El Torcal National Park is known for it’s unusual limestone rock formations. It is located about 30 km north of Málaga near Antequera. The National Park is 17 square km of beautiful and impressive limestone landscapes and meant to be one of the best in Europe, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We drove up to 1100 m above sea level along the access road into the park. The road is quite steep but in good condition although it does narrow as you reach the top where the parking area is.
There is a view point on the drive up which gave incredible views.
There were several motorhomes parked up and you can even stay the night.
There is an information centre, small museum and a cafe.
It is hard to believe the whole area was under sea until one hundred million years ago. The violent movements of the Earth’s crust forced it upward into hills and mountains up to 1300 m. The limestone still kept its layered horizontal formation and over the millions of years the rain and wind have been able to chisel away at these layers to form incredible shapes.
There are three walking trails available to do from the car park and some incredible view points. The walks have been marked out with different coloured arrows on wooden sticks. The green route is the shortest and easiest at 1.5 km and apparently takes about 30 minutes. The yellow route covers most of the green area and is 2.5 km long and takes you to “Las Ventanillas” (The Windows), at 1200 m for panoramic views of the valley of Málaga. Finally the red route is the longest and most difficult at 4.5 km and takes about three hours, with a viewing point 1339 m up, where you can see the whole of the El Torcal Park and the Africa Coastline.
It’s so different to anything we have seen before and definitely recommend it for a day out.
