We determined the soil properties and infiltration rates in 11 plots, including four soil types (Leptosol, Cambisol, Umbrisol and Regosol, according to the FAO criteria), under three different land uses (pine forest, oak forest and scrubland). The study was conducted in a Spanish Central System Mountain under a Mediterranean climate. We tried to quantify the effect of land use (native and reforested forest and scrubland) and soil properties on the steady-state soil infiltration rate because of the limited evidence about soil infiltration in Mediterranean mountains with sandy and acid soils developed on granite rocks. We employed a simple-ring methacrylate infiltrometer method to determine soil infiltration rates. We used correlation and principal component analysis to examine the relationships between soil properties, land uses, and water infiltration. Additionally, a one-way ANOVA model was applied to identify differences between vegetation types. Soil infiltration rates in the pine forest (891.9 mmh-1) and the oak forest (509.0 mmh-1) were better than those in the scrubland (178.4 mmh-1). Our results are in agree with the main results in the scientific literature. Factors such as sand content (R = 0.71, p-value = 0.02) or electrical conductivity (salt content indicator; R = 0.81, p-value = 0.00) were positively related to soil infiltration, while clay was negatively related (R = -0.69, p-value = 0.02). Results show forest cover improves soil infiltration. This effect is strongly related to hydrological ecosystem services, which may be of interest for decision-making in natural environment management, especially for soil and water conservation.