The Alhama gorge can be walked directly from the centre of Alhama de Granada and provides a wonderful walk lasting around 1.5-2 hours depending on your speed. As the gorge is deep and there are many trees at the base, it provides some shade and is significantly cooler than the town, enabling the gorge to be walked at most times of the day.
The walk starts just behind the tourist information office, and descends a zig-zagging path to the remains of an old flour mill, which is fed by waterworks from the river. The signs of human use of the river, through irrigation channels and channels to drive water wheels can be seen pretty much throughout the walk.
As you continue up the gorge the sides start to close in and the cliffs tower above you. The gorge is approximately 50m deep in places, but is never difficult to negotiate, with a well-made large path along the entire walk.
In the base of cliffs you can see the remains of houses which were built into the sides of the cliffs. It is possible to look inside some of these and some are used as livestock pens overnight. A couple of the larger cliff houses looked like they might still be lived in, although we are not sure on this.
The next big feature you come to is a church/shrine in the cliff. This is said to be built by a Christian knight who, whilst riding at night, accidentally fell with his horse around 50m to the base of the gorge. He prayed, and was spared death, building the chapel as a result.
After this, the gorge starts to open out again, and a short distance further on a bridge is reached. If you cross this and continue for a short distance, a small lake is reached, with a couple of nice restaurants around it.
To complete the walk, simply return the way you came, back down the gorge and back into the centre of Alhama for a well-earned stop in a bar for a refreshing drink and ice cream.
Our other top tips for things to do in the surrounding area include visiting the Sierra Nevada mountains, exploring Alhama de Granada, visiting Largo Bemejales and going underground at the Nerja caves.
An Outdoors Family 