Nerja and Frigiliana

For a February trip to Andalusia, I thought it best to again head east of Malaga to get the driest weather. On my last trip to the Axarquia, in February 2012, I had spotted a couple of day walks that I would have liked to do, so I decided to return to this beautiful region and this time to concentrate on the area around smart Nerja and the lovely village of Frigiliana. Although my hiking plans were a trifle conservative this time, I was rewarded with some cracking weather! Some simple maps of these walks are available.

Costs. Flight £62. Car parking £22.99. Nerja-Cuevas hotel (B&B) €32.58 per night. Frigiliana hospederia €31 per night. Malaga–Nerja (Cuevas) bus €4.86. Nerja–Malaga bus €4.52. Evening meal with drinks €10–€22. Travel insurance £4. Total cost of trip £300.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Al-Andalus, Cueva de Nerja (Days 1 and 2, Read my review); Hospederia El Caravansar, Frigiliana (Days 3 and 4, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Andalucía (Rough Guides, 9th edition); Walking in Andalucía by Guy Hunter-Watts (Cicerone, 1st edition).

Maps. Costa del Sol (Axarquia) Tour & Trail, 1:40,000, Discovery Walking Guides.

See also. La Axarquia; Competa and Canillas de Albaida; La Maroma.

Day 1: Travel to Nerja-Cuevas. Left work at 1.05 pm and arrived at the airport car park at 2 pm. Plane left at 3.20 pm and arrived in Malaga at 7.25 pm local time. Caught 7.54 pm train into Malaga and 8.15 pm bus to Nerja-Cuevas, arriving 9.55 pm. Found hotel (pre-booked) and had a very good dinner (they serve until 10.30 pm).

Day 2: Climb Pico del Cielo (see maps). Started walking at 10.05 am, following route on information board at the start. It is a bulldozed track up to about 800 m above sea-level and, after that, a footpath of high quality until the last 250 m of ascent, when it becomes steep and a little eroded. Summited Pico del Cielo (1508 m) at 1.45 pm, spent 20 min on summit, although the clouds were rapidly moving in, and then retraced my steps, arriving back at the hotel at 5.20 pm (so 7 h 15 min walking). Had a couple of beers sitting outside and then dinner.

Day 3: Walk to Frigiliana (see maps). Left hotel at 10 am and, in essence, followed the route of “Walk 19: Maro to Frigiliana” from Guy Hunter-Watts’ Walking in Andalucía (see Books), as in 2012. This route is now part of both the GR242 and GR249 footpaths. Instead of walking along the dirt track to the picnic site at El Pinarillo, this time I dropped down into the pleasantly green and shady barranco to the left of the track and followed this for a couple of kilometres, as shown on the Costa del Sol (Axarquia) Tour & Trail map. Arrived in Frigiliana at 4.20 pm (so 6 h 20 min walking), found my hospederia, and had a tasty Polish dinner.

Day 4: Climb El Fuerte (see maps). Left the hotel at 10.20 am and climbed up first to look at the site of the Castillo de Lizar, on a hill directly above Frigiliana. I then continued up the ridge to the summit of El Fuerte (980 m), which I reached at 12.40 pm. There were excellent views from the summit: I could see La Maroma (2066 m) clearly and could just make out the North African coast. On and near the summit there were some remains of drystone walling which the museum in Frigiliana later told me were believed to be Roman. Descended by the same route back to the village square for 2.40 pm (so 4 h 20 min walking). I then spent an hour or so down in the gorge of the Rio Higuerón (thus repeating the end of Day 3’s walk) looking for butterflies, before returning to my hospederia and going out for a couple of €1 manzanillas and pizza.

Day 5: Walk to Nerja (see maps); travel home. Left Frigiliana at 10.35 am and dropped down into the Rio Higuerón gorge, turning south towards Nerja. There was quite a lot of water in the river (a good test for the waterproof membrane in my boots!) and so I took a path that climbed up out of the gorge and joined the track skirting the hill of Cerro Pinto. This track becomes a concrete road that descends to the Rio Chillar just above its confluence with the Higuerón. I then followed the Chillar until it entered the town of Nerja, arriving about 1.05 pm (so 2 h 30 min walking). Had a sit-down lunch and then caught the 4.25 pm bus to Malaga, the train out to the airport, and my slightly delayed flight at about 8.55 pm. Arrived back at Edinburgh airport at 10.45 pm local time and was home about 12.15 am.

Wildlife seen. Spanish Festoon, Wall Brown, Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Swallowtail, Red Admiral, Clouded Yellow, Iberian Ibex, Red Squirrel.

Other useful links. Alsa buses

Bus services from Malaga

Axarquía tourist information

Reflections. I was very lucky with the weather on this occasion; on Days 3 and 4 especially it was unseasonably warm and sunny. The countryside was even more lovely than I remembered but, although there was plenty of wildlife around, it was the same as I had seen in February 2012; I guess I should visit later in the spring. The advantage of stopping two nights at each location (an unusual step for me) was that I could do the climbs on Days 2 and 4 with much reduced weight in my rucksack.

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