Torcal de Antequera. Crazy rock city in Andalusia

The wonderful rock city of El Torcal de Antequera rises 40 km from Malaga and 45 minutes by car. This is the best example of karst in Europe. Valuable natural landscape shaped over the last 200 million years, covered by a nature reserve and inscribed on the UNESCO List! It is such a combination of the Jury and the Table Mountains.​ We did a great trekking here.

Torcal de Antequera - practical information: location, parking, trails

El Torcal is located above the village of Villanueva de la Concepción, near the town of Antequera in Andalusia. An asphalt road leads to the parking lot in the heart of the formation, climbing quite high uphill. In the summer, the parking lot fills up quite quickly and you have to stand lower and take a shuttle. In the car park you will find a bar and a small museum. We tasted a local specialty here, Porra Antequerana (cold tomato cream). Both the car park and the entrance to the reservation are free of charge. From the car park there are 3 hiking trails around the rocks:

• Green route: 1.5 km, trekking takes about 45 minutes
• Yellow route: 3 km, trekking takes about 2 hours, allows you to take a closer look at fascinating rock formations, it is better to have trekking shoes
• Red route: 3.5 km, the most difficult, it is also worth having appropriate shoes here

Remember not only about the appropriate outfit, but also about water or snacks. The best time to visit El Torcal is spring, when the area is covered with wild flowers, and early autumn, when the weather is mild and warm.

Green trail on the map and viewpoint Mirador Las Ventanillas

We walked the easiest green route, but before we set off on it, we walked about 200 meters from the parking lot to the Mirador Las Ventanillas viewpoint, where chamois lay on the rocks. There is a beautiful panorama from here. The green trail is straight, winding among the rocks, but you do not have to climb them. From several convenient vantage points, you can admire the view of towering overhead, fantastic rock towers, chimneys, heads and other creations. All you need is a little imagination to see it all there. In places, you can feel like in America's national parks, because the landscape is so spectacular.

Longer yellow route on the map

It requires good footwear and is slightly more demanding than green. You have to climb the rocks from time to time, but you can admire them up close and have even better views.

Tornillo Rock - symbol of Paraje Natural Torcal de Antequera

There are also other, longer trails leading through El Torcal. They allow you to get into less frequented areas, including former quarries and grazing areas, as well as other viewpoints or under the characteristic Tornillo rock formation, which has become a symbol of this place. The name of this natural monument is translated as a screw, but also cold, which reflects the specificity of the climate well, because it is cooler here than on the coast and blows more. Therefore, it is worth having a sweatshirt, and because of the rocks, also comfortable, full shoes. My dress, I admit, was not very comfortable, but initially we planned to visit the city of Antequera and only at the last minute we changed our plans.

Nature reserve. A rock city with a wealth of fauna and flora

The unique limestone landscape of El Torcal is the result of a molding process lasting many millions of years. Limestone rocks accumulated here at the bottom of the warm sea, about 150-200 million years ago. Already extinct animals, such as belemnites or ammonites, whose fossils can still be found here, participated in the process of their creation. When the tectonic plates flowed into each other and they collided, the rocks were uplifted. Then the process of their erosion began, i.e. destruction by wind or water. This is how these fanciful shapes were formed and a unique rock city was created, which is a habitat for valuable vegetation and rare animals. Above the rocks, you can see the golden eagle, the vulture, the owl, the owl or the smaller wilderness. On the rocks, however, chamois sometimes jump. This place is also home to foxes, badgers and rabbits. There are also rare reptiles, such as the pearl lizard or the Iberian viper. Spanish masonry from the lizard family is also often found.

Prehistory and UNESCO sites: El Torcal, Dolmeny in Antequera and La Peña de los Enamorados

People inhabited these areas already in prehistoric times. Valuable archaeological sites include: Cueva de la Cuerda, Cueva de Marinaleda, Hoyo del Tambor or Fuente de la Higuera. Traces of man from Roman and Arab times were also discovered here. The last known city existing here in the last century is Las Sepulturas. Interestingly, close to here you will find Dolmens in Antequera. It is one of the most important prehistoric archaeological complexes in Europe and, together with El Torcal and La Peña de los Enamorados, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Dolmens of Antequera are extremely valuable megaliths (buildings created using huge stone blocks without mortar) erected between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. These are megalithic burial mounds: the dolmens of Menga, Viera and El Romeral. It is believed that Menga and Viera were built between 3500 and 3000 BC. The third dolmen, El Romeral, was probably built between 2500 and 1800 BC. Dolmen Menga is the longest building of this type in Europe, it is almost 30 m long. The largest stone here weighs 180 tons, which is 140 tons more than the largest stone from the famous Stonehenge.

When you drive up to Torcal from the village of Villanueva, you pass one more car park, where it is also worth stopping for a while, because with the rocks behind you, you can admire an extremely wide panorama of mountains with high peaks in the background. The view is impressive. Interestingly, in good weather, you can see the Malaga coast and sometimes even Africa from the El Torcal viewpoints.

Experiences in the area

In the area, of course, it is worth visiting Malaga itself with its fortress and castle and the beautiful architecture of its atmospheric streets. I also recommend the fantastic, fairy-tale castle of Colomares inBenalmadena, the white town of Mijas Pueblo and the wildly exciting Path of King Caminito del Rey in Ardales.

Where to rent a car when visiting Andalusia?

We rented a car in Malaga, near the airport, from Centauro, through Discover cars. Centauro takes customers from its headquarters to the airport free of charge. The rental price of Fiat Punto in 2025 is PLN 350 for 2 nights and PLN 80 for full insurance. When buying it, you do not have to worry about possible scratches, because they were not even checked. Of course, it also protects against financial consequences in the event of possible unpleasant events on the road. We also paid a 44 eurofuel deposit, which was refunded 2 days after returning the car.

Our video

We came to this stone paradise from Malaga. Below we leave our video of this adventure.

Accommodation

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What's worth seeing in the area?

If you are looking for more ideas for interesting places to visit, we have it for you some options in the area. There are several attractions within a radius of 100 kilometers, that are worth adding to your travel plan.

• Caminito del Rey King's Path in Spain, distance: 20.6  km
• Costa del Sol in Spain, distance: 28.1  km
• Malaga, Spain, distance: 28.2  km
• Benalmadena in Spain, distance: 39.7  km