Parque Natural Sierra de Huétor
Nature reserve · Granada
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Declared a natural park in 1989, the 12,128-hectare Sierra de Huétor rises from 1,100 to 1,878 metres just northeast of Granada city. Limestone karst has carved ravines, cliffs, springs and caves, including the Cueva del Agua, beneath pine and holm oak forest. Golden eagles and mountain goats live here, alongside more than 800 recorded plant species. Long a traditional hiking ground for Granada residents.
A Spanish Civil War front line ran across this sierra; a marked 22-kilometre itinerary from the Puerto Lobo and La Alfaguara visitor centres links its trenches and firing positions today. On the park's eastern side, the Fardes river runs cold enough to hold wild trout and has become a gathering point for anglers. The Alfaguara arboretum began the last century as a conifer nursery that reforested much of the Sierra de Huétor, and it still holds century-old Atlas cedars two to three metres across alongside cherry, pear, hawthorn and holm oak along a one-kilometre trail. Despite carrying only Huétor's name, the park strings together five separate sierras: Alfaguara, Cogollos, Diezma, Beas and part of Arana, spread across seven municipalities.
What you see
Weathered stone parapets and dugouts from the Civil War still line the ridge above Puerto Lobo.
natural parkriver sourcecivil war historyarboretum