The Mountains of Nerja

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 1000m, with the highest, La Maroma over 2000m, 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.

Any one of the routes in this guidebook can be walked in a day trip from Nerja, making this delightful coastal town a good place to base yourself. The wide selection of graded day walks are described ranging from strolls to strenuous climbs.

• 24 graded day walks
• the best time of year for walking is from late April to the end of May. Late summer and early autumn are also cooler, but the ground is scorched and dry. Between November and April there is more chance of rain, but it is still acceptable for walking.
• routes are illustrated using official IGN mapping
• with lots of information about the local flowers, plants, wildlife and geology

November 2015

Since the publication of the first edition the park rangers have carried out works that affect the walks and severe flooding and erosion have also interfered with the paths.

GPX files   

GPX files for all routes are now available on the Cicerone website. There are a few maps where these differ from those in the book, such as the optional diversion in Walk 15 to Tacita de Plata, but any differences are minor.

The photograph in the Introduction of the Almijaras mountains is incorrectly labelled. Cisne is the first peak to the right of Lucero.

Walk 3

The optional extension of the walk back to Nerja via the Rio Higueron: Severe flooding in the river bed and erosion of the concrete steps has made this route more difficult. The steep concrete steps were closed in October 2015.

The gravel road to the right of the gates of No 61 was concreted in 2015.

Walk 4

The concrete covering to the river channel continues to deteriorate and care is required walking on it. There are sections of the channel where it is necessary to walk along a narrow, concrete path that is precipitous.

Walk 10

At Fogarate additional waymarkers for other walks have been placed which may cause confusion. After La Cruz del Muerto (and the highly perched new villa) maintain the direction west and do not descend on the road to the left.

Walk 12

The fence around the well at Rabita no longer has a lock and good water is available.

Appendix B

Peak 12 should read Piedra Sillada (not Piedra Silla).

January 2017

Walk 16

Recently the Almunecar Town Hall took over the zoo at Pena Escrita and it is now closed to the general  public. To follow Walk 16 it is necessary to arrange access through the zoo with the Town Hall. This route of this walk may now need to be changed.

"Please pass on my sincere thanks to Jim Ryan for giving us The Mountains of Nerja.  I bought four copies of this outstanding book and all my walking companions are delighted with it."

via email, March 2015