Wild Marbella

No, this is not a reference to Costa del Crime, naughty beach club parties and celebrity excesses! The wilderness of the hills that form the backdrop to Marbella’s glamorous villas, penthouses and apartments and the range of hills to the east of the Ronda to Marbella road are part of the Sierra de las Nieves Nature park, a haven for wildlife and a fantastic weekend destination for eco-tourists and Marbella residents alike.

The Costa del Sol as seen from Mount Torrecilla

The natural park covers an area of 18,530 hectares, roughly 30 km by 20 km with Mount Torrecilla at its centre. At 1,909 meters above sea level the Costa del Sol’s celebrity hang-outs vanish from the horizon and are replaced with the sheer natural beauty of the Mediterranean coastline: panoramic views of Marbella’s 26km of golden sandy beaches, tiny mountain hamlets with their red tiled roofs baking in the sun and fragrant pine forests covering much of the hillsides.

Rugged Beauty

While crowds line Marbella’s beaches in summer, the Sierra de las Nieves Nature Park always maintains a deserted, isolated existence with a sparse human population scratching a living through agriculture and eco-tourism. It’s a great place to spot indigenous species of flora, for here the fir and ash, chestnut, wild olive, juniper, oak and pine trees native to this part of Spain thrive without harmful influence by humans.
 
With a pair of binoculars and much patience one gets to see mountain goats and mouflon (rare wild sheep). It’s worth taking binoculars, because the area is also home to ca. 250 species of birds, some of them very rare, such as the colourful Griffon vultures, Egyptian vultures, Bonelli’s eagles and golden eagles.

This wilderness is fascinating at any time of the year. In winter, these mountains are desolate, snow covering much of the mountainsides and gorges, birds of prey wheeling above, their eerie cries cutting through the icy mountain air.

Guided Adventures

To the south of Sierra de las Nieves overlooks the western part of the Costa del Sol; in the east the Guadalhorce Valley beckons hikers, climbers and mountain bikers to try out its trails. The western aspect is taken up the Ronda hills.
 
Hiking in the nature park means rarely seeing another human being, apart from the occasional tiny hamlet clinging on to steep hill or mountain sides, where villagers are augmenting their low incomes by offering refreshments and locally produced arts and crafts to tourists.

Join guided mountain climbing adventures or horse-riding groups to make the most of a weekend trip. For those with heads for heights and stout hearts to explore the mountain’s underbelly, there are caves and potholes (simas) to be explored: at a depth of 1,098 meters local simas are classed as some of the deepest potholes in Europe.

If you’re not the happy owner of a holiday home in Marbella, try taking your kids camping. It is forbidden to camp inside the park because of risk of fire, but camping sites close to the park offer such excellent amenities, nobody with an ounce of sense would wish to “rough it” where a smelly mouflon or hungry wild Ibex might be invading their tent!

Do as the Locals do

Various local companies organise bird-watching tours and thanks to these knowledgeable experts it is possible to spot some very rare feathered visitors such as the African vulture species Rüppels or local nesting birds of prey like the short-toed and booted golden eagles, while staying safe on this steep terrain. Try the villages of Montejaque and Grazalema for the best bird-watching spots. A guided walk between the two villages takes around 5 hours.

Property prices in the Sierra Blanca hills overlooking Marbella are as steep as the hillsides – a villa here rarely changes hands for less than EUR 10 million. Compared to that the house prices in El Madronal are positively “bargain basement” for the verdant hills just ten minutes’ drive from Marbella town centre offer villas costing around EUR 4 million.

If reading about all that rugged beauty has convinced you to trade in your holiday apartment overlooking Marbella’s Puerto Banus marina for a country house in the Ronda mountains, you’ll be in for a pleasant surprise – for around EUR 425,000 you can buy a fully restored finca with 5 bedrooms and a considerable plot of land.