Garganta Verde on the free permit, then three white villages

Zahara de la Sierra, Grazalema

1. 8:40 am1

   The CA-9104 over the pass to the trailheadZahara de la Sierra

   The lay-by holds maybe fifteen cars and there is nowhere else to leave one. The Grazalema-Zahara pass is the best drive in Andalucia and it is worth doing early for the light on Zahara's castle rock.

2. 9:20 am2

   Show the Junta de Andalucia permit at the gateZahara de la Sierra

   Free, but compulsory and genuinely enforced. Request it up to two months ahead through the Ventana del Visitante site; a PDF arrives by email and the forest guard reads it off your phone. The trail is closed 1 June to 15 October for griffon vulture nesting, which is what makes this a winter and spring walk rather than a summer one.

3. 9:35 am3

   Down into the gorge to the Ermita caveZahara de la Sierra

   Two and a half kilometres down, 400 m of descent, and every metre of it has to be climbed back out - budget the return at twice the descent. The griffon colony nests on the walls above and you hear them before you see them. The 'Ermita' at the bottom is a travertine cave the size of a chapel.

4. 12:30 pm4

   Mirador de los Buitres on the way outZahara de la Sierra

   Five minutes off the path near the rim. At midday the vultures ride the thermals level with your head and close enough to hear the primaries.

5. 1:30 pm5

   Lunch above the reservoir at Al LagoZahara de la Sierra

   Terrace over the turquoise embalse at the bottom of the village. Closed Mondays and it shortens its hours in deep winter, so ring the same morning. Ask for the lower terrace.

6. 3:30 pm6

   Up to Zahara's Nasrid keepZahara de la Sierra

   Twenty minutes of steps up from the church, free, and the only spot where the reservoir and the Pinsapar ridge sit in the same frame.

7. 5 pm7

   The blanket mill at GrazalemaGrazalema

   The last working wool mill in the sierra, on the edge of the village. Blankets run roughly ninety to a hundred and forty euros. Grazalema is the wettest place in Spain, which is exactly why the pinsapo firs and the wool trade are both here.

   3 min walk · 50 m
8. 8 pm8

   Dinner at Cadiz El ChicoGrazalema

   On the plaza and the only serious kitchen in the village, so book. Sopa de tomate grazalemena first, then the payoyo goat cheese from the farms you drove past this morning.