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.

The forest, today Stirring the most: Chanterelles

Forecast from 11 September to 25 September.

Chanterelle best day: 11 September
3481 asleep · 69 low · 16 medium · 1 high
Caesar's mushroom best day: 11 September
3078 asleep · 13 low
Bronze bolete best day: 11 September
3159 asleep · 13 low
Porcini best day: 14 September
3159 asleep
Saffron milk cap best day: 15 September
4158 asleep
Black trumpet best day: 19 September
2849 asleep
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 (in Spanish). 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.

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.

Black truffle

Tuber melanosporum

The black diamond. It grows hidden under holm oaks and Portuguese oaks on limestone soil, and only the dog knows where.

Périgord truffle

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

Bronze bolete

Boletus aereus

The bolete of the holm oak woods: dark, stout and firm-fleshed. The most prized of its family.

dark cep · queen bolete

Caesar's mushroom

Amanita caesarea

The queen. Orange as a golden egg, scarce and ever more sought after.

Caesar's amanita

Chanterelle

Cantharellus cibarius

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

girolle · golden chanterelle

Charbonnier

Tricholoma portentosum

The mushroom of the cold. When nothing is left in the pine wood, it keeps coming up.

sooty head

Gurumelo

Amanita ponderosa

The mushroom of the south-western spring. It breaks out of the ground like a white stone and smells of wet earth.

King oyster mushroom

Pleurotus eryngii

The mushroom of the central plateau: fields, wasteland and thistles. Humble in name and noble on the table.

king trumpet

March mushroom

Hygrophorus marzuolus

The one that comes up under the retreating snow. Cold, hidden and among the most sought after of the year.

Morel

Morchella esculenta / M. elata

A honeycomb on a stem. It comes up where nobody expects it and is gone in two weeks.

yellow morel · common morel

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

Saffron milk cap

Lactarius deliciosus / Lactarius sanguifluus

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

red pine mushroom

St George's mushroom

Calocybe gambosa

The spring mushroom par excellence. A smell of flour you notice from metres away and a price that says it all.

Yellowfoot

Craterellus lutescens

Small, golden and by the handful in damp pine woods once the cold has arrived.

Coverage

Where the map reaches

13 provinces and 5,825 zones of about five kilometres, from the central plateau to the Mediterranean and from the Pyrenees to truffle country. Autumns that look nothing alike: if the map gets them all right, it gets it right anywhere. The rest of Spain comes next.

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 Barcelona, Burgos, Girona, Huesca, La Rioja, León, Lleida, Lugo, Navarra, Ourense, Segovia, Soria and Teruel: 5,825 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.