Holidays in Grazalema

Another circular route, the Cerro de Coros walk is short but stunning and with vantage points for raptor watching. The 3.5 km circular walk takes 2 hrs only but you are likely to spend a lot longer if the eagles, vultures and other raptors are flying.

We include directions for this walk along with much more information for Grazalema in the detailed Local Guide we send to Rustical Travel holidaymakers.

Permits for the protected routes are limited to 25 people per day. They are available at Grazalema Tourist Office which has been remodelled and reopened in October 2014. Routes to Garganta Verde, Pinsaper, Torreón and Llanos de Ravel are off-limits in July and August when the fire risk is at its greatest and the summer heat constitutes a deterrent in itself.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

A fascinating choice is the Ruta de la Via Verde, which goes from Olvera to Puerto Serrano following an old railway track (built in the 1930s and never used) through countryside and a series of 30 tunnels. Olvera is 45 mins from Grazalema. The route of 39 km takes 3 hrs 30 mins and is mostly downhill, graded "easy". Bookable with bicycle hire from a local agency.

SPA BATHS

We rate this as one of the star attractions in the village. Located centrally and created with imagination, the home-made spa facilities include a 35⁰C hot pool with massage jets for tired legs, a rain corridor, cold bucket plunger, mist shower, hot-and-cold alternating shower, sauna and massage room. Excellent for walkers and bike riders after a long trek.

NEILSON GALLERY

Art works by Spanish and international artists, with changing exhibitions. Also has free WiFi.

ARCHITECTURE

On the main Plaza de España are the 18th century La Aurora church, the parish church of La Encarnación and the Town Hall (Ayuntamiento). Visit also the 17th century church of San José, formerly a Carmelite convent with paintings by one of Murillo's students. Close by is a viewpoint with a lovely view over the village.

CHEESE FACTORY

Just outside town on the road up is Queso Payoyo, which is open to the public. Try the goat or sheep cheese, or the combination of the two. Also, natural yoghurts. Local produce par excellence!

TEXTILE FACTORY

Grazalema's once famed mantas are still produced by one small factory on the road to Ronda, Artesanía-Textil de Grazalema. They remain sought after, in particular by Andalucian equestrian centres and horseriders.

ARROYOMOLINOS SWIMMING LAGOON AND BEACH

25 minutes from Grazalema, by Zahara Lake and at the foot of Mount Prieto, is a delightful and well-kept recreational area with a large lagoon for swimming and lawns with shade under trees. Playita Arroyomolinos is good for toddlers, too, with easily accessible shallows for paddling along the water's edge. Inflatables are allowed.

It's a fabulous destination for a picnic and a swim between olive groves and mountains. There are lifeguards, bar-restaurant, barbecues, play areas, toilets and secure car parking.

RONDA MOUNTAINS AND VILLAGES

Drive round the old whitewashed villages of the Ronda mountains, inhabited since Neanderthal times and visit caves that prove it. There are many routes, but one that people always enjoy is the easy drive round through Montejaque and Benaoján villages, continuing south to La Pileta cave, where prehistoric paintings and fossilized Stone Age skeletons were discovered in 1905. A lovely walk long the picturesque valley combines with the little train running between Benoaján and Jimar villages.
Read more about Ronda Mountains and villages

RONDA TOWN

A major attraction. The small historic city of museums, bandits, Hemingway and Orson Welles, shopping and the oldest bullring in Spain, famously divided by a bridge over a yawning chasm, is 30 minutes from Grazalema.

BEST OF THE REST

Zahara de la Sierra (25 mins)

On the lake (it's a reservoir, really, but you wouldn't know it), Zahara village is reached along the high mountain road that links the two villages via the Puerto de Las Palomas pass. Zahara is one of the better known white villages thanks to its spectacular rocky perch and the beautiful backdrop of the Sierra del Pinar. Atop the village, the old Moorish tower is just the place to watch the sunset over the water. There's also an excellent restaurant for overlooking the lake for a special dinner.

Paragliding (30 mins)

Algodonales is a major site for hang-gliding and powered paragliding. A paragliding school offers flights in tandem, no experience needed.

Gaucin (1 hr 15 mins)

Gaucin is one of Andalusia's most popular "white villages." Blessed with a Mediterranean climate, the village sits hitched up in its mountain setting 630 metres above sea level. The Mediterranean and sandy beaches are just half an hour away. Gaucin is presided over by "Eagle Castle." Holidaymakers who today enjoy superb views of the Strait of Gibraltar, the Rock itself, and all the way across to the Rif Mountains in Morocco, can imagine how important the strategic view once was to the castle defenders.
Read more about Gaucin

Jerez (1 hr 15 mins)

There are two very good reasons for visiting Jerez. One is to see the Royal Equestrian School, the other to visit its sherry bodegas. The González Byass bodega visit is particularly well organised and there is plenty of fino to be tasted at the end of your visit.

FIESTAS

Grazalema likes its fiestas. Naturally, these are supplementary to Spain's national fiestas which decree even more days off through the calendar.

A mini-pilgrimage, the Romería de San Isidro Labrador, is made on the last Sunday in May and shortly afterwards, on June 13th, the village fêtes Saint Antony.

Come July, and it's time for the Fiestas de la Carmen, which take place in the third week of the month and culminate on a Monday with the tradition of the toro de cuerda. The village divides into two groups and each tries to pull a bull, roped around its horns, into their adversaries' terrain.

A couple of weeks later, on the first Sunday in August, nearby Benamahoma celebrates the festival of Moors and Christians with a mock battle.
Grazalema then gears up again for its main summer festival Las Fiestas Mayores de Grazalema. In the third week in August, Grazalema is decorated with woodland garlands and the town celebrates with music, dance and numerous outdoor activities for all, from the youngest to the oldest.

A modest respite is now granted before the day of the Virgen de los Angeles, its patron saint, is celebrated on September 8th.

FOOD AND DRINK

Grazalema's historical isolation explains the traditional predominance of game on the dinner table, hunted on the hills served fresh, along with mushrooms in season. Typical local dishes include lamb, trout, bean soups, a unique asparagus gazpacho, wild mushrooms, dairy sponge and almond cake.

Vegetarians may like to try the asparagus soup, boletus mushroom croquettes, grilled vegetables and tagarninas, which we think are unique to Grazalema: freshly peeled pines with a texture of thick asparagus, served in season up until July.

For self-catering, there are three supermarkets close to the main square (Plaza de España) and one of them always opens on Sunday. For eating out, little Grazalema offers has a good number of restaurants, normally fairly cheap:

•  Casa de las Piedras - It has a young and dynamic management and is inventive without going astray with it or being precious. Attentive staff, a pleasant atmosphere, good prices, and, most importantly, well-prepared, interesting and delicious dishes making the most if local ingredients.

•  Zulema - It has a terrace on a traffic-free square and a well-priced, simple set lunch menu.

•  Cadiz el Chico - It boasts a Michelin star, yet is not especially expensive. Speciality is lamb roasted in a wood oven, also venison, wild boar and rabbit and home-made desserts. It has some very good wines from a bodega in Zahara and a group visit can be arranged there on request.

•  Torreón - It has an extensive menu from fish to game to stuffed sirloin steak. Some vegetarian dishes, also.

•  El Simancón - Situated on a quiet square, it serves a 3-course set meal in the evening as well. Specialises in meat dishes, occasionally has fresh fish such as trout or swordfish.

•  El Pinsapar - It uses fresh seasonal ingredients in traditional cooking at reasonable prices.

•  Mirador el Tajo - It has fantastic views from its cliffside location next to the municipal swimming pool.

•  Rumores - It is a popular breakfast spot with a great variety of newly baked bread rolls for toasting and freshly squeezed orange juice. It has its own pastry shop (pastelería).

Bars and restaurants usually offer tapas (small portions), or raciones, which are often available as half rations or full rations, so trying lots of different dishes is a great option for dining out.

Unlike other regions of Andalucia like Granada, tapas are not free here, but you can choose what you like to eat with your drink for a small price.

It is from mid-to-late October until mid-to-late April that this changes and you are likely to experience heavy rainfall, the characteristic downpours which make Grazalema such a statistical oddity.

Annual precipitation in Grazalema is an average 2,100 litres per m². Compare that to desert-like Almeria, also in Andalucia, which receives an average 150 litres per m²!

But that's only half the story. What's more curious is that while the total annual rainfall can be twice that of a wet spot in the UK or Ireland, the number of hours of sun is more than double. From November to April, it can rain three times as much as it does in London in an entire year. But then the summer is hot, sunny and dry.

Why is this?

After the long summer season, the Atlantic influence starts to make itself felt, and it is then that the climate begins to reflect Grazalema's mountainous aspect. Even so, a certain Andalucian warmth lingers until late in the year and temperate winds mean that icy temperatures and snow are most unusual, even in deepest winter. If the sea lies too distant to moderate temperatures and create the conditions for a semi-tropical Andalucian climate, it is nonetheless close enough for the south-west winds which arrive from the Atlantic Ocean full of heavily humid clouds to deposit their cargo of rain on Grazalema.

The area lies in the lee of the Sierra del Pinar, the first natural barrier for the banks of clouds which blow into the Iberian Peninsula from the ocean to be "crushed" against the sierra and release impressively sudden quantities of rain.

These atypical conditions, with a high amount of rain collected quickly in brief periods, are quite a paradox, since Andalucia is regarded (even within Spain) as such a dry region. The particular climate goes in fact to explain the special attractiveness of the Grazalema area. Not only is it green and healthy when elsewhere in Spain is dry-yellow and heat-baked, but rains have also sculpted a fascinating landscape of peaks, ravines and deep caves from the limestone terrain. As limestone is porous, the ground dries rapidly and walking routes are free from becoming wet or boggy.

Grazalema is exciting for nature-lovers. The exceptional weather conditions permit the survival of the famous Pinsapar (Spanish Fir forest), which occupies an area the northern slopes of the Grazalema mountains. The pinsapo is an ancient tree, and this is the kind of forest you would expect in Siberia or the Alps: here in hot, sunny Andalucia it is positively exotic; it's as if a piece of the Alps had been airlifted and set down in southern Spain!

The rains die away in the spring and then the long, dry season may stem some of the rivers but not all, and summer swimming in Grazalema rivers is not unusual.

GRAZALEMA CLIMATE SUMMARY

Grazalema has its own unique Mediterranean mountain climate, generally warm and mild, with long dry summers, but very wet winters.

The road in network in southern Spain is good and well-maintained, roads are quieter than in many other European countries, and parking in Grazalema's large car park by the village square is free.

Driving times from the airports above are shown on the villa's individual property page. You will receive a map with detailed directions for your holiday villa as one of your holiday documents from Rustical Travel.

Rustical Travel doesn't have a professional arrangement with any particular car hire company and we suggest you shop around for car hire using a broker such as rentalcars.com or similar.

It's easy to compare prices of rentals with companies that operate at the airport you fly into, and all the reputable agencies have online payment for advance booking these days.

You don't have to use the broker. If you prefer, you can check the car hire companies own websites, compare prices, and book direct.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

There are just two buses a day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, between Grazalema and Malaga, and between Grazalema and Ronda.

Hiring a car makes life much easier for both getting there and exploring the area.