The Hot Springs at Alhama de Granada

About an hour and a bit drive from Nerja is a small town of Alhama de Granada and just 5 minutes further are the hot springs, really! in the middle of winter when snow is all around you can take a refreshing dip in the hot springs and then if you dare a splash in the freezing water of the river that the springs join. The kids will love it, there are ducks and fish to feed from the bridge that crosses the river.

Follow the signs off the E340 to Velez Malaga and then you pick up the road signs for Alhama De Granada, carry on towards Venuela, past the lake and on to Alhama. The road really starts to climb here and there are great views. Alhama is a good place to stop for some refreshment and then 5 minutes along the road out of town towards Granada, take the first left turn before the small bridge and this will take you to the hot springs. 
We went in September but a visit in December or January is definitely on the cards.
When you leave the springs at the main road turn left across the small bridge and then almost immediately turn right and follow the road to Almunecar. This road is windy and twisty and the first part is quite badly damaged so take care, but you will not believe the views, unfortunately I had a problem with my camera, but we will add photographs when we do the trip again later in the year.
At the first t-junction you come to, the bar/hotel on your left serves good food and there is a great walk back along the chasm to Alhama, it takes about an hour and is pretty georgeous!
You will regularly see birds of prey here.

river spring	hot spring	fountain in Alhama
City walls	Church Alhama	Old mill at the start of the gorge
Gorge1		Gorge looking towards Alhama de Granada

We decided to have a mid week break.

We headed off about 3pm on the Wednesday and had a nice drive up past lake Vinuela to discover that the bumpy stretch of road just through the small village past mountain pass  had all been resurfaced.

We stopped at the very small village on the tight left hand bend with a restaurant on the left and a Hotel on the right. We had coffee and Tapas in the hotel which has been refurbished and extended quite recently. The bar/restaurant is very attractive and they had a huge glass carbouy full of the local wine on the bar, and lots of old farm equipment and antiques around the place that gives it a cosy charm.
On to Alhama, and just before you enter the town there is a right turn signposted  Jatar, follow this road and cross the dam and you will find a small Hotel (Hotel el Ventorro tel 958 35 0438 fax 958 36 0161) that has a separate bar restaurant. We checked in here for the night but were disappointed to discover the restaurant would be closed that night! ahh well we would get a Taxi into Alhama for a meal later.
While we were having a beer the owner came over and said another family had arrived and he would be opening the restaurant after all. Result!
We then drove into Alhama for a coffee and a walk around before taking a scenic route back to the Hotel for a shower and change.
We drove out of Alhama past the Hot Springs towards Granada (if you turn right here this also takes you back to the hotel but the road is a bit tricky in places because of landslides) and ended up at another lake at   Bermejales,  very pretty and huge fish swimming close to the dam. The village is quite pretty and there were people canoeing and anglers on the shore past the camp site.

Back to Hotel el Ventorro. The rooms are nicely decorated, a choice of doubles or twins and all have en-suite with bath and shower and TV. The walls are quite thin though and you can hear what else is going on in the Hotel though!
9pm and down to the restaurant, we had the house Rioja Vista Alegre at 4.80€  fruity and far too easy to drink. We ordered  mushrooms sautéed with eggs, a small house salad, and garlic mushrooms for starters.
For main curse we had pork fillet, and pork loin cooked an a wood barbecue and served with patatas al a pobre, all wonderful and tender.
The bar was closing but we simply ordered another bottle of wine and went and sat outside to finish our drinks.
Next morning we had coffee and toast for breakfast and paid our bill 179 Euros for the rooms, food and seven (well it was my birthday) bottles of wine.
That is 45 E per head!

We then drove up through Salares then Loja and on to Rio Frio for lunch. The road is windy in places but the views and scenery are stunning.

We had a walk along the river which is ever so pretty and watched them catching fish in the fish farm before walking up to the old church where there are two or three restaurants. We ordered a large house salad, smoked tout, trout on the plancha and a trout escalope all served with fries.
Rio Frio is famous for...trout.
Excellent and 28 Euros including beers and yet more coffee.
The town (well village really) was very quiet even though the weather was beautiful.
Then a nice ride back to Casabermeja and across country to Velez Malaga.
A 28 hour escape that was brilliant.

The dam at Bermejales	Salar	Loja
Lake at Bermejales	Rio Frio fish farm	trout in the rio frio