the times Saturday April 30 202238
spotless streets lined with meticulously
groomed flowerpots. The locals, who still
collect fresh water from the fountain
beside the old hospital, are a little too
friendly, too happy to have a laugh. It’s
almost as though you’ve stumbled onto
a desert film set in which you are the
unwitting star. Make the most of it.
Stay at the boutiquey Montesion
Luz del Desierto — motto: he
who doesn’t know the desert
does not know silence.
Details B&B doubles from
£75 (montesion.info).
Fly to Malaga7 Pampaneira
Granada
The villages of
Pampaneira, Bubion
and Capileira stand on a
two-mile stretch of the
A-4129 above the Poqueira
Gorge on the Alpujarras, on
the southern slopes of Granada’s
Sierra Nevada. All three make the
Pueblos Mas Bonitos list, but frankly,
in summer and especially at weekends,
they’re too congested to be any fun.
Come midweek or out of season, though,
and their Berber beauty — running
water, dazzling white houses and
cascades of geraniums — is more
intoxicating than the altitude. The
walking is terrific: the Poqueira Circuit
gets you to Capileira in time for lunchand back to Pampaneira for a swim the
Hotel Estrella de las Nieves’s pool.
Details B&B doubles from £62
(estrelladelasnieves.com). Fly to Malaga8 El Castell de
Guadalest Marina Baixa
Flattened by earthquakes, abandoned by
its Moorish residents and bombarded
during the War of Succession,
El Castell de Guadalest, in the Marina
Baixa of the Costa Blanca, has had a
turbulent history. Your first glimpse will
be from a bend in the CV755: the bell
tower and the Alcozaiba, or defensive
tower, built unfeasibly, it seems, on sheer
rock pinnacles. Close up, through the
tunnel from the old town to the even
older town, you’ll find they’re quite
accessible, if only along cobbled paths
that are little more than goat tracks. The
magic begins after the day-trippers have
left: starting with a copa de tinto in the
plaza as the swifts scream overhead.
Stay at Cases Noves, if only for the
magnificent views from a terrace that
is often above the clouds.
Details B&B doubles from £133
(hotelruralenalicante.es). Fly to Valencia9 Urueña Castile y Leon
Some time in the Nineties I ran out of
fuel at a T-junction in the emptiness
between the Tierra del Pan and the
scorched Montes Torozos. With no clueAlcala del Jucar, Albacete5 Genalguacil Malaga
The MA8304 from Estepona to
Genalguacil is either one of the prettiest
or scariest roads in Spain. Wide enough
for one car, it writhes through the
pinsapo forests of the Sierra Bermeja,
hairpinning down to the Genal —
where you’ll find one of the finest
river beaches in Andalusia —
before climbing up to a hidden
white village of unexpected
beauty. Despite its
tumultuous history of
uprisings, banditry and
reprisals, Genalguacil is a
deeply tranquil spot that’s
become dedicated to art,
with 150-odd installations
to discover in the streets
and gardens, and an arts
festival held, inexplicably,
in the fierce heat of August.
Stay at the basic yet fabulous
Posada del Recovero, and
take an inner tube for the river.
Details B&B doubles from
£50 (jardinesdelvisir.com).
Fly to Malaga6 Lucainena de las
Torres Almeria
This village of 600, east of the Tabernas
desert and an hour from Almeria, is
suspiciously pretty. The houses are as
white as Simon Cowell’s teeth and the1 Cudillero Asturias
One way to keep the second-homers
from diluting the culture of your
seaside village is to develop your own
vernacular, with no words for Ocado,
Range Rover or Dryrobe. They’ve done
that in Cudillero, 40 minutes’ drive west
of Gijon and the only place on earth
you’ll hear Pixueto. It’s a language
closer to Norse than Spanish — living
evidence of the Viking colonisation that
left those six black ravens on Cudillero’s
coat of arms. Frankly it looks more like
Positano than a pirate enclave, with
colourful fishermen’s cottages cascading
down to the water’s edge. Be there on
June 29 for the Fiesta de San Pedro,
when the weeklong Amuravela festival
begins with the reading of a poem in
Pixueto summarising the highlights of
the past year. You won’t understand a
word of it. Stay at La Casona de Pio,
a traditional property serving a fabulous
breakfast.
Details B&B doubles from £105
(la-casona-de-pio.hotel-costa-verde.com).
Fly to Oviedo (Asturias)
2 Agulo La Gomera
Eleven hairpins from a black rock beach
and hidden in banana plantations amid
an Escher-like confusion of terraces lies
the village of Agulo. Such is the might
of the surrounding topography, and the
colonial beauty of its cobbled lower
town, it can feel at times that you’re in
Peru. Come for the hiking on marked
trails that offer views of Tenerife and
El Teide, or through the rainforests of
the Garajonay National Park. Choose
carefully: some are Andean in scale.
Stay dead centre in the historic Casa
de la Oje. It’s basic, with sea views, but
charming nonetheless.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering
for two from £291 (booking.com).
Fly to La Gomera via Tenerife
3 Alcudia Mallorca
Guarding the Victoria peninsula
between the bays of Pollenca and
Alcudia, this Roman town, famed for
its togas, is usually relegated to day-trip
status — especially on Tuesdays and
Sundays, when tourists pile in to buy
stuff they don’t need. Base yourself
here, though, and you’ll find you’re in
a bastion of peace with a Roman
amphitheatre, medieval and Renaissance
quarters, and a sophisticated tapas
culture, all enclosed within thick,
crenellated walls. Stay at the riad-like
Can Mostatxins, which has 19 rooms,
the best of which are accessed via private
glass walkways, along with a couple of
plunge pools and a champagne bar.
Details B&B doubles from £161
(hotelcanmostatxins.com).
Fly to Mallorca
4 Almonaster la Real
Huelva
Huelva is Andalusia’s forgotten province:
a land of pigs and oak trees, slate
mountains and hidden wonders such as
Almonaster la Real, 20 miles west of
Aracena. The mosque that stands on the
ridge above the village dates from the
10th century; the adjacent bullring is
built on the old parade ground of the
castle. Below are the painted cottages,
cobbled streets and hot, silent afternoons
of Andalusia profunda. The jamon here
— which tastes of acorns — actually
melts in the mouth. Try it at El Rincon
de Curro, and stay at Hotel Luz, a
gorgeous spot with a pool in the garden.
Details B&B doubles from £58
(hotelluzalmonaster.com). Fly to Seville
Agulo, La Gomera