• Region: Andalucia
• Province: Jaen
• Declared a Natural Park: 1986
• Park surface area: 209,920 hectares

Points of interest

The Sierra Cazorla, Segura y las Villas offers a great array of very well conserved ecosystems, each of high natural value with many endemics. Spectacular landscapes including waterfalls, deep valleys and lakes make this park unique. The important Guadalquivir and Segura rivers both begin in the park. Large pine forests clothe this limestone mountain range whose highest point is Pico Empanada at 2,107m. It is a very accessible park with many old donkey routes crisscrossing the mountains.

Plenty of footpaths to choose from in Cazorla

This video shows some of the footpaths and stunning scenery close to the town of Cazorla.

The area has also become famous as a starlight destination. The Starlight Foundation is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2009 to promote the protection of the night sky and the development of “astrotourism” and there is an ever growing list of starlight destinations in Spain to visit.

Nearby Quesada has a lot to offer!

Some fantastic photography showcasing the Sierra Cazorla Segura y Las Villas natural park has to offer!

Flora

Too many to name and a botanists dream destination. Boasting more than 2000 different plant species, of which 34 are unique in the world such as Viola cazorlensis. This territory holds a 5th of the variety of plant species to be found within the Iberian peninsular.

A visit to the botanical gardens at Torre de Vinagre is pretty much obligatory.

Fauna

Historically this zone has constituted a refuge for the wild fauna. There are 280 species of vertebrates (11 of which are fish, 12 amphibians, 21 reptiles 185 birds, and 51 of mammals). One reptile unique to the park is the Valverde lizard. (Algyroides marchi)

Spanish ibex, Red deer, Fallow deer, Mouflon, Wild boar and Red squirrel are well represented.

Griffon vulture is plentiful and the Bearded vulture has been re-introduced recently.

Find a hotel in the Sierra Cazorla, Segura y las Villas

Also in the area

The area has held onto its historic roots and the village of Segura de la Sierra is dominated by its Mudejar castle. The church of Our Lady of Collado dates from the 15th century also there are Arab baths.

The village of Hornos de Segura has marvellous views, it retains its old city walls and the Puerta de la Villa or old city gate plus the castle and church which have led to the denomination of this town as an “Historic Artistic Site”.

Guided tours at Get Your Guide

Listen to the traditional tales of an ancient Spanish town on this guided tour. Dive into Segura de la Sierra’s medieval streets by night to hear about the death of Martinica and Yelmo’s treasure.

The Sierra de Cazorla in Andalucia has the stunning Parador de Cazorla.

Click here to reserve your room over at booking.com.

Located at the heart of the Cazorla Nature Reserve, in stunning natural surroundings, the Parador de Cazorla is perfect accommodation for a rural getaway in the north east of Andalusia.

Information/Visitors Centers

Cazorla, information centre

In the town of Cazorla you will find a well equippped information centre. probably the best place to start if you are in the area.

Torre del Vinagre

The main park visitor centre is at Km. 45 of the A-319 road between the villages of Cazorla and Hornos de Segura, one of the main access routes into the park.

The Torre del Vinagre visitor centre should be an obligatory visit and there is a huge amount of information about Spain’s largest Nature Park. Its outstanding location in the Guadalquivir valley makes it possible to enjoy one of the most emblematic sectors of this natural area.

The Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas encompass five types of environment, each with its own scenic attraction, and this information centre helps visitors to discover all their secrets. The different landscapes comprised of rocky environments, with a whole universe of shapes and colours; water environments, based around water as the source of life, richness and diversity; pine groves, the predominant woodland in the Sierra; the craggy relief of the high peaks – a wilderness that is nevertheless full of life; and lastly the human landscapes, where Man has transformed the land he has occupied since times immemorial.

The exhibition presents the inhabitants of these five landscapes, and there is a room in which visitors can view live images of deer and other local wildlife. These species, among others, are crucial to the hunting activity for which the area is famous, and the Torre del Vinagre centre describes their evolution in great detail.

Opposite the Torre de Vinagre Visitor centre you will also find the excellent botanical gardens .

Fluvial Río Borosa

To get to this visitor centre follow the signposts along the A-319 Cazorla – Hornos de Segura road to the Torre del Vinagre visitor centre at Km. 45. From there, turn off towards the River Borosa and the Loma de Mariángela ridge. The facility is 1,5 kilometres further on.

The Río Borosa Visitor Centre is in one of the most emblematic parts of the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park, on the bank of the river from which it takes its name and which is the Guadalquivir’s first sizeable tributary. Next to the centre there is a fish farm and a path called the Río Borosa trail which follows the course of the river and enables visitors to familiarise themselves with the area.

The location is the ideal setting for visitors to discover the importance of water and the river ecosystems which exist in this protected area. But apart from shaping the landscape, water has also been used by Man since ancient times to transport wood, this area’s main natural resource. In the Río Borosa visitor centre we can see how logs were floated down river from the timber yards to the railway stations lower down the mountain, from where they were distributed throughout Spain.

Common and rainbow trout, barbel and nase constitute the diet for a wide variety of the small mammals and fish-eating birds which inhabit this environment. Between them they represent a huge food chain which is also covered in the display at the visitor centre.

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The Caminito del Rey

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Wildside Holidays – Spain

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Iberia Nature Forum

Struggling with identifying those bugs and beasties? Why not check out the Iberia nature Forum! https://iberianatureforum.com/