activities > the stone forest

activities: The Stone Forest

The Mysterious Stone Forest
Location: El Torcal Park Nature Reserve, Antequera in Málaga
El Torcal is located about 30 km north of Málaga in the direction of Antequera near the village of Villanueva de la Concepción. This park is known as the most beautiful and impressive limestone landscape in Europe. As you go up about 1,000m high on the mountain to this natural park, you start to see piles of huge but very flat gray rocks one on top of the other, and their perfect forms just make you want to jump on them like a kid.

The whole area used to be the bottom of the sea until 150 million years ago. The seawater had penetrated the rocks and had created the unusual shape like an art sculpture. One day, the violent movement, caused by the crust of Earth, rose up the ground and turned it into mountains reaching 1,300m high, while the limestone still kept its layered and horizontal form. Millions of years of rain, wind, sunight, and other natural conditions caused these layers of rocks to form incredible shapes.

Animals that you can meet in this park:
You will find animals like deer, rabbit, dormouse, little mole, fox, all kind of reptiles, and birds like eagle, owl, vulture, jackdaw, robin, sparrow, goldfinche, etc. One of the most spectacular animal could be “Montpelier Snake”, grow up to 2m, the largest reptile to inhabit the mountain range. You may find it sleeping on the rock enjoying sunlight!

There are three routes through this park for the visitors marked by wooden arrows with different colors on them;

Green Route: The shortest and easiest route, 1,5 km., takes about 30 minutes.

Yellow Route: This route covers most of the green area, which is 2,5 km. long and takes you to the point called "Las Ventanillas" (The Windows), where you can enjoy the panoramic view of the valley of Málaga.

Red Route: The longest and the most difficult route, 4,5 km., takes about three hours. There is one point at 1.339 m. high where you can see the entire El Torcal Park, and Africa in the distance.

Good walking shoes, small backpack, and comfortable clothes are very important in order to enjoy this little adventure. There will be a typical Spanish lunch “Bocadillo” and a bottle of water prepared by GT Club staff. If you have any question, feel free to contact us!