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By carLuis Rogelio HM — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Sierra de Cazorla

Jaén, Andalusia, Spain · Spain

Two thousand one hundred square kilometres of mountains in eastern Jaén: the largest protected area in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. Here the Guadalquivir is born, at one thousand three hundred and fifty metres, as a thread of water among stones, and here Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente filmed much of 'El Hombre y la Tierra'. It is a park too large to see whole: you pick a valley and take it slowly, among pine woods, limestone gorges and villages clinging to the rock.

3 days2 nights154 km9 stopsBest season: Spring and autumn. Spring brings the rivers in full flow and the paths at their best; autumn brings the deer rut, which here you hear from the road. Summer is hot and crowded, and in winter it can snow and close a track or two.

Day 1The gateway to the range Day 2Where the Guadalquivir begins Day 3Walkways, reservoir and a village on the edge

Day 1 · The gateway to the range

Cazorla, La Iruela and the Puerto de las Palomas · 17 km

Luis Rogelio HM — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Cazorla

history

The gateway to the park, wedged between the Peñón de los Halcones and the valley. It is laid out around three linked squares, and the Corredera is known as the Egg for its oval shape. Above looms the Yedra castle, and below lie the ruins of Santa María, a Renaissance church attributed to Vandelvira, ruined by a flood in 1694 and later by Napoleon's troops.

Tip

Santa María has been open to the sky ever since and is used as an open space: one of the oddest and best places in town. And this is where to fill the tank and buy supplies: inside the park there is almost nothing.

5 min to the next stop · 2 km

Ziegler175 — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

La Iruela

viewpoints

Two kilometres from Cazorla and joined to it, with a Templar castle perched on a rock needle that looks impossible. From below it is hard to see how it was built up there, and from above you see the whole Guadalquivir valley.

Tip

It is a half-hour stop that almost everyone skips, heading straight for the mountains. The keep sits on the crag, and the classical-looking theatre below is modern, so do not be fooled.

20 min to the next stop · 13 km

Axel Cotón Gutiérrez — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Puerto de las Palomas

viewpoints

A pass at twelve hundred metres with a lookout taking in the upper Guadalquivir valley from end to end. It is the first time you see the park's real size: two thousand one hundred square kilometres, the largest protected area in Spain.

Tip

Drive slowly from here on and especially at dawn and dusk: these mountains have free-roaming red deer, fallow deer and mouflon, and they cross the road often.

Day 2 · Where the Guadalquivir begins

Cerrada del Utrero, Herrerías and the source · 66 km

Luis Rogelio HM — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

La Cerrada del Utrero

nature

A narrow gorge the newborn Guadalquivir has cut into the limestone, with a walkway hung above the water. The circular path is a kilometre and a half. Halfway round appears the Linarejos waterfall, known here as the Horse's Tail.

Tip

It takes forty-five minutes and suits almost anyone. It is one of the few places where you see the Guadalquivir still as a mountain river, before it becomes what reaches Seville.

35 min to the next stop · 15 km

Audalix — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Puente de las Herrerías

heritage

A single-arched stone bridge over the upper Guadalquivir, in a pine-shaded picnic area beside the water. Tradition says it was raised in a single night by the blacksmiths of Isabella the Catholic's army so the queen could cross on her way to the conquest of Granada.

Tip

It is the best place in the park to stop and eat, with tables and shade by the river. Make the most of it, because the rest of the day is forest track.

25 min to the next stop · 11 km

Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The source of the Guadalquivir

nature

At the Cañada de las Fuentes, at one thousand three hundred and fifty metres, the river that made Andalusia possible wells up as a trickle: the one that waters the plains, that carried ships to Seville and the great river of al-Andalus, which gave it its Arabic name. Here it is barely a spurt between stones.

Tip

You get there by forest track, and many of these tracks have restricted hours: check at the visitor centre before driving up. The contrast between this thread of water and what reaches Sanlúcar is what makes the stop.

Day 3 · Walkways, reservoir and a village on the edge

Borosa, the Tranco and Hornos · 71 km

Antonio Granero — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The river Borosa and the Cerrada de Elías

nature

The park's most famous path: it climbs the Borosa on wooden walkways pinned to the rock wall, between pools of an impossible green. The full route is twenty-two kilometres there and back to the source, but the Cerrada de Elías, which is the spectacular stretch, lies about four kilometres in.

Tip

You do not need to do it all. Walk to the Cerrada de Elías and turn back: about two and a half hours and you get the best of it. It starts at the fish farm next to the Torre del Vinagre, where the park visitor centre is.

40 min to the next stop · 26 km

Ziegler175 — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The Tranco reservoir

nature

The great reservoir that dams the Guadalquivir in the middle of the park, with the road skirting it for kilometres. This stretch is called the Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente Route because much of 'El Hombre y la Tierra' was filmed here, the series that taught Spain what it had at home.

Tip

At the Collado del Almendral there is a wildlife park where you see red deer, fallow deer and mouflon in semi-freedom. You drive through it in half an hour.

25 min to the next stop · 17 km

José Manuel Martínez Carrillo — CC BY-SA 3.0 es (Wikimedia Commons)

Hornos de Segura

viewpoints

A village perched on a rock spur above the reservoir, its houses hanging off the edge and a castle of Muslim origin at the point. In the castle tower there is an astronomical observatory, and at night the sky over these mountains is among the darkest in Andalusia.

Tip

Walk to the lookout at the end of the village, where the rock runs out: you see the whole Tranco and all the Sierra de Segura. It is the best possible way to end the trip.

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