiting for will come out, zone by zone and day by day. So you get there when they appear, not a week late.

Open the map

No sign-up. No exact spots. Your secret places stay yours.

Three saffron milk caps on pine needles; one turned over shows its orange gills and a drop of orange milk The forest, today Stirring the most: Saffron milk caps

Forecast from 26 October to 8 November.

Saffron milk cap best day: 26 October
8516 asleep · 982 low · 334 medium · 94 high · 5 very high
Porcini best day: 26 October
6294 asleep · 511 low · 122 medium · 15 high
Chanterelle best day: 26 October
9334 asleep · 558 low · 127 medium · 16 high
Black trumpet best day: 26 October
8233 asleep · 291 low · 54 medium · 1 high
See today's map The six with the best week.

Weekend report

Where to go this weekend, province by province, and the rain on its way. Read the report →

What the forest needs

A flush of mushrooms takes weeks to prepare

1

Rain that wakes it up

Not just any rain: the kind that soaks in. It is the signal that sets the mycelium going, and micomapa remembers it for you: which day it fell and how much.

2

Soil that holds the moisture

What separates a useless shower from a real flush is ground that is still damp two weeks later. We follow it day by day, below the surface.

3

An autumn temperature

Neither the summer heat nor the December frost. Every species has its sweet spot, and the moment the forest reaches it is what the map marks.

When all three come together in the right forest at the right time of year, the map lights up. How we know.

Species

The mushrooms everyone waits for

From the ones that fill the basket to the ones only a trained eye finds. Each with its calendar, its woods and its character; all with their own forecast on the map.

Three saffron milk caps on pine needles; one turned over shows its orange gills and a drop of orange milk

Saffron milk cap

Lactarius deliciosus / Lactarius sanguifluus

The king of the pine woods. Orange, stubborn and generous when its moment comes.

red pine mushroom
A porcini with a brown cap and a thick, pale stem next to another turned over to show its pores, among pine needles and flowering heather

Porcini

Boletus edulis / Boletus pinophilus

The most sought after. Discreet, demanding and fleeting: you have to be there in its week.

cep · king bolete · penny bun
A group of egg-yolk yellow chanterelles on moss, with wavy edges and folds running down the stem

Chanterelle

Cantharellus cibarius

Yellow, fragrant and loyal: once it finds its corner, it comes back every year.

girolle · golden chanterelle
Black trumpets among fallen beech and oak leaves

Black trumpet

Craterellus cornucopioides

Black, invisible in the leaf litter and delicious. Those who can see it would not swap it for anything.

horn of plenty · trumpet of the dead

There are 14 in all. Each has its own season and its own woods, and the map shows zone by zone when the one you are after is due. Choose a species on the map.

The woods give more than mushrooms: sweet chestnuts · wild asparagus spears, each with its own map and its own week.

Where does such a passion come from? The story of mushroom hunting in Spain, region by region, with its cooking and the poisonous mushrooms worth knowing. And if it is your first time, how to start mushroom foraging, step by step.

Coverage

Where the map reaches

48 provinces and 20,467 zones of about five kilometres, from the Pyrenees to Sierra Nevada and from the Galician rías to the Mediterranean. Autumns that look nothing alike: if the map gets them all right, it gets it right anywhere.

Where the forest is stirring most these days: Cáceres, Asturias and Lugo. The rest, in the province-by-province forecast.

A deal with the forest

  • We never point to a spot. We talk about areas, and what you find in them is your business.
  • We do not replace your eye or an expert's: the safety of what you take home is yours.
  • We anticipate conditions, not full baskets. The forest always has the last word.

Frequently asked questions

What people usually ask

No, and that is the deal. micomapa tells you when and in which areas the forest is ready. Your secret places stay yours, and nobody else's.

Because a flush of mushrooms is no whim: it takes weeks to prepare underground. We read the rain that fell, the moisture the soil has kept and the temperature the mycelium is at, and from that we anticipate the window.

From September to January depending on the area, at their best in October and November. They need a generous rain, soil that holds it and a couple of weeks of patience. The map shows where that is happening.

A little earlier than saffron milk caps and in cooler, higher pine woods: September, October and early November. They are more sensitive to cold, so their window closes sooner.

From November to March, under holm oaks and Portuguese oaks on limestone soil, and it is only found with a dog. Its year is decided by the summer storms and sealed by a wet autumn without hard frosts.

Because the forest is not ready yet: usually the rain is missing, or the soil has dried out, or it is still too warm underground. Tap any zone and you will see what it lacks.

Right now A Coruña, Álava, Albacete, Alicante, Almería, Asturias, Ávila, Badajoz, Barcelona, Burgos, Cáceres, Cádiz, Cantabria, Castellón, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Cuenca, Girona, Granada, Guadalajara, Guipúzcoa, Huelva, Huesca, Illes Balears, Jaén, La Rioja, León, Lleida, Lugo, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Navarra, Ourense, Palencia, Pontevedra, Salamanca, Segovia, Sevilla, Soria, Tarragona, Teruel, Toledo, Valencia, Valladolid, Vizcaya, Zamora and Zaragoza: 20,467 zones of about five kilometres. We are adding province after province, and the rest of Spain comes next.

Also from us: Apruebacaza.com, to prepare for the Spanish hunting licence exam.