Alcobendas () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

located in the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munici ...

. It forms an urban continuum with the neighbouring municipality of

San Sebastián de los Reyes San Sebastián de los Reyes (colloquially called "Sanse") is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1492, it is located north of Madrid. Geography It forms an urban continuum with the neighboring Alcobendas, Transport ...

. The affluent residential area of

La Moraleja La Moraleja is an affluent residential district of Alcobendas municipality in northern Community of Madrid, Spain, in the Madrid metropolitan area; located next to El Soto and El Encinar de los Reyes. The Spanish version of Greenwich, it is home t ...

lies within the municipal limits, segregated from the main urban nucleus by the

A-1 A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to: Education * A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages * Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects * A1, a ...

highway. The municipality features the Valdelatas

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

and a light

industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

. It also houses a basketball museum organised by the

Pedro Ferrándiz Pedro Ferrándiz González (20 November 1928 – 7 July 2022) was a Spanish basketball coach. He is most famous for coaching Real Madrid basketball club in the 1960s and 1970s. The International Olympic Committee awarded him the Olympic Order in ...

Foundation where the

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA, in 1991. It includes the " Samar ...

is located. Once a working class area, Alcobendas has become one of the most economically affluent municipalities in the

Madrid metropolitan area The Madrid metropolitan area is a monocentric metropolitan area in the centre of the Iberian peninsula, around the municipality of Madrid, Spain. It is not related to any sort of administrative delimitation, and thus, its limits are ambiguous. ...

History

The settlement is first documented in a 1208 border delimitation between the lands of

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. In 1369, the Castilian Crown gifted the village to the Mendozas, later passing to control of the Arias Dávila family. The population boomed after 1960.

Transport

Alcobendas lies within CRTM's B1 fare zone for passenger transport. Both Alcobendas and its neighbour city,

are connected with Madrid with buses operated by the 'Interbús' bus company. There are currently eight

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

lines that go to and from different districts of Alcobendas to Plaza de Castilla (the hub for public transport to northern Madrid). Alcobendas also has eight bus lines that connect the different zones of Alcobendas between themselves.

Metro (Underground)

Alcobendas presently has four Metro stations (''La Granja'', ''La Moraleja'', ''Marqués de la Valdavia'' and ''Manuel de Falla'') which are all on ''line 10'' of the

Madrid Metro The Madrid Metro (Spanish: ''Metro de Madrid'') is a rapid transit system serving the city of Madrid, capital of Spain. The system is the 14th longest rapid transit system in the world, with a total length of 293 km (182 mi). Its gro ...

network. These stations were recently opened by

Esperanza Aguirre Esperanza Aguirre y Gil de Biedma (; born 3 January 1952) is a Spanish politician. As member of the People's Party (PP), she served as President of the Senate between 1999 and 2002 (becoming the first female politician to have held the post), a ...

, former President of the Autonomous Community of Madrid.

Buses

Buses going to and from Plaza de Castilla are: *151 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (FF.CC) *153 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (Rosa Luxemburgo) *153B a.k.a. B53 Madrid (Pinar de Chamartín) - Alcobendas (Rosa Luxemburgo) *155 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (El Soto de la Moraleja) *155B a.k.a. B55 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (El Encinar de los Reyes) *157 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (Pº de la Chopera) *157C a.k.a. C57 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (Valdelasfuentes) *159 Madrid (Pza. Castilla) - Alcobendas (Arroyo de la Vega) Buses connecting different parts of Alcobendas are: *L-1 Arroyo de la Vega - El Soto de la Moraleja - La Moraleja *L-2 Alcobendas - La Moraleja ia Pº Alcobendas*L-3 Arroyo de la Vega - El Soto de la Moraleja - El Encinar de los Reyes *L-5 San Sebastián de los Reyes - Alcobendas - El Soto de la Moraleja *L-6 Valdelasfuentes (FF.CC) - Polígono Industrial *L-9 Alcobendas (FF.CC) - Arroyo de la Vega Two further circular lines are: *C10 Valdelasfuentes - Arroyo de la Vega - Valdelasfuentes *C11 Arroyo de la Vega - Valdelasfuentes - Arroyo de la Vega

Cercanías Train

Alcobendas also has two suburban railway stations (one shared with

): *Valdelasfuentes and *Alcobendas-San Sebastián de los Reyes. Both form part of the C-4a Cercanías line and can get to Sol and Atocha in half an hour.

Private transport

Alcobendas is also easily reached by car, but there are also a number of motorways going through and around Alcobendas. Airport access is perfect with the recently built motorway, the M-12, which connects the

Canillejas Canillejas is an administrative neighborhood (''barrio'') of Madrid, belonging to the San Blas-Canillejas district. It is named after the former namesake municipality, absorbed by Madrid in 1949. It has an area of . As of 1 March 2020, it has a p ...

district of

with

Barajas International Airport Barajas may refer to: *Barajas (Madrid), the district of Madrid in which the airport lies ** Barajas (Madrid Metro), station along Line 8 of the Madrid Metro **Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, principal airport of Madrid, Spain *Barajas (a ...

. List of motorways and main roads that go through Alcobendas: *A-1-''Autovía del Norte'' *R-2-''Radial 2 (Madrid-Guadalajara)'' *M-50-''Autopista M-50'' *M-12-''Autopista Eje-Aeropuerto'' *M-603-''Carretera de Fuencarral a Alcobendas'' *M-616-''Carretera de El Pardo a Alcobendas'' The difficulty of parking in Alcobendas varies depending on which district you are parking in. In the ''Casco'' district it is challenging to find a parking space. In the newer areas, however, due to the ample parking facilities, parking is not an issue.

Economy

Air Madrid Air Madrid Líneas Aéreas S.A. was an airline headquartered in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, Spain, operating services to Spain, Tenerife, Mexico, South America, Central America, Europe and Israel. It suspended its operations ...

used to have its head office in Alcobendas until the company folded in 2006.

Education

Colegio Suizo de Madrid Colegio Suizo de Madrid (CSM; german: Schweizer Schule Madrid) is a Swiss international school in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain. It serves students in levels pre-Kindergarten until Bachillerato/Gymnasium (senior high school). It was firs ...

* Brains International School * International College Spain * Kings College (Alcobendas campus) *

Protestant Faculty of Theology at Madrid (UEBE) The Faculty of Theology of the Evangelical Baptist Union of Spain ( es, Facultad de Teología de la Unión Evangélica Bautista de España), also known as the Theological Seminary of UEBE ( es, Seminario Teológico UEBE), is an accredited theolo ...

* Saint-Exupéry campus of the

Lycée Français de Madrid Lycée Français de Madrid (LFM, es, Liceo Francés de Madrid) is a French international school in Madrid, Spain. It serves levels ''maternelle'' (preschool) until ''lycée'' (senior high school). It is directly operated by the Agency for French E ...

* Scandinavian School in Madrid *

Runnymede College Runnymede College is a co-educational independent school located in La Moraleja, Madrid, Spain. It was founded in 1967 by Arthur Powell CBE as the first British school in Spain. It is a private non-denominational school offering a British educat ...

Sport

In 2010, Alcobendas was to be the host city of the 2010 CIRH Women's World Cup, the most important competition in Women's Roller Hockey.

Notable people

Penélope Cruz Penélope Cruz Sánchez (; ; born 28 April 1974) is a Spanish actress. Known for her roles in films of several genres, particularly those in the Spanish language, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British A ...

, actress. During the 2009 Academy Awards ceremony, after being awarded Best Supporting Actress, she openly acknowledged the municipality in her acceptance speech. *

Marcos Pérez Jiménez Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez (25 April 1914 – 20 September 2001) was a Venezuelan military and general officer of the Army of Venezuela and the dictator of Venezuela from 1950 to 1958, ruling as member of the military junta from 195 ...

, former Venezuelan dictator. Residence after being exiled from Venezuela where he lived until his death in 2001. * American singer

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

died of a heart attack while on a golf course in Alcobendas in October 1977. * Alfonso Calderon, activist, survivor of the

Stoneman Douglas High School shooting On February 14, 2018, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Miami suburban town of Parkland, Florida, murdering 17 people and injuring 17 others. Cruz, a former student at t ...

Climate

The

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

subtype for this climate is "

Csa CSA may refer to: Arts and media * Canadian Screen Awards, annual awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television * Commission on Superhuman Activities, a fictional American government agency in Marvel Comics * Crime Syndicate of Amer ...

" (Mediterranean Climate).Climate Summary for Alcobendas
/ref>

References

External links

Alcobendas
{{Authority control Municipalities in the Community of Madrid