Las Alpurrajas – the White Villages
The Las Alpurrajas or La Alpurraja is a region of white mountain villages in the province of Granada in Andalucía. They are a very straightforward and partly scenic 3.5 or 4 hour drive from La Zenia and well worth visiting, even in the winter months. In fact, the photographs below were taken late in December.
The Las Alpurrajas gained fame following the book “Driving Over Lemons” by Chris Stewart, which many of you may have read, which told of the ex-member of Genesis deciding to buy a remote mountain farm in the mountains and to move there with his wife Ana. The farm itself – a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, was sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity, and when driving around these mountains, it is apparent that there are still many remote places just like Chris and Ana´s farm.
We chose to stay in a remote and small hotel, with spectacularly beautiful views just outside the village of Busquistar, the Alcazaba de Busquistar. It needed improvement maintenance wise, but this was reflected in the price and we could not fault the service and food. There are many lovely places to stay in the area.
This is not a part of the world to visit unless you enjoy driving, and more specifically, driving mountainous roads with curvy bends and stunning views to distract you. The drive around all these villages goes both high up into the hills and down in the valleys. There is a circular drive beginning from Orgiva for example, which takes 3-4 hours, allowing stopping to wander around the little villages. Obviously you can start from where you wish, you will see that of the many towns and villages you can go through, there are the well known ones like Torvizcon, Trevelex, Pampaneira, Capileira and Bubion.
The road takes the A348, if you look at a map, then the GR413 signposted Almegijar (which is worth visiting), then continue to Trevelez. There are beautiful views across to the Sierra Nevada. This village is famed for being the “highest in Spain” and has an attractive location sat at the foot of a gorge. It is also very famous for its Serrano ham. After many pretty villages, the GR 421 continues to the well-known villages of Pampaneira, Capileira and Bubion. These are very beautiful villages, with rug shops and lots of beautiful pottery, jam, honey, clothes etc. After Pampaneira you can continue to Orgiva.
Almost all of the roads take two cars, the views are amazing and it is a hidden corner of Spain, not too far from Murcia or the Orihuela Costa to visit. We really recommend it.