The best cycling routes around Arboleas

The old Arboleas station was one of the small nodes of the historic Almanzora railway, built by the GSSR at the end of the 19th century. The two-story building with masonry walls still retains its classic silhouette. Although it is fenced off today, it remains an interesting point on the route, a vestige of the line that for a century connected Granada, Almería, and Murcia.

These curves wind along the slope of the rambla de la Ballabona, creating a spectacular landscape, especially for cyclists who travel here.

The history of the Castle of the 1st Marquis of Los Vélez, or Castle of Cuevas del Almanzora, began as a fortified complex following the Christian conquest of the Kingdom of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs.

The station has been renovated and now houses a cozy restaurant with a terrace.

Beautiful via Verde with many views

VIA VERDE DEL VALLE DE ALMONZORA is a spectacular route of a total of 98 km through the southeast of the peninsula between the highlands of Granada in the Baza area towards the district of Almendricos, already in the region of Murcia, and passes through the Almanzora Valley in Almería. A route that for decades crossed a railway line that transported tons of iron and other merchandise.

The cycling trip is distributed in three established stages mainly because each day is totally different in landscapes, history and content. The first day is the Vía Verde Valle del Almanzora Natural Trail, in the province of Almería, full of railway constructions, fertile meadows of orchards and fruit trees, marble sculptures and remains of the iron ore culture that for a century was produced by tons. towards the ports of Murcia. The second stage is the Sierra de Baza Greenway, between El Hijate and the famous iron bridge of Baúl, traveling through the steppe landscapes of the Baza plateau and the edge of the filmy badlands of the Gorafe desert, famous for its magical beauty. and because in the middle of the last century they were the setting for countless spaghetti westerns. And the third day seems like another world, starting from Gor the gravel adventure enters the peaks and mountains of the Sierra de Baza through immense pine forests and oak forests to the radars of Calar Alto, exceeding the level of two thousand meters of altitude with extraordinary views of the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada, closing the loop at the Tíjola station and a section back to Arboleas along the Natural Trail. The beginning is in the San Roque neighborhood of the municipality of Arboleas, at the beginning of the conditioned section of the Almanzora Valley on the route of the Guadix-Almendricos Greenway Natural Trail. The place is a simple road crossing with a guardhouse of the old railway level crossing. The continuation of the old mining railway towards Murcia through Zurgena and Huércal-Overa is not yet ready for bicycle traffic. The small Arboleas railway stop is in the direction of Baza about eight hundred meters later, arranged with gardens on the platforms, the Natural Trail panel, signs with names and distances and a good place to park, it can be an alternative starting point. The residential neighborhoods of Las Caleras, La Perla and El Prado disguise the whitish and steppe environment of the valley slopes, formed mainly by hills of marl, gypsum and other quirks of geology that favor the development of very exclusive and curious plants known as soap dishes.

The scenery is beautiful.the path is flat, And is easy on the knees.