Andalusia is the second largest region in our country, and within it, we find great tourism icons such as the Giralda, the Mosque of Córdoba, or the Alhambra. However, there are many other wonderful and lesser-known corners that have a unique charm. Here are twelve of my favorites.

1. Coastal Path of Cabo de Gata (Almería)

Cabo de Gata is the most desert-like corner of Europe. A place where rainfall barely exceeds 240 mm; a land “of lizards and stones,” in the words of Juan Goytisolo, protected since 1987 as a natural park to save its 28,000 hectares of a unique Mediterranean subtropical desert maritime-terrestrial ecosystem from wild urban development. Cabo de Gata can be visited in many ways, but the most wild and genuine way is through the coastal path that traverses the entire park. The path starts from Agua Amarga, passes by San Pedro Cove, then descends to Las Negras. After the La Amatista viewpoint, the path crosses La Isleta and Los Escullos. Perhaps the most spectacular stretch of the path comes after San José: between the beaches of Genvoses and Monsul, the two most famous (and frequented) in the park, the coastal path passes by Barronal Cove, which separates both, with its cliff walls of volcanic material of strange and enigmatic beauty where basalt columns abound.

More info: Cabo de Gata Trails, Junta de Andalucía

2. Castle of Vélez Blanco (Almería)

The castle of Vélez-Blanco is one of the most beautiful in Almería. Perched on a rock overlooking this northern Almerian town, the majestic Renaissance fortress still stands as the official residence of the marquisate of Vélez, whose domains extended over Almería and Murcia. It is one of the best examples of a castle-palace from the 16th century. The current fortress is notable for its seven towers, all the height of the wall except for the enormous Homage Tower, which rises above the rest. The castle is a labyrinth of rooms, stairs, and passageways, with ornamentation far superior to what might be expected of a military compound; a symbol of this northern region of the province, an atypical Almería of mountains, forests, and castles where it often snows every winter, unlike the coastal deserts of Cabo de Gata.

More info: Vélez Blanco Tourism

3. Osuna (Seville)

Head of an extensive municipality as well as an important commercial and business center in the region, many are unaware that Osuna is also an important monumental city. The tour of historic Osuna has two well-differentiated sections. In the lower area, notable sites are grouped around the Plaza Mayor and Calle San Pedro, one of the most beautiful and homogeneous in Andalusia. Numerous films have been shot here, the latest being Callas forever, by Zefirelli, in which about a thousand extras from the town participated. Then there’s monumental Osuna, spread out on the hill that dominates the old town. There, the counts of Ureña, masters of the lordship, erected three majestic buildings. One is the Collegiate Church of the Assumption. Another is the University, a grand building with a rectangular plan and towers at the corners. Completing the superb monumental complex is the Monastery of the Encarnation.

More info: Osuna Tourist Office

4. Zuheros (Córdoba)

Precariously perched on a vertical crag since the 9th century, with its eternally white walls outlined with a line of walnut dye with which locals mark the walls and the ground. Entering Zuhueros, the ancient Hispanic-Muslim Sujaira, is like passing through a time tunnel. This town in the Subbética region of Córdoba could be attributed all the tropes of quintessential Andalusian imagery. Its narrow, winding streets have changed little since it was taken by Fernando III and ceded to the Fernández de Córdoba family. No matter which street you walk along, the stroll always ends up in the Plaza de la Paz, the only horizontal space of any dimension in the village. The small square is at the foot of the castle and the parish church of the Virgin of Remedies, whose bell tower sits upon the stones of the Muslim minaret. In Zuheros Castle, towers, walls, and rooms from an ancient Renaissance palace added later are preserved.

More info: Zuheros Tourism

5. Dehesas of Sierra Morena (Córdoba, Jaén, and Seville)

There are dehesas in many places in the Spain with a Mediterranean climate, but some of the best examples are in the southern Sierra Morena. Driving through the Sierra Norte de Sevilla natural park or the Cordovan Pedroches, or through the sierras of Andújar in spring when the dehesas are greening, and thousands of small flowers make the scene vibrate with dots of color is one of the best sensory experiences one can have. Good dehesas can be seen in the Sierra Norte Natural Park, which occupies 25% of the province of Seville and, together with the parks of Hornachuelos and Aracena, covers a good expanse of the southern slopes of Sierra Morena.

More info: Dehesas of Sierra Morena Biosphere Reserve, Junta de Andalucía

6. La Vereda de la Estrella (Granada)

La Vereda de la Estrella begins at the parking lot of the San Juan ravine picnic area, an ancient access track to several mines exploited on this northern slope of Sierra Nevada since Arab times. The path was built in 1890 to facilitate the transit of carts loaded with galena and pyrite. The arrival of the tramway in 1925 reactivated mining activity in the valley and the transit of mule teams along the track, but the disappearance of the train also led to the complete abandonment of extraction. The vereda remained there, mute and useless, until hikers brought it back to life to journey into the heart of the Sierra through some of the most beautiful landscapes imaginable. The Veleta, the Mulhacén, and the Alcazaba, with their crests covered in snow, envelop the route in a decor more typically associated with the Himalayas than Andalusia.

More info: Granada Provincial Council Tourist Board

7. La Sagra in Winter (Granada)

It could be the perfect mountain. A pyramidal shape, isolated from other elevations, elegant, and solitary in the middle of a high plateau. And it is located in the Granada highlands, not the Swiss Alps. It is La Sagra, an isolated peak to the north of the province of Granada, between Huéscar and Puebla de Don Fadrique, reaching an altitude of 2,383 meters. It’s the iconic symbol of the region. If one had to pick a singular moment for a visit, it would undoubtedly be in winter. Then, its triangular silhouette dresses in white and stands out even more against the clear blue skies of this dry highland. Reaching its snowy summit is a tradition for mountaineers from the southeastern peninsula.

More info: Municipality of Puebla de Don Fabrique

8. La Calahorra and the Marquesado del Zenete (Granada)

Guadix is one of the most peculiar cities in Granada. But very few travelers know that just a few kilometers from there extends no less peculiar region beneath the shadow of an atypical castle. It is the fortress-palace of La Calahorra, which crowns a rounded hill with its four towers topped by domes at the foot of Sierra Nevada. The castle was ordered to be built by Rodrigo de Vivar y Mendoza, count of El Cid. Vivar received this Marquesado del Zenete (as the Arabs called the region) and its eight towns from the Catholic Monarchs in gratitude for his help in the conquest of Granada in 1492. In 1910 a wealthy American attempted to buy it to dismantle it piece by piece and take it to his ranch. Currently, the castle of La Calahorra is disused but in good state of preservation.

More info:La Calahorra and Marquesado del Zenete, Junta de Andalucía Tourism Portal

9. La Mota Castle (Jaén)

La Mota Castle dominates from a hill the urban layout of Alcalá la Real. It is the most significant population and fortress along what is now called the Caliphate Route, which was no less than the historical road linking Córdoba to Granada. Quite the historical, commercial, and military route in Al-Andalus. Therefore, La Mota is the most impressive stronghold of greatest historical-artistic value in the region. Its distant silhouette, surrounded by a sea of olive trees, is all it takes to understand. The grand church of Santa María la Mayor, which still dominates the ensemble, was completed in 1620. Its gradual abandonment was compounded by the destruction of the Napoleonic invasion, severely damaging its structure. Until 1950, it served as the municipal cemetery, and now its ground reveals the graves and niches excavated over centuries. / Photo: Andalucía Tourism

More info: La Mota Fortress, Junta de Andalucía

10. Alájar (Huelva)

Alájar seems like one of those postcards taken from a book of genre engravings. Alájar delights with its tight and narrow streets that seem to conspire to block the sun’s rays. The best view of the town is from the Peña de Arias Montano, a calcareous tuff promontory overlooking the urban core and the vast swath of Mediterranean forest surrounding it. A viewpoint and a chapel have been built upon it. Arias Montano, writer, advisor-confessor to Philip II, and author of a polyglot Bible, was born in Alájar. The locals, grateful to their illustrious fellow countryman, dedicated this spot to him, to which thousands of people from Huelva make a pilgrimage every September 8th during the Virgin of the Angels’ pilgrimage, the most famous in Aracena. / Photo: Andalucía Tourism

More info: Alájar, Andalucía Tourism

11. Hermitage of the Virgen de Gracia of Archidona (Málaga)

Archidona is another of the great historic cities of Andalusia, with a significant Roman and Arab past. The old Muslim city was on the hill overseeing the current urban ensemble. There, the conquerors transformed the old aljama mosque into the hermitage of the Virgen de Gracia, the town’s patron saint. A treat for the senses because instead of destroying the temple, they simply readapted it to the new worship, extending slightly the main nave. Thanks to this, today we can enjoy an authentic ninth-century Hispanic-Muslim mosque with barely any alterations. Six columns of red marble, three naves oriented to the east – towards Mecca – and a simple timbered roof remain. The 17th-century Christian expansion consists of three additional naves, perpendicular to the Muslim ones, covered by an oval vault. In the 18th century, the ensemble was expanded to the appearance we see now.

More info: Archidona Tourism

12. Mudéjar Towers of the Axarquía (Málaga)

Small but unique bell towers rise in isolated villages of the Malaga Axarquia, like adobe antennas connecting to a distant past. They are the minarets of ancient mosques that the Christian conquerors incorporated into Christian temples without modifications or additions. The two best examples are the minaret-bell towers of Archez and Salares. The former is 15 meters high and was erected in the 12th century. The Salares one is more humble and modest, yet it retains such authenticity that it transports us to the 13th century. Twelve meters high in brick masonry, with tile decorations, archways, and windows. A small gem that time and luck have left us intact. The pinnacle of Andalusian Mudéjar art, a style born from the fusion of Islamic and Christian influences.

More info: Salares Tourism

Photo Credits: ©Paco Nadal