Easy hike through the Torcal Natural Park near Antequera

Hiking with young children through Torcal Park, just north of Málaga

Starting point

We park the car in the free parking lot right at the entrance to Torcal de Antequera Natural Park. By around 11 a.m. at the end of March, it was already quite full. A path leads from the parking lot directly to the park entrance.
 

Description of the hike

From the parking lot, we first head to the entrance, where we read the information about Torcal Natural Park. A shuttle bus runs from here up to the top and back. So if you don’t feel like walking one way, you can take the bus. From the entrance, we walk a short distance along the road and, after about 100 meters, turn onto the trail.

We pass a dilapidated structure, likely a shepherd’s hut; the path leads right through it, and we begin a gentle ascent up a rocky trail. The climb is gradual, with no steep sections. It’s actually impossible to stray from the route—it has no side paths and more or less follows the nearby road. 

In the second half of the route, just before the finish line, lies the Monumento Natural el Tornillo del Torcal (English: "The Screw")—one of the most iconic natural formations in all of Spain. It has been designated a separate natural monument since 2001. This roughly 6-meter-tall stone screw or tower is made of precisely stacked stone discs. It consists of several horizontal layers of limestone that are wider at the base and at the top, while slightly narrower in the middle, creating the perfect illusion of rotation or a screw thread.  

Thanks to its easy accessibility, the plateau near the information center is usually crowded, especially with school buses. We also ran into a group of several classes, and it was quite a commotion :)). There are restrooms and a restaurant at the information center.

From there, you can take a short nature trail, about 1 km long, which starts and ends at the visitor center. We just went to the lookout point and then took the same path back down to the parking lot.
 

Difficulty

The hike is easy, and even younger children can manage it without any trouble (tested on 8-year-olds with no issues). The trail follows rocky paths that are mostly narrow—just wide enough for one person. There are no exposed or secured sections.

The only thing to watch out for are the occasional large rocks along the way. Additionally, you can take advantage of the shuttle bus service from the park entrance; for 2 euros per person, the bus will take you up, and you can walk down.
 

Water availability

It is recommended to bring at least 0.5 liters of water per person for the hike, depending on the weather (in summer, feel free to bring 1 liter). You can purchase water and food at the restaurant near the information center at the summit. There is a wide variety of food available there. There are no places to refill your water along the trail to or from the summit.
 

Mountain peaks

The Torcal plateau is located at an altitude of approximately 1,200 meters above sea level. If you take the short, one-kilometer loop trail from the visitor center, you’ll pass the summit of Cerro las Ventanillas (1,256 meters above sea level), though there is no hiking trail leading to it—perhaps a climbing route :).
 

Danger

In good weather, the trail poses no danger. The path is well-maintained, and there are no falling rocks—or at least we didn’t see any signs warning of them. Furthermore, the rocks are quite a distance from the trail. Only in rainy weather should you watch your step on the rocks to avoid slipping.
 

Attractions

Main Features of the Rocks at El Torcal

These limestone rocks owe their layered appearance (the "pancake" effect) to their arrangement in horizontal layers. This is because they were formed by the deposition of marine sediments (animal skeletons and shells) on the floor of the Tethys Ocean. Between the layers are softer sections that erode more quickly, creating that "stacked plates" appearance.

Unlike many other mountain ranges, where water has carved out vertical gorges, here the main process at work is so-called gelivation (frost weathering). Water seeps into the horizontal crevices, freezes, expands in volume, and gradually chips away pieces of rock, thereby rounding off their edges.

Thanks to selective erosion (different parts of the rock resist wind and rain differently), formations have emerged here that have been given names. The most famous is El Tornillo (The Screw), which is even a natural monument of Andalusia, but you’ll also find formations resembling a sphinx, a camel, or a knight.

Since these rocks were once the seabed, all you need to do is look closely at the ground beneath your feet or at the rock walls. You can easily find imprints of ammonites (prehistoric cephalopods) or belemnites over 150 million years old.