Por Redaccion The Department of Family and Equal Opportunities is once again facing a growing demand by increasing the number of places and activities, and by implementing thematic camps, a modality that has received nearly 3,700 applications.
April 19, 2025
Castilla y León |
Department of Family and Equal Opportunities
The camps organized by the Government are the most sought-after option every summer in Castilla y León. So much so that tens of thousands of families apply for their underage children to enjoy the diverse range of activities offered by the Department of Family and Equal Opportunities, with the aim of providing Castilian and Leonese children and young people with a leisure alternative that is also educational and healthy.
Notably, for the 4,006 spots in the 95 camps of ‘Red Activa’ offered by the regional government for the summer of 2025 —compared to 3,930 spots in 88 camps the previous year— the application period closed with 45,100 submissions, which is 350 more than in 2024. Both demand and supply are continuing to grow significantly.
To meet the high demand during the summer campaigns, the Department of Family and Equal Opportunities, through the Youth Institute of Castilla y León, has launched thematic camps for this year; the previous artistic and language training courses have been refocused and restructured, and the Government has significantly expanded the offer in terms of the types of activities and the number of spots, increasing from 615 in the previous format to 1,360 with the new format. In this new line of camps, 3,649 applications have been received.
This set of summer activities, presented a few weeks ago by the Vice President of the Government and Minister of Family and Equal Opportunities, Isabel Blanco, comes with a more diverse leisure and free time offer, focusing mainly on rural areas, where around 600 direct jobs are created due to the increase in spots, which also helps stimulate local economies.
‘Red Activa’
The most sought-after program of the campaign is ‘Red Activa’, with the number of camps for children between 9 and 17 years old increasing this year from 88 to 95, of which 49 are held in Castilla y León, 43 in other regions, and three outside Spain —the usual ones in Portugal and the Black Forest—. The key to the success of these camps is the wide range of multi-adventure activities, such as hiking, climbing, kayaking, paintball, spelunking, mountain biking or nautical routes. New themes have also been introduced, such as robotics, drones, animals, or scuba diving, which are in high demand. This year, the Government introduces, as a novelty, workshops on artificial intelligence from an educational perspective in some activities.
Some of the new camps of ‘Red Activa’ will take place in impressive natural or heritage sites in Castilla y León, such as the surroundings of the Duratón River in Segovia —where young people will enjoy its canyons and meanders—, Alija del Infantado, in León, where they will engage in sports, participate in escape rooms, drive remote-controlled cars, and Santibáñez de Vidriales, in Zamora, a town located near Lake Sanabria and the Sierra de la Culebra, environments that minors will have the opportunity to visit. Of the other two added to the offer, one will be held in Navamorcuende —Toledo— and will be related to fauna, and the second in Jaca, with white-water rafting activities.
Another major novelty that ‘Red Activa 2025’ brings is a deeper focus on healthy leisure. In line with the Government’s ‘Pause and Reconnect’ program, the Department of Family and Equal Opportunities will promote digital disconnection in the camps, limiting the use of mobile devices to two hours on alternate days so that minors can contact their families. This is in addition to promoting positive practices, such as fostering good eating habits, environmental protection, or promoting equality.
Furthermore, in the camps held in the region, both in ‘Red Activa’ and in the thematic ones, activities will be programmed so that participants can learn in more detail about various aspects of Castilla y León, such as historical, cultural, natural, or gastronomic heritage, aimed at both Castilian and Leonese children and young people and those from other regions.
Collaboration with other territories is emphasized to facilitate the mobility of young people, with the number of camps in the rest of Spain increasing from 12 to 14 and reaching 352 spots, so that young people from Castilla y León can participate in activities in the Basque Country, Galicia, La Rioja, Extremadura, Cantabria, or Aragon.
Thematic Camps
This is one of the great novelties of the summer campaign 2025: the evolution of artistic and language training courses into ‘thematic camps’, which offer a greater variety of disciplines around which activities revolve. More recreational alternatives are added to their educational character.
In addition to the English courses in the mountains —in Pineda de la Sierra, Burgos— or on the beach —in Loredo, Cantabria— and the successful ‘Cinema in Zamora’, other camps focused on modern dance and urban dances in Palencia, two artistic camps in Zamora and Palencia including photography, drawing, engraving, sculpture, and other visual arts, two rock and music camps in Soria and Murcia, a ‘Jurassic Adventure’ in Soria, ‘Adventure and Mining in El Bierzo’ —León— or ‘Sendaventura’ in Vigo de Sanabria —Zamora— are included.