Walking in the Sierra Nevada - A Walker's and Trekker's Guide

The 45 walking routes (3km–56km) in this guidebook to the Sierra Nevada, Spain’s highest mountain range, provide tremendous scope for the adventurous mountain traveller. Covers the Alta Montana (3000m+), the lower Baja Montaña, the Alpajurras and Marquesado Forest. Mountain-bike routes also indicated.

Maps at 1:25,000 scale can be obtained from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), and military maps at 1:50,000 from the Servicio Geográfico del Ejército (SGE). All these maps are useful, each carrying a certain amount of information which is unique to itself, but there are disagreements between them, too, some of the differences being quite major.

For planning a holiday in the Sierra, the old 1:50,000 FEM map (now out of print) was pre-eminent, but a new map, published by Editorial Penbetica, makes a passable substitute. Spread out on the floor, or a large table, the shading of this map gives a good impression of the range. However, many of the roads and paths are incorrectly marked on this map and for detailed planning, the more accurate IGN maps are recommended, even though they have failed to keep up with the furious rate of development in this area.

Note: You will see on the IGN maps a number of features marked as ‘Cañada Real’. These are shown as broad tracks or pathways, often marching straight across impossible terrain. They do not exist on the ground, and merely indicate the existence of a right of way under ancient bylaws for farmers to herd animals from one place to another.

For the purpose of this guide, I have adhered to altitudes quoted on the IGN maps, but have used local place names and spellings. In places, these do not agree with the IGN maps, but labelling on all the maps mentioned above leaves a lot to be desired – they are some way below the British Ordnance Survey standards. The addresses of map suppliers are given in the Bibliography.