Destination Spotlight - Eastern Andalucia, Spain

Thousands of people fly into Malaga every year and yet, whilst the beaches of the Costa del Sol remain popular, more and more people are now hiring a car and turning inland to explore the mountainous countryside and sultry cities of Andalucia.

This is a diverse landscape comprising snow-capped mountains, deep gorges, Moorish cities, olive groves and desert-like scrubland. Granada, most famous for the Alhambra Palace, is hard to resist.  But there is much in this region worth exploring.  Beyond the city rise the mountains of the Sierra Nevada National Park, offering hiking and ski-ing. And on the southern slopes, straddling the provinces of Granada and Almeria lie the deep valleys and nestling Berber villages of Las Alpujarras. 

Las Alpujarras’ natural beauty attracts walkers, hikers and trekkers from all over the world but the cultural interest here lies in its small villages which were the last stronghold of the Moors following the fall of Granada to the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492. These villages were later resettled with some 12,000 Christian families but have retained their traditional Berber architecture - terraced clusters of white box-shaped houses with flat clay roofs, reminiscent of settlements in the Atlas mountains of Morocco.  And it is largely thanks to the Moorish irrigation systems that the land here is still surprisingly fertile.  Oranges, apples, chestnuts and avocados are all grown here.

The Sierra Nevada National Park is also famous for its wildlife and draws birdwatchers from around the world, hoping for a sight of the elusive Hoopoe or birds of prey such as the goshawk and sparrow hawk. There are also many rare species of flower to be found.

How To Get There

Flights into Malaga are widely available, for example from Easyjet (Glasgow, Belfast, Liverpool, East Midlands, Bristol, Luton, Stansted, Gatwick, Newcastle), Ryanair (Shannon and Dublin), Flybe (from Southampton, Exeter, Birmingham and Norwich), Monarch (from Manchester and Gatwick), British Airways (Manchester and Gatwick), Thomsonfly (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Durham, Cardiff, Bristol, Leeds, Doncaster, Manchester, Liverpool, Bournmouth, Gatwick, Luton, Nottingham, Birmingham, Coventry and Belfast) and XL (Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham)

Flights into Granada are available from Ryanair (Liverpool and Stansted), British Airways (via Madrid) and Iberia (via Madrid or Barcelona)

Flights to Almeria are available from Ryanair (Stansted), Easyjet (Gatwick and Stansted), First Choice (Gatwick and Manchester), Monarch (Manchester, Birmingham and Luton)

Car hire in Spain starts from just £12 per day and pick-up points include Malaga, Almeria, Granada, La Manga, Marbella and Nerja

Travelling to Spain this year? Don't forget, Car Hire 3000 offer car hire from locations across Spain, including car hire Barcelona , car hire Malaga, car hire Tenerife and car hire Ibiza - as well as 4000 other locations across Spain and the world!