Soria: permit and rules for mushroom picking

Heading to Soria for mushrooms and not sure whether you need a permit? The honest answer is that it depends not on the province but on the particular forest you have driven into. In Castilla y León a single regional decree sets the general framework, and on top of it each regulated zone has its own conditions and its own prices. Below: how to tell the land regimes apart, where to get a permit online, what is not allowed even with one, and what to put in the car along with your passport.

Do you need a permit? It depends on the land regime

Decreto 31/2017 divides mushroom picking on the region's forest land into three kinds: regulated, reserved and occasional. Regulated means an acotado (a designated area) or a parque micológico (mushroom park): picking here is always regulated, and the occasional and reserved regimes are excluded, except for the collection of species that the regulation does not cover. Anyone picking in an acotado must carry ID and, as the case may be, a permit or an expropriation document in their own name. ⁷

The reserved regime applies to a plot closed off by its owner: you cannot pick there without the owner's permission. Everything else is occasional picking, which does not require a permit. But its limits are strict: it must be non-commercial and only now and then, solely for recreation or your own consumption; you may not sell what you pick; truffles are excluded entirely; and the maximum is 3 kg of wild mushrooms per person per day. ⁷

Those 3 kg are the limit for occasional picking only. In an acotado or a mushroom park it does not apply: there you are bound by what is written in the terms of your permit.

A sign tells you it is a regulated zone

The easiest way to tell where you are is the sign by the road. The decree spells out the wording word for word, and it is worth recognising at a glance: black on a white background, “Acotado de setas. Prohibido recolectar sin permiso de recolección” — a designated area where picking without a permit is forbidden. In a mushroom park the wording is the same with the first line replaced: “Parque micológico. Prohibido recolectar sin permiso de recolección”. Signs for reserved plots may follow the same general rules, and the main ones read “Aprovechamiento de setas reservado. Prohibido recolectar sin autorización del propietario” — in other words, you need the owner's permission. ⁸

In Micocyl zones everyone needs a permit

If a zone operates within the Micocyl system, every person gets a permit. Children under 14 are exempt from this obligation, but they may pick only when accompanied by an adult who holds a permit. The permit is personal and non-transferable, and you must show it on request to authorised wardens or the competent authority, together with a document proving your identity (a DNI or equivalent; for you, that means your passport). ¹

Where to get a permit for Soria: online, on the portal

You do not need to travel in advance to get a permit: there is the Micología CyL portal, where remote issuing is open for a listed set of zones. For Soria it lists “Montes de Soria” (PMSO-50001 and SO-50002) and SO-50003 — Montes de la Comunidad de Castilla y León en Soria. If the zone you want is not on the list, check its page for how to obtain a permit. The portal also stresses that the provisions and prohibitions of Decreto 31/2017 are binding regardless of any administrative subtleties about the regimes. ⁴

For “Montes de Soria”, the rates on the zone's page as of 29.09.2026 were as follows:

The last row is the one of interest to visitors. Recolector General is anyone picking for recreation or for their own use, up to 5 kg inside the designated area or mushroom park “Montes de Soria”, for two consecutive days. Recolector Local is someone who has been registered as resident for at least a year in a settlement within the zone; they may pick for the whole season, up to 31 December of the current year. The prices and the maximum limit on a commercial permit are set by the zone's governing bodies, and the picker is obliged to follow them ⁵ — so read the table as a snapshot on the date of checking, not as a price list for the whole year.

For SO-50003, the portal states for the same date that there are currently no rates at all; the only type listed is “Permiso Dos Días” — the right to pick for two days in a row. ⁶

What is forbidden even with a permit

The general Micocyl conditions apply on top of any permit you buy. Mushrooms must be picked and carried in baskets or containers that let them breathe; plastic bags are forbidden because they stop the mushrooms breathing and keep the spores from falling out. Picking is forbidden at night, from sunset to sunrise. You must not pick closed “eggs” of the Caesar's mushroom (Amanita caesarea), that is, while the fruiting body is still hidden inside the veil; parasol mushrooms (Macrolepiota spp.) may be taken only with the cap fully open. And for safety reasons, picking is forbidden on days and in areas where a duly authorised group hunt is taking place or being prepared. ²

You can check for hunts in advance: information on authorised group hunts in a designated zone is on the Mi Coto de Caza portal, via the Plataforma Pública de Cacerías Colectivas. A permit is tied to its own picking zone, although certain types of permit may allow picking in other regulated zones as well — in which case you are bound by the conditions of each of them. And all the mushrooms you have with you are presumed to have been picked in the regulated zone where you are. ³

Cut only with a short-bladed knife

The decree expressly forbids using, or even carrying, sickles, rakes, hoes, mattocks and any similar tool. You may cut only with a knife, a folding knife or scissors, in every case with a blade shorter than 11 cm. The decree itself was published in the BOCYL on 9 October 2017 and came into force twenty days after publication, and the provisions of Chapter III and Article 32 have applied since 1 January 2018. ⁹

What the MicoRadar forecast does and does not tell you

Our forecast is a model's calculation based on conditions, not a report that anything has been found in the forest. It gives you no right to pick and does not override either the conditions of the zone or the prohibitions of the decree. What it is good for is choosing when to go at all: see the map and the weekend forecast, and you can open an area separately — Castilla y León on the map and Soria.

The map has a layer of regulated zones with the cotos of Castilla y León. It is compiled from the register and may lag behind reality, so it does not settle disputes: the sign on the spot and the zone's own website do.

And a word about the mushrooms themselves. We do not say that any mushroom is edible and we give no identification features — not by appearance, not from a photo, not through an app; for what is considered poisonous in Spain, see the separate section. If you feel unwell after eating wild mushrooms, call 112.

Before you set off

• Find out which regime applies to the plot you are heading to: regulated, reserved or the rest.
• If the zone is regulated, get a personal permit on the Micología CyL portal — one for each person aged 14 or over.
• Read your zone's specific conditions before buying the permit.
• Check for group hunts through the Plataforma Pública de Cacerías Colectivas for your dates.
• Pack a basket, a knife with a blade shorter than 11 cm, and your passport, which you will show together with the permit.
• Look at the model's calculation for your dates, and remember that the sign on the spot outranks the map.

Text checked against sources on 29.09.2026.