The little town of Nerja, on Spain’s Costa del Sol, nestles under range of mighty mountains. These are the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara Y Alhama. Together they encompass 50 mountains over 3 000 ft and offer walkers some stunnning routes.
This naturally beautiful mountainous area is only about the size of Snowdonia National Park and combines stark geological features on high, rocky mountains with peaceful and remote valleys, where the wilderness is but a few minutes away.
Explore the white mountain villages of Frigiliana, Competa, Canillas de Albaida, Canilas de Aceituno and Salares, just a short distance from Nerja. Several others are also visited on the walks.
All the routes in this guidebook could be done in a single day trip from Nerja, so Nerja is a good place to base yourself for your trip. A wide selection of graded day walks are described ranging from strolls to strenuous climbs.
Introduction
Geographical context
The town of Nerja
Geology and topography
A little history
Wildlife
Plants and flowers
Getting to Nerja
Accommodation
When to go
Walking in Andalucía
Spanish dialect in Andalucía
Recurring place names
Maps and GPS coordinates
Using this guide
Nerja and around
Walk 1 Frigiliana to the Cave of Nerja
Walk 2 El Fuerte
Walk 3 Cruz del Pinto
Walk 4 The Gorges of the Rio Chillar
Walk 5 The El Cielo Circuit
Walk 6 The tour of Almendrón
The Cómpeta Area
Walk 7 La Fabrica de la Luz
Walk 8 Lucero
Walk 9 Cerro de la Chapa
Walk 10 The Oak Forest of Salares
Walk 11 Cómpeta to Los Pradillos
La Maroma
Walk 12 La Maroma from Canillas de Aceituno
Walk 13 La Maroma from Alcaucín
Walk 14 La Maroma from Sedella
Walk 15 La Maroma from Alcaicería
The Valley of the Rio Verde
Walk 16 Navachica
Walk 17 The Petrified Waterfall
Walk 18 Lopera
Walks from the North
Walk 19 Ventas de Zafarraya
Walk 20 Malascamas
Walk 21 The Gorge of Alhama de Granada
Walk 22 La Resinera
Walk 23 Jayena to Haza de la Encina
Cisne
Walk 24 Cisne from Acebuchal
Appendix A Route summary table
Appendix B List of peaks by altitude
Appendix C Useful Spanish words for map reading
Appendix D Further reading
Appendix E Maps of the region
Jim Ryan is a chartered civil engineer with a passion for the outdoors, who has had several successful guidebooks and one work of fiction published. He has been climbing the mountains of Nerja for over 15 years. This guide is his way of repaying Nerja and Andalucia for many years of pleasure; his share of the proceeds go to Cudeca, a cancer hospice charity in the province of Malaga.