El Torcal de Antequera

El Torcal de Antequera #CountryKids

I’ve visited Andalusia a lot of times since my parents emigrated over 10 years ago and visited at various times of the year.   We’ve travelled near and far, enjoying the sights of Cordoba and Granada, seen the apes in Gibraltar and walked up the Giralda in one of my favourite cities – Sevilla.  But in all the years I’ve visited the area I’d never been to El Torcal de Antequera.  I figured it was time to change that on our recent visit.

El Torcal de Antequera is approximately 30km north of Malaga and can be found close to Villanueva de la Concepción. It’s a wonderful limestone (karst) nature park, free to enter, with plenty of parking, a museum, toilets and cafe.

El Torcal de Antequera

Monkey is a good walker and we set off early to enjoy the park pretty much as soon as it opened at 10am.  It was averaging temperatures of 30 degrees whilst we were in Spain, and I could imagine it getting even hotter in El Torcal de Antequera by the middle of the day.

El Torcal de Antequera

There are a number of different trails available to follow.  I wish a map had been available as it would have been nice to visual each path before heading off.  Granny doesn’t cope too well in the heat so we settled for the shortest trail and off we set, with water bottles to hand.

El Torcal de Antequera

We couldn’t have picked a better day to enjoy the scenery, the karst outcrops were unlike anything Monkey had seen before.  They reminded me of an area just south of Santander that Daddy P and I had driven through when Monkey was a baby.

El Torcal de Antequera

El Torcal de Antequera is popular with school parties and we got overtaken by a horde of youngsters, but it wasn’t long before we were enjoying our peaceful surroundings again.

El Torcal de Antequera

Guru Gramps was in his element hunting for bugs, and Monkey was having a great time working out which rock to climb over as we navigated the trail.

This is not the place for a buggy, if you have younger children you will need a baby carrier and toddlers would need a lot of assistance.

El Torcal de Antequera

But a 5 and half year old Monkey was up for the challenge, and really the route wasn’t strenuous.

El Torcal de Antequera

We did need to stop quite often, we were so conscious of checking our footings that it was easy not to look up and soak in our surroundings.  Pitstops for water and snacks were the ideal times to just stop and enjoy.

Our walk took us about an hour and half, with stops, and I think if we went again by ourselves in the future we would try one of the longer trails.  But it was a good taster and Monkey coped with the terrain well.  He certainly deserved the ice cream that was waiting for him.

El Torcal de Antequera

We’d all worked up an appetite so decided to eat in the cafe, I can thoroughly recommend the Gazpacho, it was excellent.  The staff were friendly and attentive and menus were available in English if needed. (We normally prefer to read the Spanish ones but it’s nice to know they are available if you get stuck).

We were joined for lunch by one of the locals, not often you can get this close to a fox, Monkey was fascinated.

El Torcal de Antequera

Close to the cafe complex there is a wonderful Mirador viewing area with information about how El Torcal de Antequera came to be formed.  Yes Monkey, once all this was under the sea!

We all agreed that El Torcal de Antequera was definitely worth the visit and that we would return again.  You need good footwear, water supplies, especially at this time of year and most importantly, remember to look up!

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

25 thoughts on “El Torcal de Antequera #CountryKids

  1. Looks llke my kind of plac- chance to get back to my geography roots, although I wouldn’t be able to cope with the walking in that heat.

  2. You had me at the rocky cover photo – got to love a good rock formation! Looks like a really rewarding view and good walking from Monkey – impressive stuff. That fox looks way too furry to enjoy the summer in Andalusia. How strange to see it so close! #countrykids

  3. Wow what a great time and amazing views, it reminds me of Rough Tor here in many ways with the rocky outcrops, did you go up there when you stayed with us? Mind you there are no facilities at Rough Tor and cooler even on the warmest Cornish day I’m sure! A great place to explore and well done Monkey with all that trekking. Thank you for sharing a fascinating part of your holiday on Country Kids.

  4. Woweee! You guys are fitter than us! That looks like some climb in the heat. Great views to reward you though when you reached the top! Great that it was a free day out! #CountryKids

  5. Looks like a fab place to explore. Monkey did really well walking in the heat! I bet the ice cream went down well.

  6. Looks amazing! We went to Andalusia twice last year and missed it… I guess we’ll just have to go again 😉 #countrykids

  7. Looks amazing, reminds me a lot of New Mexico where my sister lives, except there the stone is orange, not grey 🙂 We would love it there, such an amazing place to hike. Love your photos x

  8. Oh it looks so incredible, we would love this and the views looks so breathtaking xx

  9. That looks amazing, I think I’d be there all day. I love nature when it’s like this, so incredible. Lovely smile from Monkey in the photograph on the steps and lovely photo’s of the park itself x

  10. What an interesting place! Looks a lot like Chiricahua National Monument in Arizona,

  11. What a great outing for your entire family! I have a 5 1/2 year old, too! This looks like exactly the kind of adventure he’d enjoy. Thanks for sharing. #MondayEscapes

  12. I’m amazed by the fox being out and so close in the daytime! Looks like a great place to visit; I love the pics of the bugs up close. #Mondayescapes

  13. Beautiful place!!! I loved the first photo and the bee ones 😀 so pretty!!
    What a nice hike, and how lucky to have seen a fox so near!!

    Thank you for linking up with #MondayEscapes 🙂

  14. Seems like an excellent place to explore.Your son looks so excited!
    Beautiful captures too….

  15. Sounds like a lovely family day out and Monkey certainly did well with all of that walking in the heat. Sounds like you have much more to explore next time too.

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