Lonely Planet Best Day Hikes Spain

By Stuart Butler

Lonely Planet’s Best Day Hikes Spain is your passport to 60 easy escapes into nature. Stretch your legs away from the city by picking a hike that works for you, from just a couple of hours to a full day, from easy to hard. Explore the Pyrenees, hike along the coast, and marvel at Mallorca. Get to the heart of Spain and begin your journey now!

 

Inside Lonely Planet’s Best Day Hikes Spain Travel Guide: 

Color maps and images throughout

Special features - on Spain’s highlights for hikers, kid-friendly hikes, accessible trails and what to take
Best for… section helps you plan your trip and select hikes that appeal to your interests
Region profiles cover when to go, where to stay, what’s on, cultural insights, and local food and drink recommendations to refuel and refresh. Featured regions include:
Pyrenees, Picos & Northern Spain, Galicia, the Mediterranean Coast, Central Spain, Andalucia, Mallorca & Menorca

Essential info at your fingertips - hiking itineraries accompanied by illustrative maps are combined with details about hike duration, distance, terrain, start/end locations and difficulty (classified as easy, easy-moderate, moderate, moderate-hard, or hard)

Over 60 maps

 

The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet’s Best Day Hikes Spain, our most comprehensive guide to hiking in Spain, is perfect for those planning to explore Spain on foot.

Looking for more information on Spain? Check out Lonely Planet’s Spain guide for a comprehensive look at what the country has to offer.

 

About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You’ll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day. 

 

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Lonely Planet
• Release date: Jul 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781838696337

Stuart Butler

Stuart Butler, who has lived for most of his life at the western end of the French Pyrenees, is a journalist, guidebook author and award-winning photographer. His areas of speciality are the Pyrenees, Himalya and East Africa. He has written over a hundred guidebooks for Lonely Planet, Rough Guide and Bradt, as well as a number of specialist hiking and wildlife watching guides on the Himalaya, France and Spain. He writes frequently about conservation, the environment and hiking for the BBC, Geographical magazine, New York Times, Sierra magazine and the i newspaper. He's also the tourism manager of the Nashulai Maasai Conservancy ( nashulai.com ), a community wildlife reserve in Kenya. He also works with the Himalayan trekking and tour company, Third Rock Adventures ( thirdrockadventures.com ) and manages Nashulai Journeys ( nashulaijourneys.com ), a specialist eco-tourism company with a focus on hiking holidays. Stuart is married with two children, who also enjoy hiking in the Pyrenees. His website is stuartbutlerjournalist.com and walkingwiththemaasai.com .

Book preview

Highlights

CIRC DE COLOMÈRS, THE PYRENEES

A roller-coaster loop over a high, rocky pass and past dozens of glimmering lakes set in flower meadows and glacial bowls.

PICU URRIELLU, PICOS & NORTHERN SPAIN

Hike up to the awe-inspiring 500m-high rock pillar at the heart of the Picos de Europa, arguably the greatest concentration of mountain drama in the country.

LIRES TO CABO FISTERRA, GALICIA

An unforgettable coastal hike of long, wild beaches, high cliffs and capes and many a jagged, ocean-battered rock, to the lighthouse at the ‘end of the Earth’.

MIRADOR DE SES BARQUES TO SA CALOBRA, MALLORCA & MENORCA

One of Mallorca’s finest walks, this day hike comprises rambles through olive groves to gorgeous viewpoints, forested cliff stretches and the west coast’s finest beaches.

EL MOREZÓN, CENTRAL SPAIN

Climb to a dramatic high peak with unrivalled views of the stunning glacial cirque and lake at the heart of the Sierra de Gredos.

COSTA BRAVA MAGIC, MEDITERRANEAN COAST

A journey of mesmerising beauty along the best of Catalonia’s ‘Rugged Coast’ – sandy coves, clifftop pine woods, quaint fishing villages and turquoise waters.

ORDESA CANYON VIA THE FAJA DE PELAY, THE PYRENEES

Glacial mountain peaks, soaring canyon walls and a palette of colours. Every step you take through the ‘Grand Canyon’ of Europe will have you gasping in wonder.

RÍO BOROSA, ANDALUCÍA

Walk up beside a tumbling mountain river with countless waterfalls through scenery that progresses from the pretty to the majestic.

RUTA DEL CARES, PICOS & NORTHERN SPAIN

Breathtaking walk along a 1000m-deep Picos de Europa canyon, with pinnacle peaks piercing the sky and a mountain river tumbling along far below.

ACEQUIAS DEL POQUEIRA, ANDALUCÍA

Hike up a beautiful valley from a postcard-perfect white Andalucian village and return by a high-level path with vistas of the Sierra Nevada’s highest peaks.

Best For...

PATJO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

g WILDLIFE

Spain is blessed with an incredibly rich diversity of plants and animals, and observant walkers have a good chance of spotting some exotic creatures.

CIRCO DE GURRUNDUÉ

Watch for bones falling from the sky as the mighty, and endangered, bearded vulture soars overhead.

PICU URRIELLU

There’s a high chance of seeing chamois (and plenty of vultures) on this walk deep in the upper reaches of the Picos de Europa.

LAGUNA GRANDE DE GREDOS

With enormous sweeping horns, the ibex (pictured above) is a seriously impressive creature, and on this walk you’re almost guaranteed a close-up sighting.

ILLAS CÍES

Pack binoculars to see nesting colonies of shag and yellow-legged gulls on this coastal walk.

CAMÍ DELS MOLINS

Spot hawks and wild goats on this quiet route through wild and remote country.

JOSERPIZARRO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Y OFF-THE-BEATEN PATH

Clear the mind on these walks that take you far from the madding crowd.

CASTRO CALDELAS MAGICAL FORESTS

Dive deep into the dense woodlands, lost-in-time hamlets and medieval monasteries of the Ribeira Sacra.

ALTO & BAJO SESTRALES

Contemplate the scenery in peaceful solitude from this awe-inspiring Pyrenean viewpoint.

CASTAÑO DEL ROBLEDO & ALÁJAR LOOP

Beautiful inter-village walk through wooded hills in the little-visited Sierra de Aracena (pictured above).

CALA MORELL TO CIUTADELLA

Ponder over mysterious stone pyramids and shipwreck monuments in Menorca’s uninhabited northwestern corner.

IBÓN GRAN DE BATISIELLES

Relish the beauty of the glowing, mountain-ringed Baticielles lakes.

PAWEL KAZMIERCZAK/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

p COASTAL VIEWS

Some of the best walks in Spain are those that take you to the seaside.

COSTA BRAVA MAGIC

Everything from plunging cliffs and turquoise coves to white-painted fishing villages (pictured above).

SERRA DE BERNIA LOOP

On a clear day, you can see across a glittering Mediterranean to faraway Ibiza.

COSTA NAVIEGA

Twenty kilometres of roaring seas, cliffs, beaches and coves.

SANT TOMÀS TO SON XORIGUER

White-sand coves and precipitous cliffs await along Menorca’s south coast.

LAS NEGRAS TO AGUA AMARGA

The dramatic beauty of Cabo de Gata’s cliffs, coves and beaches.

ARRIETAPHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

v BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE

Walk with the spirit of history on these routes.

VALLDEMOSSA TO DEIÀ

Check out Chopin’s winter retreat in pretty Valldemossa.

PEÑA CORTADA LOOP

March like a legionnaire on a Roman aqueduct and through an old fortress town.

ARANTZAZU, AIZKORRI, SAN ADRIÁN

An art-laden monastery (pictured above), prehistoric monoliths and part of the medieval Camino de Santiago.

LA TAHÁ

Sense the Moorish ambience of the villages of Las Alpujarras.

PARADA DE SIL CIRCUIT

Enjoy centuries-old watermills, vineyards and a monastery.

JORDICARRIO/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

3 PRETTY VILLAGES

Mother Nature is a great artist, but some Spanish villages can give her a run for her money.

CADAQUÉS TO CAP DE CREUS

Admire a tumble of white houses ringing up from a superb natural harbour (pictured above).

ACEQUIAS DEL POQUEIRA

Capileira, a delightful mountain village on the slopes of the plunging Poqueira Gorge.

CAMI DELS MOLINS

Enjoy Ares del Maestrat, with its lovely mountaintop castle.

PICU URRIELLU

Sotres is a huddle of red-tile-roofed houses in a green valley among high limestone crags.

VALLDEMOSSA TO DEIÀ

Walk from one Tramuntana artists’ village to another.

With Kids

LADY KIRSCHEN/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Walking with children can be incredibly rewarding for both you and your kids. It’s time together as a family without the distractions and pressures that day-to-day life brings.

TRAILS & TRIBULATIONS

As wonderful as walking with children can be, it does bring challenges and requires careful planning. The most important thing is to pick your route wisely, and not be overly ambitious.

If your child consistently finds the walks you choose too difficult, they’ll quickly be put off walking for good. But, on the other hand, the shortest and easiest walks are not always the best ones to do with children either. If it’s too easy then many a child loses interest. Throw in some boulders to climb, summits (achievable ones) to conquer and streams to jump across, and you’ll probably find your kids can’t get enough.

It’s a good idea to go through the different trail options with your children the night before and let them decide if they think they can do it or not. When it comes to walk times, keep in mind that the times written in this book are for walking only and don’t include stops. With children you’ll stop more often than if you were only with adults, so it’s best to double all walk times. For most children under the age of 12, a walk we list as taking five hours (for adults) will take most of the day with children. Start early and have a torch just in case it takes more than all day!

Don’t take a risk with the weather. Trudging up the side of a mountain in sheets of rain will not endear you to your children. Ideally, choose only dry, sunny days but ones that aren’t too hot either. If it is hot, choose a walk that involves a lake, stream or beach and let them cool off in the water.

BEST WALKING REGIONS

There are good walks for children in every corner of Spain, but the coastal regions are the king of the (sand) castle when it comes to family-friendly walks. Mallorca and Menorca are probably the overall best bet with some easy-going coastal walks but also a few more child-challenging mountain walks to keep interest levels up. Andalucía and the Mediterranean Coast also have some superb options, and the coastal walks in Galicia are perfect in high summer.

For higher altitudes, both the Pyrenees and the Picos have some wonderful family-friendly options. In fact, most of the valley walks in these two areas are busy with walking families between late spring and early autumn.

& Walking with Babies & Toddlers

Walking with children below the age of about four or five presents a unique set of issues. If your child is still a baby and hasn’t yet found their feet, walking with them is generally pretty easy. You just need to wrap them up warm and put them in a baby backpack (on most walking trails you can forget about pushchairs) and off you go.

Toddlers and young children are a different matter. Chances are they’re not likely to want to spend all that long strapped to your back, but they can’t generally walk very far either. You might find that getting more than a few hundred metres from the car park is something of a struggle. Don’t let that put you off entirely though. Instead, find a walk that has interest within the first kilometre (such as a beach or a river). If children start associating walking with fun outdoor activities, you’ll have them hooked for life.

WHAT TO PACK

Make sure your children have good-quality, comfortable walking shoes – you really don’t want them getting blisters due to ill-fitting shoes. Bring plenty of warm clothes as well as spare clothes (because if there’s a stream there’s a good chance they’ll get wet!). Most importantly, bring lots of food, snacks and water – at least twice as much as you think they might want. You’ll be amazed at how much they can eat while walking.

TOP TIPS

Make things a little easier for all of you by following these tried and tested tips.

• Let the kids map-read or use a compass (but keep an eye on progress yourself!).

• Take a plastic container for collecting wild blueberries, raspberries and other identifiable berries. In many mountain areas there are other cool things for kids to collect: unusual stones, feathers etc.

• Ask them to find their own walking stick.

• Bring or download a field guide to the animals, birds and flowers of an area and see how many they can identify.

• Searching for animal foot-prints is also a good way of keeping children interested.

b Best Family Walks

Platja de Cavalleria to Platja de Binimel·là, Mallorca & Menorca Short and gentle walk with the promise of beaches.

Peña Cortada Loop, Mediterranean Coast Roman aqueduct tunnels and a high bridge bring history to life.

Río Borosa, Andalucía Children will be thrilled by the tunnels through the Cerrada de Elías gorge.

Plan de Aigualluts, The Pyrenees Fall in love with the Pyrenees on this wonderful family hike.

Illas Cíes, Galicia Beaches + lighthouses + birdwatching hides + clifftop viewpoints = happy children.

Accessible Trails

BOTOND HORVATH/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

ACCESSIBLE TRAVEL IN SPAIN

Generally, Spain is not overly accommodating for travellers with disabilities, but things are slowly changing. For example, disabled access to official buildings and hotels represents a change in local thinking. In major cities, more is slowly being done to facilitate disabled access to public transport and taxis; in some cities, wheelchair-adapted taxis are called ‘Eurotaxis’. Newly constructed hotels in most areas of Spain are required to have wheelchair-adapted rooms. With older places, you need to be a little wary of hotels that advertise themselves as being ‘disabled-friendly’, as this can mean as little as wide doors to rooms and bathrooms, or other token efforts.

Further information on accessible travel in Spain is available from these sites and organisations:

• COCEMFE (www.cocemfe.es) Spanish NGO offering a wide range of services and support to people with physical disabilities.

• Accessible Spain Travel (www.accessiblespaintravel.com) Organises accessible tours, transport and accommodation throughout Spain for travellers with limited mobility, although there’s nothing really aimed at those wanting to get out on the trails.

• Lonely Planet Download Lonely Planet’s free Accessible Travel guide from https://shop.lonelyplanet.com/categories/accessible-travel.com.

• Rutas Movilidad Reducida en España (https://es.wikiloc.com/rutas/sendero-accesible/espana) Around 500 reduced-mobility routes are listed on this Wiki Loc page. Unfortunately, they’re not organised in any logical manner.

CHOOSE YOUR REGION WISELY

Although many trails in Spain are challenging for people with reduced mobility or for the older or less fit walker, there are some routes that are at least partially accessible, and highly rewarding, to everyone.

Throughout this book, any of the walks given an ‘Easy’ walk rating can be conquered by almost anyone, although some are still on partially uneven paths or involve gentle climbs and descents. Note that a walk marked as ‘Easy’ in the Picos or Pyrenees is not the same as a walk marked ‘Easy’ in a flat coastal region. Less fit walkers should add plenty of rest time onto the standard walk times we have listed (the walk times in this book do not include any stoppage time).

It’s always worth contacting the local tourist board of your chosen region and asking their advice on accessible trails. The following gives a rundown on the plus and minus points for every region of Spain included in this book.

p Illas Cíes

The Illas Cíes, a small group of protected islands off the coast of Galicia, are a fantastic destination for wheelchair users and those who are less mobile.

Wheelchairs, amphibious crutches, information materials in braille and a Joëlette chair are available for use free of charge from the national park information kiosk 170m along a wooden boardwalk from the boat jetty. The first three items are normally available on the spot, but can also be reserved in advance (email [e-mail] for a reservation form). The Joëlette chair is only available by advance reservation.

Several paths on the islands, including those to the Faro de Cíes lighthouse and Praia de Figueiras beach, are wheelchair-accessible.

Ferries to the islands are accessed by wheelchair-accessible boardwalks.

THE PYRENEES

High mountains, steep inclines and rocky trails don’t exactly lend themselves to being wheelchair accessible. Less fit walkers should find pleasure strolling the first part of the Cañón de Añisclo and Valle de Otal trails. It should also be possible to explore lower parts of the Ordesa canyon.

PICOS & NORTHERN SPAIN

The vertically inclined Picos are similar to the Pyrenees in being not very wheelchair friendly. Elsewhere along the north coast of Spain are a few other options that have some sections that should be passable. The Costa Naviega and Somiedo Lakes walks are fairly flat and would be good bets for less fit walkers.

GALICIA

Galicia has some interesting trails for both wheelchair users and the less fit walker; although many follow the convoluted coastline and aren’t great for wheelchairs, they are fine for otherwise less mobile walkers.

CENTRAL SPAIN

Central Spain is also an area of mountain peaks with trails that aren’t really suitable to the less mobile. The Silla de Felipe II, which is a stop on the San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Machota Baja walk, can be reached via a 1km wheelchair-friendly trail called the Senda Ecológica. For more information, check www.sanlorenzoturismo.es.

Y Trails for Less Mobile Walkers

Illas Cíes, Galicia

Sant Tomàs to Basílica de Son Bou, Mallorca & Menorca

Volcanoes of Garrotxa, Mediterranean Coast

O Vicedo to Porto de Espasante, Galicia

Valle de Otal, The Pyrenees

ANDALUCÍA

Perhaps surprisingly, Andalucía doesn’t have many options for less mobile walkers, although the first half of the Río Borosa route is fairly flat and good for the less fit.

MEDITERRANEAN COAST

The Mediterranean Coast has plenty of wheelchair-friendly short coastal routes in and around the resorts and towns, but if you want to get into wilder country then things are considerably more challenging.

MALLORCA & MENORCA

Although Mallorca and Menorca have good general holiday facilities for less mobile visitors, there are fewer options when it comes to walking. Trails on Menorca are generally flatter and easier going than those on rugged Mallorca.

Essentials

MOLARJUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

WHEN TO WALK

There is some form of walking available year-round in Spain. In lower-altitude, hotter southern parts of the country, the best walking periods are autumn through to late spring. Galicia and the northern coast is best from late spring through to autumn. Throughout the country, winter in the high mountains is universally cold and snowy, with many trails being blocked by snow from late November through to early April. Summer is the most popular walking period for the high mountains. Overall then, by far the best periods for a general walking holiday in Spain are spring (late March to mid-May) and autumn (September to October).

Further details on the best time to walk in each area are given in the relevant chapters.

RESPONSIBLE WALKING

By its very nature, walking is an activity with a low environmental footprint. The following points should always be kept in