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Hiking trails
The best trails in Benalmádena and its surrounding area
Are you looking for hiking trails around Malaga? Well, Benalmádena, Arroyo de la Miel and the top of Monte Calamorro, which you can ride up to on the Teleférico Benalmádena, are the starting point for six mountain itineraries leading to different spots.
You will find details of all the short-distance trails (PR–Pequeño Recorrido) in the Sierra de Benalmádena next to the Teleférico arrival station or you can discover them now by clicking on this link. Don't miss out!
Dead Men’s Trail
This trail, which runs along the slopes of Monte Calamorro, offers those who want to go hiking in Benalmádena two options: the Calamorro route and the Ermita route, with different lengths and levels of difficulty.
By taking the Teleférico Benalmádena up the Calamorro mountain, walkers avoid having to climb the 770 metres to the top, allowing everyone to enjoy the scenic trails that lead to our lookout points before heading off through the Sierra de Mijas. On a clear day you can even see Gibraltar and the coast of Africa from these lookouts, as well as the Malaga coastline, the Guadalhorce Valley and the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Walking down from the top of Monte Calamorro, you can easily reach Puerto Viejo, situated at 625 metres and on the edge of the township of Alhaurín de la Torre, as well as the Puerto de las Ovejas, where water flows into the mountains, from which you start the descent to Arroyo de la Miel along the trail that marks the border with the neighbouring town of Torremolinos on the R-1 Calamorro route. Sportspeople who wish to extend their route can also make the linear ascent and descent to the hermitage, thereby completing the R-1 Ermita route of the PR-A54 trail on the same day.
Woodcutters' Trail
The Woodcutters' Trail is a circular itinerary that can be explored on foot or by bike. It covers a total distance of 5,150 metres through Mediterranean scrubland dotted with unusual shrubs, including gorse, juniper, and thyme, together with trees like the pine, generally isolated but also grouped together more densely in some areas.
To take this hiking route, you start from the urban area of Benalmádena and, once you have crossed the motorway over which the Teleférico Benalmádena also runs, you reach the beginning of the trail. After about a kilometre on the Woodcutters' Trail, you will come to the crossroads leading to either the hermitage or the Puerto de las Ovejas.
You can also reach this short mountain trail through the Sierra de Mijas by taking the cable car to the top of Monte Calamorro and connecting with it from the road that leads to Puerto Viejo. This way, you do part of the R-1 route up to Puerto de las Ovejas, with panoramic views of the Guadalhorce Valley and the quarries of Alhaurín de la Torre, and then take the connecting route that returns to the start of this trail, which also completes the circular route for walkers who have started their hike in Benalmádena.
Other hiking trails in Benalmádena
From the top of Monte Calamorro, you can begin another four hiking trails through the Sierra de Mijas. By riding up comfortably in the Teleférico Benalmádena cable cars, you can start the R-6 – Hunters' Trail. It crosses the highest parts of the mountain range through spectacular landscapes. If you do the R-6 trail in the opposite direction, i.e. from the top of Calamorro, you end up just south of Cerro de Castillejo. You will find yourself at a staggering altitude of 925 metres above sea level. In addition, by crossing or completing the R-6, you can join the other hiking trails, on which you can extend your route down to the town centre:
- R-3 – El Quejigal: on which you can see changes in the texture of the terrain, including limestone and dolomite marbles, and you cross the Regajo del Quejigal, with its characteristic vegetation as a result of the higher humidity in the area around watercourses.
- R-4 – Tajos de sabia (Wise Gorges): on this trail, you will discover how the rosemary thickets that were predominant in the area have given way to a mixture of rosemary, rockrose and esparto grass, which turn yellow in summer, making way for the juniper and Stone, Aleppo and Maritime pines, and even some Holm oaks, which have enriched this ecosystem. An ideal panoramic view for nature lovers!
- R-5 – Trinity Mine: from Cerro del Moro, where the R-6 ends, the trail descends to Benalmádena, avoiding the steep slope you would encounter in the opposite direction. Towards the end of the trail you pass the old ochre mine, unused for decades, with stalactites and stalagmites along its more than 200-metre-long course.
