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The Grazalema Sierra
The amazing landscapes and fresh mountain air of the Grazalema Natural Park make for wonderful, rewarding walking in Spain’s deep south. Africa is close in every sense, from the scent of orange trees to the Moorish influence on the whitewashed buildings. If the scenery is magnificent, equally outstanding is the wildlife – the craggy limestone peaks shelter surprisingly green valleys and gullies, which in turn are home to an astonishing array of flowers and birds. Of the region’s famed pueblos blancos (‘white towns’), Grazalema is one of the prettiest, framed by mountains and with sloping cobbled streets, and makes a perfect base for a week of walking and discovery. This is an area we know very well – Inntravel has offered holidays here for many years – and we offer an exceptionally wide range of detailed and informative walking routes. Fantastic at any time of year, they are particularly special in April and May, when flowers line the paths. Nights: 7 La Mejorana, Grazalema
Your hotel for the week is La Mejorana, a delightfully renovated and beautifully furnished town house with just five bedrooms. Run with great attention to detail by the charming Andres and Ana, it boasts enviable views over the village and the sierra beyond, and is renowned for its rather special home-made breakfasts. It is no more than a few minutes’ walk to the wide variety of bars and restaurants in the village, and two evening meals at local restaurants are included. The focal point of the hotel is the large ground-floor sitting room with its beamed ceiling, reading corner, board games, fireplace and mountain views. Even better vistas are enjoyed by the three terraces and the garden, which is planted with numerous indigenous flowers and shrubs. Suggested walks
Knowing this area as we do, we are able to provide you with a wide selection of walking routes in the Grazalema Natural Park. Some lead direct from Grazalema (sometimes requiring a bus back – pay locally), while others are accessed using your hire car. If you are taking the standard holiday, our documentation will include route notes for all nine walks; if you choose the special Flower Breaks in April and May, we will provide you with particularly detailed notes for the five walks marked with a * (plus one additional circuit), which should, hopefully, reward you with sightings of the flowers listed. Goatherd’s Leap* (grade 2, 12km, 4hrs): starting from Grazalema, this linear route rises to the Puerto del Boyar Pass, then follows narrow paths which run along the natural passage between the villages of Grazalema and Benaocaz. You have the opportunity to make a short detour to Goatherd’s Leap, a narrow cleft between two tall rocks, before descending along an old mule path into Benaocaz with its deserted, centuries-old Moorish dwellings. Flowers: wild peonies, blue irises, Peruvian blue scillas. Grazalema to Benaocaz (grade 3, 15km, 5.5hrs): exploring higher paths than the previous walk, this rewarding route affords splendid views over the sierra.
Grazalema to Benaocaz (grade 2, 12km, 4.5hrs): this beautiful walk leads over the Sierra del Endrinal (‘Blackthorn Mountains’) into a secret valley encircled by a sheer rock wall in which a ruined farmhouse is surrounded by poplars and tiny streams. The walk can be extended to make a circuit which returns via Goatherd’s Leap. The Secret Valley (14km, 5hrs): this circular walk from Grazalema follows a beautiful route over the ridge of the Sierra del Endrinal (‘Blackthorn Mountains’) to an old ruined farmhouse standing in a secret valley amid poplars and tiny streams, and encircled by a high wall of sheer rock. Pinsapo Forest* (grade 2 or 3, 14km, 5.5hrs): ascend to the ridge above Grazalema for far-reaching views north across overlapping ranges. Your route skirts the side of ridge and descends into the Pinsapar, a mysterious forest of rare Spanish firs (Abies pinsapo). You descend some 800 metres, passing through changing vegetation of mastic and mixed oaks to arrive at the pretty village of Benamahoma (‘Son of Mohamed’). Flowers: Daphne laureola, wild peonies, blue hedgehog broom, shrubby gromwell (lithodora), naked man orchid. Cork Oaks & Olives* (grade 3, 17km, 6hrs): starting in Montejaque, this spectacular and very varied route leads through a lunar landscape then descends through natural ‘rock gardens’ connecting grassy plains. After passing an old farm with a threshing floor, you enter woodland and then a beautiful green valley. The walk finishes by crossing the olive-clad ridge hiding Montejaque. Flowers: white helliborine, sawfly orchid, woodcock orchid, ronda cranesbill (mallow-flowered geranium), crambe.
Green Gorge* (grade 3, 8km, 4hrs): to reach this walk, you drive over panoramic Dove Pass (1,300 metres) which affords fantastic views over the turquoise waters of the nearby lake. The walk itself descends some 300 metres through the dramatic Garganta Verde (‘Green Gorge’). Lined with Mediterranean bushes, the gorge is home to 200 pairs of griffon vultures, and it is well worth detouring to the vulture-viewing platform, from where you may also see choughs, crag martins and alpine swifts. Continue to the bottom of the gorge, where there is a cave overhung with wild fig trees and ferns, and retrace your steps back to your car. Flowers: marigold, sombre bee orchid, mirror orchid, lizard orchid, aphyllanthes monspeliensis, tragapogon hybridum, yellow toadflax (linaria platycalix). Llanos de Ravel (Valley of the Lute)* (grade 2, 10km, 3.5hrs): an easy descent on a panoramic wide track through the mountains brings you to bowl-shaped valley which makes a delightful picnic spot. Loop through woodland, passing several pinsapos (an ancient species of fir found only here and in Morocco), before returning to the valley and heading back along the track to your car. Flowers: yellow bee orchids, honeywort (cerinthe major), cistus albidus, cistus salvifolius, anthyllis cistoides, ronda cranesbill, red helliborine, white helliborine, tree germander. River Walk (grade 2, 10km, 4hrs): pleasant riverside paths lead between the villages of El Bosque and Benamahoma, revealing picturesque mountain river scenery and a great variety of trees, birds and flowers. Sightseeing
The walking may be excellent, but don’t neglect the many fascinating towns and villages. The magnificent and astonishingly sited white town of Ronda is unmissable, as is the smaller but equally dramatic Arcos de la Frontera set in splendid isolation on a sandstone cliff. There are many other atmospheric white towns within easy driving distance, including Zahara de la Sierra with its hill-top castle, and Setenil, whose houses shelter beneath an overhanging rock ledge. Jerez de la Frontera, an elegant town famed for its sherry, is another worthwhile excursion, while fantastic, flamboyant Seville is also less than a 90-minute drive away. We provide route notes for three different driving tours which reveal the best of the region. Flowers in April and May
Some 5,000 different species – a quarter of Europe’s flowering plants – grow in Spain. Andalucia, especially, is a flower-lover’s dream. Within the dramatic limestone landscapes of the region’s Grazalema Natural Park can be found over a thousand species, with the additional bonus of a bird population that includes griffon vultures, short-toed eagles, hoopoes, bee-eaters, rock buntings and blue rock thrushes. A week spent exploring the park in April or May should (conditions permitting) reward you with sightings of almost 300 different species of flower, which you can identify using our detailed route notes, suggested bibliography and specially compiled CD. The flowers range from the tiny blue pimpernels, love-in-a-mist, tri-coloured convolvulus and marigolds in the meadows, through the shy saxifrages and toadflaxes hidden in cracks in the rocks, to the wild magenta peonies as large as saucers and the huge bushes of aromatic white gum cistus. Wonderful oddities include the hoop petticoat daffodil, all trumpet and no collar, the Peruvian scilla, a tight pyramid of violet flowers, and the Aphyllanthes monspeliensis, a bright blue star on the end of a single long stem. Of the dozen or so orchids you may see are bee, yellow bee, sawfly, woodcock, sombre bee, mirror, pyramid, loose-flowered and naked man! As a backdrop to these flowers stand many fascinating trees and shrubs: the carob, whose beans the Moors used to weigh gold; the mastic, whose resin is used to produce both glue and chewing gum; myrtle, with its medicinal and aromatic properties; and Mediterranean Daphne, which the region’s shepherds use to make anti-leech collars for their sheep dogs. Prices & travel 2008-09:
*Included travel: 7 days' category A car hire > Any queries? Let us call you back > Booking form (if you want to book the flower option, select this on the drop-down)  |
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The surprisingly green Grazalema Sierra, viewed from Goatherd's Leap 
