Alpujarras Mountain Road

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Granada

   Granada lies at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, the highest mountain range on the Spanish mainland, and the snowy ridge is visible from many streets, which is a surprise in a city that is baking hot in August. The Mulhacén, at 3,479 metres, is the highest peak of the Iberian Peninsula, and the summits stay white well into spring. Between the mountains and the plain, the city spreads across three hills, with the red towers of the Alhambra on one side, facing the whitewashed lanes of the Albaicín on another. The two hills look at each other across the river Darro.

   Read the complete Granada write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Granada is where the day begins. Next is Lanjaron.

2. 2. Lanjaron

   Lanjarón is the front door of the Alpujarras, and the first thing it offers is water. The springs that rise from the Sierra Nevada above the town are among the best known in Spain, and the mineral water bottled here is sold across the country. The town has a spa tradition that goes back centuries, with a grand old bathing house and a long main street of cafés, shops and hotels, and a public fountain where you can taste the water for free. It is cold and light, with a faint mineral tang.

   Read the complete Lanjarón write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lanjaron comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pampaneira.

3. 3. Pampaneira

   Pampaneira is the first of three white villages that cling to the sides of the Poqueira gorge, and it looks like something from the Atlas mountains, which is not an accident. The houses are flat-roofed cubes, whitewashed every year, with chimneys shaped like little pots, and their roofs are made of a grey clay called launa, laid over slate and beams, a building method brought from North Africa by the Moors. The village is steep, with narrow alleys and stepped streets, and the sound of running water from the channels that bring meltwater down the mountainside is everywhere.

   Read the complete Pampaneira write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 70 km into the recorded legs you reach Pampaneira. Next is Trevelez.

4. 4. Trevelez

   Trevélez is one of those places that people tell you about long before you see it. It hangs on the southern slope of the Sierra Nevada at around fifteen hundred metres, among the highest villages in Spain, below the bulk of Mulhacén, which at 3,479 metres is the highest peak on the Iberian mainland. The village is split into three barrios, one above the other, with whitewashed flat-roofed houses that look from the road like a staircase of sugar cubes. Above them is a valley of terraced orchards and chestnuts, and the cold, clear river that carries the snowmelt down toward the Mediterranean.

   Read the complete Trevélez write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Trevelez, about halfway. Next is Puerto de la Ragua.

5. 5. Puerto de la Ragua

   Spain's Sierra Nevada is the southernmost big mountain range in Europe, and the Puerto de la Ragua is the main paved road across it. At 2,041 metres it is not the highest road in the range, since the great summits of Mulhacén and Veleta both lie further west and rise to around 3,400 metres, but it is the easiest to love. It links Guadix, on the high dry plateau to the north, with the villages of the Alpujarras, the steep valleys on the southern side, and the change of scene from one side to the other is abrupt.

   Read the complete Puerto de la Ragua write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Puerto de la Ragua sits at 125 km, late in the day. Nothing on this route is higher. Next is Guadix, mostly downhill.

6. 6. Guadix

   Guadix is a town where half the population lives in the hillside, and it manages this without any air of eccentricity. In the Barrio de las Cuevas, thousands of houses are dug into the soft, reddish clay of the hills, with whitewashed fronts, chimneys sticking out of the grass, and doors opening onto terraces. Inside, the temperature stays at around eighteen degrees all year, cool in the summer and warm in the winter, which explains why the tradition has lasted since the Moorish period. Some of the cave homes now serve as guesthouses, and one can stay in them.

   Read the complete Guadix write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 189 km.