Axarquia

The Axarquia region maintains its name as a legacy of its Arab history.

East of Malaga, the capital of the Costa del Sol, begins a warm coastal area and an interior to discover that extends to the mountains that separate it from the lands of Granada. In just a few kilometers one can find such a variety of landscapes, climates and situations, that one comes to believe that one has traveled through several countries. Its physical and human variety has been enriched by a generous history, which has not only left magnificent cultural traces, but has also shaped a humanized landscape that enhances the natural landscape even more if possible.

For all these reasons, this strip of land that stretches from Rincón de la Victoria to Nerja, is home to one of the regions with the most identity and character in Andalusia. Both on the coast and inland there is a succession of towns with a great Andalusian flavor in which one breathes the nostalgia of a splendid past.

Along its coastline, there are important tourist resorts such as Rincón de la Victoria to Nerja, Almayate, Benajarafe, Chilches, Valleniza, Caleta de Vélez, Lagos, Mezquitilla and La Palma.

At the beginning of the Axarquia coast, Rincón de la Victoria has a unique value in all of Europe, the Cueva del Tesoro (Treasure Cave). After passing Nerja, the coast turns into steep limestone cliffs up to 200 m high formed by the fall of the Sierra Almijara to the sea. This stretch that ends next to Maro has a wild and spectacular landscape that has been declared a Natural Park. In the interior, the limestone mountain hides the beautiful Cave of Nerja.

Next to these coastal municipalities, there are, scattered throughout the interior, an endless number of Mediterranean and Mudejar villages, with whitewashed houses, red roofs, walls covered with flower pots, and narrow winding streets.

Its villages are picturesque places that have managed to keep, in a place of light and color, the beauty of its streets and squares, its monuments and popular festivals, and that, together with its environmental and climatological characteristics, invite to be visited.

The lands of the Axarquia have a varied landscape without equal: mountain, valley, cornice and coast.

In the interior of the region is the El Saltillo trail. It is located in the municipality of Canillas de Aceituno, in the Natural Park of the Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama at the foot of the highest peak in the province of Malaga, the Maroma.

In the mountains, Axarquia is a labyrinth of olive trees, almond trees and vines, but above all of villages, towns and farmhouses that dot the landscape, filling it with life. A life that grows in sunken crops in narrow valleys, ascends the slopes and suns itself in the pastures. In the municipality of Comares, known as the Balcony of the Axarquia, is the longest zip line in Spain in Natural Anchorage, with 436 meters long.

In the valley, the Axarquia is a fertile plain of fruit trees and vegetables that enters, up the river Velez, with lemon and orange groves by the Benamargosa and Guaro and even by the small valleys that reach the foot of the mountains.

On the cornice, it is a mountain range that overlooks the sea between Mudejar and Mediterranean villages, sometimes lying on the hillside, sometimes crouched in secluded valleys, with the mountain at the back and the Mediterranean in the background in shreds of horizon; it is also a cornice of springs that satiate its people, water streams and irrigate terraces.

On the coast, Axarquia is a landscape of cliffs and coves, of frontiles and watchtowers, of beaches and orchards, of tradition and tourism.

Open, generous and hospitable people.