El Caminito del Rey

El Caminito del Rey is a famous footpath through a gorge or canyon near the small village of El Chorro, roughly 40 km north-west of the city of Malaga in southern Spain. It is an utterly spectacular path. Long sections of it are attached to the sheer walls of the gorge, up to 100 m above the river below. The path was made more than 100 years ago to aid in the construction and maintenance of the hydroelectricity schemes in the area. It became well known – and acquired its present name (“The little path of the King”) – when it was walked by the Spanish king in 1921. Over the years, the narrow walkway fell into disrepair and became the preserve of rock climbers, daredevils, and adrenaline junkies. It became notorious as “the most dangerous walk in the world”. Inevitably, there were fatal accidents and, in 2000, the path was closed, with sections of it being demolished in an attempt to prevent access. Eventually, after years of delay, a considerable sum of money (€9M) was raised to restore the path and it reopened to the public in March 2015. Since then it has proven to be an incredibly popular attraction, with people coming from all across the globe to walk it, and the desired intention of stimulating tourism, both local and international, in the area is being fully realised.

See also. El Chorro and the GR7.

My walk. I was in the village of El Chorro as part of my three-day walk along a section of the GR7 from Ardales to Antequera. I left my overnight accommodation at the Finca la Campana at 8.10 am and walked into El Chorro village, intending to catch the 8.45 am bus to the Caminito entrance as I was supposed to rendezvous with my “guided tour” there at 9.30 am. However, I waited for the bus by the train station, which was the wrong place, and so missed it. This did not matter at all; I had a nice coffee in La Garganta and then strolled 200 m down the road to the obvious bus stop (!), where I caught the 9.30 am bus (along with just 6 other people) for €1.55, which brought me to the start of the Caminito, next to the El Kiosko restaurant, at 9.50 am. Here, there were hundreds of people milling around noisily and so I quickly made my way through the tunnel next to the restaurant and started the walk.

This was the longer (2.7 km) and, so I believe, more attractive of the two possible approach walks from the northern end of the gorge. It followed the winding Guadalhorce river and, at 10.30 am, I found myself at the entry point for the Caminito proper (so 40 min walking). My ticket was for entry at 11 am and I had to queue for maybe 25 min before I was allowed to enter – batches of people were being allowed to enter every 10-15 min. I had to produce my passport so it could be cross-checked with my ticket. I was given a safety helmet and an attractive hair net (for hygiene reasons?), which I did not not use as it was a chilly morning and I was wearing a “beanie” already. After a very short safety briefing from one of the staff, I was allowed to start the walk.

Almost immediately, I was onto the first “boardwalk” section, which passes through a very narrow section of the gorge (Desfiladero de Gaitanejos). Soon this part of the gorge widens and I could see the railway line on the other side of the river for the first time. At this point, I was still on the boardwalk, which here runs on top of the retaining wall of the original water channel. After another narrow part, the gorge widened into a normal valley (Valle del Hoyo). The first section of the boardwalk ended, and I followed a conventional footpath for the next 25 min or so. The sense of excitement slowly mounted, however, as I could see ahead of me the original aqueduct, crossing high above the gorge, and knew that this was where the path was heading.

I then started walking the second and easily most spectacular section of the boardwalk, passing high up through the second narrow section of gorge (Desfiladero de Gaitanes). If you have seen photos or the scary videos of the original Caminito then they will have been of this part, with the railway running in and out of impossible tunnels and seemingly just metres away on the opposite side of the gorge. By this point in my walk, the wind was gusting unpleasantly. I came to the new footbridge across the gorge, next to the old aqueduct, which was the part I had been most apprehensive about. I focussed my eyes on the far end of the bridge and crossed quickly, taking 35 strides (counting them seem to help!) and keeping my hands on the rails at the sides. After this, the gorge ended and the boardwalk headed over the railway line and finished when it met with terra firma once more. It was then a conventional walk (2.1 km) back into the village of El Chorro, where I arrived at 1.05 pm (so 3 h 15 min walking).

I have known about El Caminito del Rey for 20 or 30 years or more. I never imagined that I would ever get to walk it. Despite all the hype and my own high expectations, I was not disappointed in any way whatsoever. The walk is spectacular and, to my surprise, very beautiful and, for me, provided just about the right level of “thrill factor”.

How I got my ticket. I had obtained my ticket for el camino (as the local seem to call it) by asking at the Finca la Campana at the same time as I made by booking there for the previous night’s accommodation, which I had done several weeks in advance. Similarly, several tourists I spoke to on the day had obtained their tickets through their overnight accommodation. I paid €8 for my ticket, which was nominally for a guided tour with a local agency. The ticket had my name and passport number on it. Until March 2016, roughly half of the total tickets were supposed to be free when obtained directly from the official website but I had found one impossible to obtain by this mechanism; they all seemed to be allocated within seconds of a batch being released on the website. From April 2016, tickets will be on sale from this website.

The direction of the walk. After an initial experimentation in 2015 with allowing the walk to be done in either direction, currently one is only allowed to walk the Caminito from north to south, finishing in El Chorro. To me, this makes great sense, as it must reduce congestion on the narrow boardwalk and help prevent people from doubling back to their starting point. North to south is also the best direction to do the walk as one definitely “saves the best to last”, with the crossing of the gorge. As a result, the bus shuttle (€1.55) from El Chorro to the northern entrance is required by pretty much everyone, even car drivers who must park either at El Chorro or at the northern entrance. Although my 9.30 am bus was very quiet, from what I saw in El Chorro at 1.30 pm the afternoon buses must have have been very busy indeed.

The thrill factor. Every sort of person was doing the walk on the day I did it: young (> 8 years) and old, fit and somewhat less fit. The total length of the walk is 7.7 km using the (slightly longer) approach walk I took and involves little or no strenuous ascent or descent, although there are stairs to be negotiated on the boardwalk sections. I am usually very comfortable with heights on mountains walks but am less happy with man-made structures (for example, those tall towers in Tuscany...). I found I was fine on the basic boardwalk sections; I was so enchanted by my dramatic surroundings that I forgot all about the drop immediately beneath my feet. I became a little apprehensive as I approached the new bridge over the gorge, partly because the wind was picking up strongly and partly because I was reminded of the video of the original walkway. I did not enjoy crossing the bridge but, by concentrating on the far end rather than the drop, I was fine.

Other observations. The old official website says that large rucksacks are not allowed. Virtually everyone doing the walk was carrying a small rucksack, maybe 20 litres. As I was on a walking trip, I had my 35+8 litres rucksack but there was no problem. The website also says that “selfie” sticks are not allowed, yet they seemed to be everywhere (not me!). I could easily imagine that, if it had started raining, the Spanish would all have pulled umbrellas out of their bags.

Opening times. Tuesday to Sunday (closed Monday). 9.30 am – 3 pm (winter); 9.30 am – 5 pm (summer). See the new ticket reservation website.

How to get there. It is possible to use Renfe trains to make a day trip from Malaga or Seville to El Chorro. Some timetables are available. Like myself, you could also walk to El Chorro from either Ardales (5 h) or – reversing my walk – Valle de Abdalajis (3 h) along the GR7/GR249. The obvious alternative is to use a car, but in February 2016 I saw surprisingly little good quality parking.

Where to stay. La Garganta, Finca la Campana, Olive Branch B&B (all El Chorro).

Other interesting sights in the area. Bobastro, Antequera, the Menga, Viera and Tholos de el Romeral dolmens, and the parque natural El Torcal.

Other useful links. Official Caminito del Rey website.

© 2016 The Untravelled World