La Alpujarra, Sierra Nevada

La Alpujarra is the name given to the valleys and rustic white villages on the southern flanks of the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia. It is a Natural Park and possibly the most popular walking area in Spain, owing to an extensive network of good paths linking villages which are only 2-3 hrs hiking apart from each other. The main walking area lies between Trevelez in the east and Lanjaron in the west and I envisaged walking between the two.

Costs. Flight £63. Car parking £19.49. Granada hotel €35. Pitres hotel (B&B) €40. Capileira hotel (B&B) €40. Orgiva hotel €40. Malaga–Granada bus €10.87 each way. Granada–Trevelez bus €7.58. Lanjaron–Granada bus €4.07. Typical evening meal with drinks €15–€24. Travel insurance £6. Total cost of trip £330.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Motel Sierra Nevada, Granada (Day 1, Read my review); Hotel Rural San Roque, Pitres (Day 2, Read my review); Hotel Rural Poqueira II, Capileira (Day 3, Read my review); Hotel Mirasol, Orgiva (Day 4, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Andalucía (Rough Guides, 9th edition); Walking in Andalucía by Guy Hunter-Watts (Cicerone, 1st edition); Walking the GR7 in Andalucía by Kirstie Shirra and Michelle Lowe (Cicerone, 1st edition); Collins Butterfly Guide by Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington (Harper-Collins, Paperback edition).

Maps. Alpujarras Tour & Trail, 1:40,000, Discovery Walking Guides.

Day 1: Travel to Granada. Left work at 2.45 pm and drove to Prestwick. Flight took off at 4.50 pm and landed at 8.50 pm local time. Caught 9.14 pm train into Malaga and then 10 pm bus to Granada, arriving 11.30 pm. Found hotel near bus station (pre-booked).

Day 2: Walk from Trevelez to Pitres. Caught 10 am bus to Trevelez, arriving 1.05 pm. Walked along GR7 path through occasional light snow (!) to Busquistar, arriving 5.50 pm (so 4 h 45 min walking). Walked to Pitres via Ferreirola, getting lost on way but enjoying lovely scenery. Arrived in Pitres 7.20 pm (so a total of 6 h 15 min walking), found pleasant hotel (pre-booked), and had dinner.

Day 3: Walk from Pitres to Capileira. Left hotel at 10.30 am and walked to Capileira via Capileirilla and Bubion, arriving 3.15 pm. This was a short walk (maybe only 2-3 h of real walking) but I was tired from previous day and moved slowly, taking loads of photos. Found hotel (pre-booked), had shower, and then walked a bit further up the valley above Capileira before dinner.

Day 4: Walk from Capileira to Orgiva. Left hotel at 10.45 am and walked to Orgiva via Pampaneira and Soportujar. Walk was very nice at the start but then, beyond Pampaneira, the route became hard to follow before finally disintegrating into rather dreary slog down into busy, hippy Orgiva, arriving 5.45 pm (so 7 h walking). Found hotel (pre-booked) and had dinner.

Day 5: Start walk to Lanjaron; travel home. Woke to heavy, incessant rain. Did not know the times of the buses to Lanjaron and the town’s internet cafe was shut. Started to walk along road to Lanjaron but after 40 min was given lift (unsolicited) by friendly Irishman. Arrived in Lanjaron at 11 am but bus to Granada was not until 3 pm, so dried out in a couple of cafes. Arrived Granada 4 pm, caught 5 pm bus to Malaga, took train out to airport, caught 9.25 pm flight to Prestwick, and arrived back at my home at 12.50 am.

Wildlife seen. Moroccan Orange Tip, Provençal Fritillary, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Spanish Festoon, Scarce Swallowtail, Meadow Brown.

Other useful links. Alsa buses

Bus services from Malaga

Reflections. As in the rest of Europe at this period, the weather was unseasonably cold – hence the snow on Day 2! It is a beautiful and popular walking area, especially in the central area around Pitres, Bubion and Capileira, and I met many friendly fellow walkers (with the cold weather always the first topic of conversation). I had expected to see rather more interesting butterflies than I did and perhaps the cold spring was to blame. The sun came out on Days 3 and 4 but it would be nice to go again in some warm weather and I think I would stick to the area between Trevelez (or even further east?) and Pampaneira (I am afraid that I found Orgiva forgettable).

© 2014 The Untravelled World