🥾 Distance: About 8 km roundtrip from Canillas de Aceituno

⏰ Length: 3 hours

🔴 Difficulty: Rated moderate to difficult. Mostly because you’re walking along steep ledges the whole time, but we saw hikers of all ages. Not advised if you have vertigo.

About the hike

Also known as the “other Caminito del Rey” for it’s steep ledges, suspension bridge, and spectacular views, this is a beautiful hike between two pueblos blancos, Canillas de Aceituno and Sedella. It’s about an hour drive from Málaga city. There are a few different versions of the hike that vary in distance and difficulty. I started in Canillas de Aceituno, hiked to the waterfall and suspension bridge, and back. If you want, you can continue on to Sedella. However, if you choose this option, you might want to take two cars and leave one in Canillas de Aceituno and the other in Sedella to save yourself some walking. Note: the trail to Sedella is very steep and rated difficult.

What to wear and bring

• Hiking boots or comfortable sneakers
• A sweatshirt and/or a light jacket (It’s cooler in the mountains during the fall and winter)
• A rain jacket (It sprinkled during our hike, so I was glad I had it)
• Water
• Sunscreen
• Sandwiches and/or snacks

Getting to the trailhead

From Málaga it’s about a 1 hour drive to Canillas de Aceituno, where we started the trail. Before you leave home, put into your GPS “Calle Cuesta de los Picachos” and follow the directions to Canillas de Aceituno. As you enter the town, you will see a public parking garage on your right. We actually missed this on the way in and navigated the narrow streets of Canillas de Aceituno to find parking. I think you can save time and stress by using the parking garage.

Once parked, you will walk to the trailhead on foot. I have to say, this part is not well marked. Start on Calle Cuesta de los Picachos, which is right across for the parking garage. Then, I recommend putting Calle Convento in your phone and navigating from there. Keep walking until you see stone stairs and the trail sign. (We had to stop and ask for directions! Locals are used to hikers and are very friendly.) You know you’re at the trailhead when you see the sign pictured above. The trail begins to the right of the sign.

What you’ll see on the hike

This hike is unique for many reasons, one of them being you follow running water and olive trees. You can expect to see stunning views of the mountains. There’s also a waterfall and natural pool. When I did this hike in February 2022, Andalucía was in a drought, so the water in the pool was low. But during other parts of the year, it looks spectacular! The main attraction of course is the suspension bridge, which connects the two towns of Canillas de Aceituno and Sedella. It’s fairly new and was opened to the public in October 2020. Only ten people are allowed on the bridge at the time. Hiking during the winter season, we had no problems with crowds.

After the hike

As you hike back to your car, definitely take a spin around the beautiful town of Canillas de Aceituno. We brought sandwiches and ate them at the waterfall, but there were plenty of restaurants and cafes to grab a bite or a coffee after the hike. Here’s a list of restaurants the city hall of Canillas de Aceituno recommends.