Things to do on a Rest Day in El Chorro 2023
So you’ve spent the past five days on your project. The skin on your fingers is wearing thin, your knees are bashed, your body aches and you just can’t pull as hard as you should be able to; you hate to admit it, but you think you might need a rest day.
But El Chorro is a tiny village in the Spanish countryside with a population of 245. There can’t possibly be enough things to do to fill a rest day, right? Wrong. There’s so much to do. You could easily fill an entire holiday without touching a single seam of limestone. Below are some of our favourite picks for filling a rest day between climbs.
El Caminito del Rey
The boardwalk snaking through the Caminito del Rey gorge at the halfway point
Yeah, yeah, we know. You’re a dirtbag climber accustomed to organising your own adventures and the Caminito is a day trip excursion for touristy types staying in Malaga who want a sanitised taste of regulated adrenaline that carefully ticks all of the health and safety boxes. But hear me out. Because the Caminito del Rey is awesome.
We had to book onto a guided tour because the Rey sells only a limited number of unguided tickets but as soon as we were in we ditched the tour guide and did it at our own, much more leisurely pace. The boardwalk through the gorge is simply stunning with some serious exposure in places but climbers will most enjoy spotting all of the old bolts and chains along the boardwalk, which have been left in the walls of the gorge. It’s a fascinating insight into the history of climbing in El Chorro and if you keep an eye out on the far side of the ravine, you’ll even see ropes still fixed from abandoned climbs. These were some serious routes.
We paid 18€ per ticket, which we purchased directly through the official website, but you can also book onto a guided tour of the Caminito del Rey. Keep 2.50€ in your wallet for the shuttle bus to take you back to the car park at the end of the walk or simply stick your thumb out and hitch a ride – plenty do. Alternatively, if you don’t have access to a vehicle you can walk into the village of El Chorro and take the shuttle bus to the start of the walk – the walk concludes in El Chorro itself.
El Torcal de Antequera
Ruth looking perplexed in front of the limestone formations of El Torcal de Antequara
Probably our surprise highlight of the trip. You’ll need a car to get to El Torcal and it’s around an hour’s drive from El Chorro but an hour seems like petty change to find yourself in a completely alien landscape.
The nature reserve is showered in otherworldly karst limestone formations; fields of Jurassic boulders that have been shaped into pancake stacks and altars by water erosion. You can park at the bottom of the hill and take the shuttle bus to the summit but we recommend making the 3km hike, which you can find by turning left off of the road about 100m above the carpark. It makes the boulder fields at the top all the more rewarding when you finally reach them, plus you get to see some seriously cool stuff including a perfectly preserved impression of a large ammonite and a reconstructed medieval shepherd’s hut.
Once at the top, there are two circular trails around the boulder field. Of course, we recommend taking the longer trail – it’s roughly 3km and will take you around 90 minutes at a leisurely pace, weaving through Jenga stacks of boulders in a landscape that feels like it belongs to a different time. If you’re lucky you might even stumble onto the set of a sci-fi film. We were slightly disconcerted to encounter blue humanoids emerging from the foliage during our walk, which rather added to its otherworldly nature!
There’s also a gift shop, a small museum and a restaurant (complete with vegan menu!) that you can visit before catching the bus back down.
Wild swimming or kayaking
The turquoise waters of the Embalse Conde de Guadalhorce
A 20-minute drive to the northwest of El Chorro are the Guadalhorce and Guadalteba reservoirs. Three colossal bodies of water situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty, their shores are encircled by thick forest and their waters are an unblemished turquoise like something straight off the front of a postcard.
Follow the signs for the Caminito del Rey and turn right* at the roundabout with the large car park. Once the reservoir is in sight, find somewhere to park on the left – you can park on the side of the road or pay to park in the small car park intended for visitors to the Caminito. Then it’s just a case of scrambling down to the water and finding a quiet spot, which isn’t too difficult given that the majority of people bypass it for the Caminito. If you follow the shore around in an anti-clockwise direction, you’ll even find a nice cliff-jumping spot.
If you don’t fancy getting your feet wet, you can always hire a kayak for a couple of hours and explore the reservoir. Follow the directions above and you’ll see signs for kayak hire before you hit the private parking.
*You can also turn left where you’ll find multiple points to access the reservoir but, while they’re likely to be quieter, we didn’t find them nearly as beautiful.
Bobastro Ruins
Ryan exploring the Mozarabic church in the Bobastro Ruins
The Iberian Peninsula was, in the 9th century, a mecca of Muslim civilisation, the heart of which beat within Andalusia itself. The Bobastro Ruins are notable for being a thorn in that heart – a Christian enclave of Mozarabs and Muwallads who rebelled against their Muslim rulers, largely due to the hefty taxes they were subjected to. The rebellion was led by General Umar Ibn Hafsun, an antihero whose people carved their homes into the rocky landscape.
Much of the site remains unexcavated. You’ll spot a cistern along the trail and perhaps a few caves that once served as makeshift homes, but the main attraction is the Mozarab church itself. Carved into the sandstone, it sits proud in a clearing among the trees, its stone arches a jarring juxtaposition to the natural landscape; a unique marriage of human engineering and geological elegance. It is the only example of Mozarabic architecture that remains to us today. Do try to avoid the temptation to boulder it. As enticing a slab as it may look, the Bobastro Church Sit Start is one first ascent you do not need to claim.
As a largely overlooked and underfunded local attraction, it can be easy to miss the Bobastro Ruins. Follow signs for the Caminito and take the sharp left where indicated. Drive a kilometre or so up into the hills and look out for the layby on your right with a small open kiosk that could be mistaken for a bus stop. It’s opposite a path with a locked gate. There will likely be no-one around when you arrive; a tour guide returns to the kiosk every hour, on the hour to let tourists in. If the hour is an odd number, you’ll be lucky enough to get a guided tour. If it’s an even number, you’ll have to show yourself around, but at 3€ a ticket it’s hard to complain.
Via Ferrata
It feels like a bit of a cheat to include this, as it’s definitely a climbing-adjacent activity, but we’d be remiss not to recommend the stunning via ferrata route above Frontales. It offers breathtaking views over the reservoir, as well as a 30m zip wire and two canyon-spanning cable bridges to get your palms sweating. No matter how hard you’re climbing, none of the routes in El Chorro will give you a sense of exposure quite like this.
You’ll need a via ferrata lanyard, ideally with a tandem pulley but you can usually hire these at Aventur El Chorro or Finca La Campana.
These are our top picks for a day out in El Chorro that don’t require squeezing yourself into a pair of tiny Scarpas, but there’s loads to do that we haven’t covered such as 4x4 off-roading and horse riding. Get out there and explore, and don’t forget to check out our Beginner’s Guide to Climbing in El Chorro if you haven’t already!