Distance: 15.5 km Time: 4 hours
Difficulty Rating: Medium to Easy
MapMyWalk Link PDF Link (available to SpainAway guests)
There are several ways of regarding this route. As described here it is a 14.5 km walk from the village of Torrox to that of Frigiliana, restricting itself to the main road in between the two. In this way it is extremely easy to follow, but is almost as pleasant a route underfoot as would be a cross-country trek, since the road is little used, and not exactly a well-tarmacked highway. The views along the route are quite spectacular, especially as you begin to drop down the valley into Frigiliana. The one drawback to this route is that its start and finish points are not only well separated, but that they are also a certain distance from our base of Nerja. This can of course be overcome by the use of two half-full cars, one parked at either end, or by the extensive use of bus travel. However the route can be significantly extended – making it a full day trip – by beginning it at Torrox Costa (easily reached by road, and therefore bus, from Nerja), travelling up to the village of Torrox largely off-road, and then continuing it on from Frigiliana down to Nerja, again mainly off road. However the present description restricts itself to the Torrox-Frigiliana part alone.
The map below shows the route in its entirety, with km markers inset, together with an indication of the elevation reached during the walk. You can also link to the online version of this map, located on the MapMyWalk website, with the ability to zoom in onto much finer details and so on, as described in our introduction. The link details are given above.
We begin at the car park at the top end of Torrox. This is reached by taking the motorway route out of Nerja heading for Malaga, and then taking the Competa/Torrox turn off. After winding up the hillside you will reach a roundabout, from which the road to Competa leads off to the left, and that to Torrox to the right. As you descend into the village you will see a carpark immediately on your right, which is the start point for this walk. In this instance you need to retrace your steps to the above mentioned roundabout, taking the ‘camino de ‘circunvalación’ (or ring-road) route situated in between the turn offs for Torrox and Competa. After following this around the top of the village, during which it descends a fair way, a further roundabout is reached at which you need to take the second turn on the right, for Frigiliana. [The first turn to the right would take you into the centre of Torrox, and is actually the point at which you would emerge if walking up from Torrox Costa itself].
After crossing a bridge turn left following the sign for ‘Hotel Rural Los Caracoles’. The route is quite an up and down one, with some great views back towards the coast and Torrox Village. After about 8 km the hotel/restaurant complex of Los Caracoles itself can be seen up on the hillside to the left, picture left. In Spanish ‘Los Caracoles’ means ‘Snails’, and the hotel’s individual units are all constructed in the shape of a snail shell. Further on, on the way down to Frigiliana, there are several more bars and cafes situated along the road, and you also get a great view of Frigiliana itself ahead of you. On entering Frigiliana at a roundabout, you can either turn left here to walk up the hill into the old part of the village, or continue along at the same level, skirting its base, until reaching the Old Sugar Factory (which you will also reach if you take the internal route), near to which is car parking and the bus stop.
As described at the beginning, you can, if you wish, take the bus from Nerja to Torrox Costa, and then take the return route to Torrox, described in the Torrox to Torrox Costa & Return route, and then, on reaching Frigiliana, take the Frigiliana to Nerja across-country route, adding about 10 km to your trek..
