HF Holidays bring guests here as part of their innovative Classic Wanderer self-guided walking holiday programme, and most of these arrive in the Alpujarras region after a short flight to Malaga from the UK. A hire car is essential for getting into the hills, and it is a good three and a half hour drive from Malaga up into the Alpujarras to your first hotel, the fantastically situated Hotel Alcazaba de Busquistar, just south of the mountain village of Trevélez. Although a lengthy drive, finding the hotel is easy thanks to the detailed information pack that HF sends out to all of their guests prior to departure.

Why a self-guided walking holiday? You may well ask! Well, HF realise that many people prefer to have the space to relax while on holiday, allowing them to choose for themselves how far to walk each day, which walks to do on any given day, when to stop for a rest, when to have lunch, and a whole host of other things that are not possible when you are part of a large group. They therefore devised a package holiday where you, the guest, decide all of these matters. The only way this can be done is to allow guests the freedom to lead the walks themselves, whilst providing all the information that is needed to enjoy the walks comfortably in a safe though thoroughly enjoyable manner.

Rooms at the Hotel Alcazaba de Busquistar are typically Alpujarran in style, being simply but comfortably furnished, while meals are served in the spacious dining room with views across the wooded defile of the Rio Trevélez valley, and on to the high summits of the Sierra Nevada beyond.

My first day’s walk started just up this valley at Trevélez itself. Storm clouds scudded across the high peaks, but swallowtail, Spanish festoon, clouded yellow and Queen of Spain fritillary butterflies flitted among the trees of the valley, each bough weighted with singing warblers and nightingales. The walk headed up the Rio Trevélez via a good path along its west bank. This track is an ancient drovers route crossing the Sierra Nevada via the high col of Puerto de Trevélez at 2799 metres, but the route for today only goes as far as the head of the valley to an old shepherd’s summer house, or cortijo, at Haza Parrilla before returning via the same route. From the cortijo the mountains of Cerro Pelado and Cerro de Trevélez block onwards progress by any other route than the drover’s pass, each summit being capped by snow-engulfed rocks. A goatherd with his multi-coloured flock was the only other person I saw during the day, such is the solitude that can be found in the Alpujarras. He just nodded almost imperceptibly as I stood aside to allow his flock the security of the track, mumbled “hola” as he went, and disappeared down the valley.

The second walk is much more adventurous, tackling as it does the steep and rocky western flank of a peak called Peña de los Papos. This again starts from Trevélez, setting out southwards along the long-distance route of the GR7. However, it soon forsakes this well-worn path and you find yourself following the Route Directions provided by HF Holidays. The walk climbs gradually up to the rocky nose of Peñabón, itself a grand viewpoint, or mirador, with the highest peak of the Sierra Nevada, Mulhacén, filling the westward panorama. At 3479 metres high Mulhacén is mainland Spain’s highest mountain, far surpassing the peaks of the Pyrenees. Only Pico del Teide in Tenerife is higher at 3718 metres.

Above Peñabón, which is really only a ridge of the higher peak, Peña de los Papos rises to 2533 metres and gives a real taste of the kind of terrain that must be crossed to take on these higher mountains of the Sierra Nevada. As I stood by the summit marker, a golden eagle flew into the wind from behind my back, vanishing within minutes as it cleared a broken ridge far away on the north-eastern horizon. Golden eagles are far commoner here than back in the UK, and sighting them became an almost daily occurrence.

After your ascent of Peña de los Papos the next day takes on much easier ground, but first you check out of the Hotel Alcazaba de Busquistar and take the short and thoroughly enjoyable drive around the valley to the little village of Mecina, where you will stay in the Hotel Albergue de Mecina for the remainder of your holiday. Again this is a comfortable, friendly place, and the staff welcome you even if you book in early in the morning, as I did. This allows you to leave the car at the hotel and head off around the circuit of the Taha villages with the full day ahead of you in which to enjoy yourself.

Although basically an easy valley walk, this is possibly one of the most scenic days of the holiday. You start from Mecina by descending steeply via a wood-lined stream to the village of Fondales, right down in the valley bottom. As you walk golden orioles flash between the trees while black kites and the occasional golden eagle circle overhead. From Fondales the route takes you right down to the gushing waters of the Rio Trevélez at what is known as Roman Bridge, before climbing quite steeply back up to the delightful village of Ferreirola.

All of these villages are similar, comprising dozens of white-washed houses clustered around a church, each being linked by narrow passages and tinao, or overhead walkways. During the hot summers families in the Alpujarras often move out onto the flat roofs of their houses to live, and these tinao allow easy passage above the street to visit the neighbours. As you walk along the lanes children play in the narrow cobbled streets, while the occasional car manages somehow to squeeze between the walls of the houses, taking pedestrians unawares.

The walk leaves Ferreirola via a path heading eastwards around a rocky nose full of summer flowers, then starts a gentle traverse high above the white water of the Rio Trevélez and on to the next village of the Taha district, Busquistar. You climb steeply uphill through the village, emerging on the road high up the slope, then turn left and follow this for a short while until a track on the left leads into the sanctuary of flower-filled meadows and a little overgrown mule track leading down to an ancient mill on the outskirts of Atalbeitar, the next Taha village. Only a short section of road walking leads to a wooded gorge up which you climb to the large village of Pitres before the final hop back down the hill to your hotel in Mecina.

Meals in the Hotel Albergue de Mecina are served in the old dining room with wooden and slate ceilings, and the extensive menu leaves you wishing you could stay for a fortnight to try everything.

Waking early the next day you face a short drive around the valleys of the Alpujarras and out onto the rolling olive fields of Granada. A day is left aside during this holiday during which you are advised to visit Granada itself and the beautiful Alhambra Palace. Tickets need to be booked for this in advance, and here again the staff at the Hotel Albergue de Mecina are more than happy to assist. There are four separate parts to the Alhambra, including the Alcazaba, a ruined 11th century fortress, the Casa Real (the Royal Palace itself), the Generalife, with gardens and pavilions used as the Sultan’s summer palace, and finally the Palace of Carlos V. Also worth a look in Granada itself is the Cathedral and the nearby Royal Chapel, while the old districts of Sacromonte and Albaicín are also interesting to explore, the former being the traditional gypsy quarter of the city, now full of flamenco bars. Many gypsies still inhabit cave homes here up on Sacromonte Hill, although a lot deserted their traditional homes following the great flood of 1962.

After a rest from the hills you will be raring to go on Day 6. The walk today starts at the village of Capileira high up at the head of the valley holding the Poqueira Gorge. You start by threading your way through the streets and out to a mirador above the tree filled valley. High peaks crowd the valley’s head, showing the snow-topped summits of Veleta and Cerro de los Machos. Today you have a choice of walks, either short or long, and thankfully you don’t have to decide which is for you until you’re a couple of hours into it. You start by crossing the river and following a delightful path above its western bank as common blue butterflies flit from flower to flower and Italian wall lizards dart for cover as you approach. Near the head of the valley above La Cebadilla a path climbs steeply up the hill to the north-west, while another descends easily to a track by the river itself. This is where the two routes divide. The longer one heads up the steep path before contouring around an ablation valley taking the fast flowing waters of the Rio del Toril, and although lengthening the day, the views across the way to Mulhacén are impressive to say the least. The walking isn’t too difficult and you soon find yourself descending via a water pipeline to La Cebadilla where the shorter route is picked up. It is then an easy matter of following the track southwards back into Capileira.

The final walking day begins at Bubión, the next village down the valley from Capileira. Again you start by crossing the Poqueira Gorge, but today you follow obscure mule tracks steeply up to the ridge that forms the western side of the valley. Good tracks take you up the last stage before La Atalaya, or The Lookout, is reached right on the ridge itself. Just below La Atalaya, but still on the ridge lies the secluded Tibetan Buddhist retreat of Osel Ling, meaning Clear Light. From here a young boy has been chosen to train as a prospective Dalai Lama in India after being recognised by the present Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Yeshé, a former ringpoche, or head lama. The return route takes tracks back down to Capileira before your drive back to Mecina for the night.

Depending on the time of your flight home from Malaga on the last day, you may have time for some sightseeing in Nerja or Malaga itself before jumping on the plane home. Malaga has more to offer than first impressions would suggest. It was the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, and there is a Moorish castle and a Roman theatre to explore. However, for me there is only one way to end a trip to the Alpujarras. Make up a sandwich of traditional Trevélez ham and drive up onto the mountain ridge of the Sierra de la Contraviesa across the Rio Guadalfeo to the south. Park up and have a picnic, gazing one last time at the magnificent views of the Sierra Nevada and the Alpujarras to the north.

Factfile

For more information on this and many more self-guided walking holidays contact HF Holidays Ltd, Imperial House, Edgware Road, London. NW9 5AL, or look on their website at www.classicwanderer.co.uk. You can make a reservation on 020 8511 1525, or email them at info@hfholidays.co.uk