Hikes in Alora

Caminito del Rey Guided route with shuttle from El Chorro.

Gradual hike offering featuring panoramic views, shaded forests and a short steep section to keep you on your toes!

El Chorro-> La Huma summit

Hike from the dam at Posada del Conde to the north entrance. Then continue through the gorge on the Caminito del Rey to El Chorro.

24.09.2024  Route through the Caminito del Rey with a quiet, low-crowd start

We start at Parking Ardales Caminito del Rey. We arrive just before the parking lot opens and there is plenty of space. Of course, we have reserved the day tickets so we are allowed to do the walk. Then enjoy! Enjoy the walk. OK, the walk is quite cultivated, but still great. We made a round trip. Not the usual bus return but just walking. And that was tough. The part after El Chorro is impressive. We were in the middle of a heatwave and the temperature was high (nearing 40 degrees).

01_GR 7 Stage El Chorro-Ardales

Spectacular hike.

7.6 km.  Impressive hike through the restored King's Path. Dizzying but no longer dangerous.

​Three rivers from the northern part of the province of Málaga thus converge to form the Guadalhorce River. To harness this hydropower for electricity generation, a canal was built between 1901 and 1905. To transport construction materials and maintain the facility, a spectacular and perilous footbridge—later known as the Caminito del Rey—was built into the sheer rock faces. Initially, however, the hydroelectric plant was dependent on the irregular water levels of the Guadalhorce River. Following severe flooding, construction of the Guadalhorce Reservoir began in 1907; upon its completion in 1921, it guaranteed a constant water flow. The Caminito del Rey (Little or Narrow King’s Path) was named after King Alfonso XIII, who inaugurated it on May 21, 1921. The trail was increasingly damaged by the elements, and fatal accidents occurred time and again, leading to its closure in 2001. After a thorough renovation, it reopened in 2015 and is now open to the public. I’m not really a fan of mass tourism. And the hiking trail on the Caminito del Rey definitely falls into that category! But it’s so spectacular from start to finish that you simply have to walk it. Part of that is the unique experience of hiking on walkways suspended up to 105 m above the valley floor of the gorge, clinging to vertical rock faces. The views are unforgettable. Over the course of millennia, the Guadalhorce River has carved out a fantastic landscape through faults and cracks in the limestone, as well as through dissolution processes associated with karst formation. The river’s mostly milky color stands in stark contrast to the gray and red limestone and dolomite cliffs.> We hike through the tunnel that begins to the right of Restaurant 01 El Kiosko, and at the next fork, we follow the path slightly to the right toward Caminito del Rey. You’ll pass through a sparse forest of Aleppo pines and walk past a substation. Below on the left, the Rio Turón still flows; after a few meters, it empties into the Embalse del Gaitanejo, through which the Rio Guadalhorce also flows. On the opposite bank, you can see a distinctive sandstone hill. Weathering has created honeycomb-like structures known as tafoni. After what has been a relatively quiet hike so far, crowds usually gather in front of the 02 Acceso Norte ticket booths. After passing the ticket booth—whether with or without a guide, but always wearing a helmet—the trail leads past the sandstone building of the Gaitanejo hydroelectric power plant to another dam, completed in 1927, which also serves to regulate the water flow. After a short walk, we then enter the 03 Gaitanejo Canyon, which is only 10 meters wide. The commemorative plaque there states that the restoration of El Caminito del Rey began on March 26, 2015. In fact, due to the public days of mourning, it actually began two days later. The reason for this was the tragic crash of a Germanwings plane, in which 150 people lost their lives. Since the commemorative plaque had already been completed, it was simply left as is. Above it is another commemorative plaque from 1921 honoring the engineer Rafael Benjumea Burín, Count of Guadalhorce, who spearheaded the development of hydroelectric power plants. Next comes a small tunnel, the former water channel.We also pass the so-called Puente del Rey (King’s Bridge), which King Alfonso XIII crossed during the aforementioned inauguration ceremony. The path through El Valle del Hoyo is less spectacular and leads past the ruins of the former settlement Cortijo del Hoyo. Next comes the most exciting and spectacular section of the tour: the crossing of the Gaitanes Gorge. Particularly impressive is the view from the Balcón de Cristal (a glass-bottomed observation deck) of the Peñón del Cristo cave across the way and the rock face popular with climbers. Another highlight is a suspension bridge that spans 35 meters from one rock face to the other and hovers 105 meters above the Guadalhorce River. Once past the bridge, be sure to turn around one last time. A geological treat comes into view: vertically folded “Jurassic limestones” that formed about 160 million years ago from sedimentary deposits in the sea and were subsequently folded. The trail continues along wooden walkways to the south exit, past the Ermita del Chorro and numerous kiosks, to the train and bus stop 05 Estación del Chorro. Take the shuttle bus back to the last stop, 01 El Kiosko.