Andalusia on foot: Granada, the Alpujarras and the Sierra de Grazalema

1. Day 1: Arrive in Granada

   Granada airport or station to your hotel, then the Albaicín

   • Drive about 18 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Granada (GRX), about 17 km west of the city, or arrive by train, and our driver brings you to a hotel in the centre. Many flights land in Málaga instead, about an hour and a half away by road; ask us and we quote that transfer. Plan to be in Granada by about 5 pm. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the walks ahead: boots, daypacks, how the easy and active options work. Then we walk up into the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter of steep lanes and walled gardens, to the Mirador de San Nicolás as the sun goes down on the Alhambra across the valley, with the Sierra Nevada behind it. The walk is about 40 minutes uphill on cobbles, and we take it slowly. Dinner is a welcome meal together in the Albaicín or the centre.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Granada airport (GRX) or the station
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk through the Albaicín to the Mirador de San Nicolás
   • Welcome dinner

   Easier option: Take a taxi up to San Nicolás and meet the group there.

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot on steep cobbles.

2. Day 2: The Alhambra at opening

   Granada: the Alhambra and the Generalife, then a free afternoon

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Granada
   Day 2 details

   We walk up through the woods of the Alhambra hill to be at the gate for the 8:30 opening, with Nasrid Palaces tickets bought in advance for the first slot. An official Alhambra guide takes the group through the palaces while they are at their quietest: the Mexuar, the Court of the Myrtles with its long pool, the Hall of the Ambassadors and the Court of the Lions. Then the Alcazaba, the old fortress, and its watchtower over the city, and the long walk out through the gardens and water stairs of the Generalife. Expect three to four hours on foot. By early afternoon you are back in town, and the rest of the day is yours: lunch at a tapas bar near Plaza Nueva, the Royal Chapel, or a rest before the mountains. If you want more walking, the guide leads a late-afternoon path along the Sacromonte hillside of cave houses.

   Included

   • The Alhambra from the 8:30 opening with an official guide: the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba and the Generalife

   Easier option: Take the Alhambra minibus up from Plaza Nueva instead of walking the hill.

   More active option: A late-afternoon walk with your guide along the Sacromonte hillside of cave houses towards the Abbey.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: 3 to 4 hours on foot inside the Alhambra, with stairs and gravel paths.

3. Day 3: Up the Poqueira gorge on foot

   Granada to Pampaneira, then on foot through Bubión to Capileira

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Capileira
   Day 3 details

   We leave Granada after breakfast and drive about an hour and a quarter south past Lanjarón and Órgiva into the Alpujarras, the valleys on the south side of the Sierra Nevada where Moorish families held on after Granada fell in 1492. The van stops in Pampaneira, at about 1,050 m, the lowest of the three white villages of the Poqueira gorge. With our bags gone ahead, we walk up the old mule path between terraces of chestnut and walnut to Bubión and on to Capileira, at about 1,430 m, our base for three nights. Look at the flat grey roofs and the round chimneys, built in the Berber way the region kept. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Bubión, halfway up, and we reach Capileira mid-afternoon with time to settle in. Dinner together in the village.

   Included

   • Drive from Granada to Pampaneira, with luggage taken on to Capileira
   • Guided walk from Pampaneira through Bubión to Capileira
   • Lunch in Bubión
   • Dinner in Capileira

   Easier option: Walk only from Pampaneira to Bubión, then ride the last stretch in the van.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Capileira

   Activity: About 4.5 km and 400 m of climb, 3 hours with the lunch stop.

4. Day 4: Into the gorge and back on the acequia

   Capileira circuit: the Río Poqueira, La Cebadilla and the irrigation channel path

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Capileira
   Day 4 details

   Today starts at the hotel door. We drop out of Capileira on a stone path into the Poqueira gorge, cross the river on an old bridge and follow it up the valley to La Cebadilla, a hamlet built for a hydroelectric plant and now mostly empty. Above it the valley opens towards the high Sierra Nevada; on a clear morning you can see the ridge running up to Mulhacén, at 3,479 m the highest peak in mainland Spain. For the return we climb to an acequia, one of the irrigation channels dug in Moorish times that still carry snowmelt across the slopes, and walk beside the water back to the village. Lunch is a picnic in the gorge of local bread, cheese, ham and fruit. You are back by mid-afternoon, and the evening is free to find a terrace in the village.

   Included

   • Guided circuit from Capileira: the Poqueira gorge, La Cebadilla and the acequia path
   • Picnic lunch in the gorge

   Easier option: Walk down to the river bridge and back with the guide or the group, about 2 hours, then a slow morning in the village.

   More active option: Add the higher loop above La Cebadilla for a longer view of the high Sierra Nevada, about an hour more.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 10 to 12 km and 400 to 500 m of climb, 4 to 5 hours with stops.

   

5. Day 5: Trevélez and the GR7

   Capileira to Trevélez, on foot to Busquístar, back to Capileira

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Capileira
   Day 5 details

   A short drive of about 40 minutes over the shoulder of the mountain takes us east into the Trevélez valley. Trevélez sits at around 1,476 m, among the highest villages in Spain, and its cold dry air has cured hams for centuries. We start inside a ham-curing house, walking between the racks and tasting the result with bread and a glass of local wine. Then we walk out of the village on the GR7, the long-distance path that crosses the Alpujarras, heading west on a balcony path through chestnut and oak with the valley below, down to the small village of Busquístar. Lunch is a sit-down meal there before the van takes us back to Capileira, about 15 km. Dinner tonight is our last together in the Alpujarras, with local dishes such as plato alpujarreño of potatoes, sausage, egg and ham.

   Included

   • Ham-curing house visit and tasting in Trevélez
   • Guided walk on the GR7 from Trevélez to Busquístar
   • Lunch in Busquístar
   • Dinner in Capileira

   Easier option: Stay in Trevélez for a slow morning in its three barrios, and the van brings you to lunch in Busquístar.

   More active option: Before the GR7, climb above Trevélez on the Río Chico path for a view of the high peaks, about 1.5 hours more.

   Activity: About 9 km, mostly downhill with short climbs, 3 to 3.5 hours.

6. Day 6: West to the Sierra de Grazalema via El Torcal

   Capileira to Granada and the A-92, El Torcal, then Olvera and Zahara to Grazalema

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Grazalema
   Day 6 details

   This is the trip's one long drive, about 4.5 hours of driving over the day, and it is the price of linking the Sierra Nevada with the Sierra de Grazalema without a one-night stop in between. We leave Capileira by about 8 am, one of the trip's two early starts with the Alhambra morning, so we reach Grazalema before dark, and we split the drive in two. After about 2.5 hours we stop at El Torcal de Antequera, a high plateau of limestone eroded into stacked blocks and pillars, part of the Antequera Dolmens UNESCO site. A 1 to 1.5 hour waymarked loop takes us through the maze on foot, then lunch is a proper sit-down meal near Antequera. The afternoon drive heads west through olive country past Olvera and Zahara, then climbs to Grazalema, a white village under the crags at the heart of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, Andalusia's first, created in 1984. We arrive in the early evening for two nights and eat together in the village.

   Included

   • Drive from the Alpujarras to Grazalema with your guide
   • Guided loop walk at El Torcal de Antequera
   • Lunch near Antequera
   • Dinner in Grazalema

   Easier option: Stay at the El Torcal visitor centre viewpoint while the group walks the loop.

   Activity: About 4.5 hours of driving, broken by the El Torcal walk (about 3 km on rocky paths) and lunch.

   

7. Day 7: The Salto del Cabrero to Benaocaz

   Grazalema to Puerto del Boyar, on foot to Benaocaz, back to Grazalema

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Grazalema
   Day 7 details

   A ten-minute drive takes us up to the Puerto del Boyar pass above Grazalema, at about 1,100 m, where we start walking. The path crosses open limestone pasture under the Sierra del Endrinal, then reaches the Salto del Cabrero, the goatherd's leap, a deep split in the rock where the land drops away and the view opens south and west over the hills towards the Atlantic side of Andalusia. From there the way runs on old stone tracks, with short climbs and a gentle overall descent, through holm oak and wild olive to Benaocaz, a small white village on the old road to Ubrique. Watch for griffon vultures riding the air off the crags. We finish with lunch in Benaocaz and the van runs us back to Grazalema by mid-afternoon. The rest of the day and the evening are free: the village square, the church viewpoints and the shops selling Grazalema blankets are all a few minutes' walk.

   Included

   • Guided walk from Puerto del Boyar over the Salto del Cabrero to Benaocaz
   • Lunch in Benaocaz

   Easier option: A shorter walk on the Llanos del Rabel above Grazalema with the guide's directions, about 1.5 hours, then join the group for lunch.

   More active option: In March to May and in autumn, where the park is open and the permit is available, the walk through the Pinsapar, the fir forest between Grazalema and Benamahoma, instead.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Grazalema

   Activity: About 8 to 10 km on stony tracks, a net drop of about 270 m with short climbs along the way, 3.5 to 4 hours; the exact line and figures are checked at the recce.

8. Day 8: Zahara's castle, Antequera and home

   Grazalema over the Puerto de las Palomas to Zahara de la Sierra, then Antequera and Málaga airport

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   Day 8 details

   We drive out of Grazalema over the Puerto de las Palomas, at about 1,357 m the highest road pass in the park, and wind down to Zahara de la Sierra, a white village under a hill crowned by a Moorish-era castle tower. A steep path of 30 to 40 minutes climbs from the village to the tower, and the view takes in the white houses, the olive groves and the turquoise water of the Zahara-El Gastor reservoir. Then about an hour and a half east through olive country to Antequera. A short walk through the old town brings us to the Dolmens, among them Menga, a huge chamber of stone slabs more than 5,000 years old and part of a UNESCO site since 2016. We sit down to a last lunch together in Antequera, then it is about 45 minutes to Málaga airport (AGP), arriving around 4 pm. Book a flight leaving after about 6 pm.

   Included

   • Walk up to the castle tower of Zahara de la Sierra
   • The Dolmens of Antequera (the entry fee is nominal)
   • Farewell lunch in Antequera
   • Drop-off at Málaga airport (AGP)

   Easier option: Stay in Zahara's square with a coffee while the group climbs to the tower.

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 6 pm. The Dolmens close on Mondays; on those departures we walk Antequera's old town instead.

   

Wildlife and weather: Spring brings almond blossom, wildflowers and full irrigation channels; autumn brings chestnuts and clear air. Snow can linger on the high Sierra Nevada into May, and Grazalema gets heavy rain in spring and late autumn, so some walks may be swapped on the day. Griffon vultures are common over Zahara and Grazalema.

• Granada2 nights
• Capileira3 nights
• Grazalema2 nights