This linear route follows the Río Dúrcal to the Cascada de los Bolos. It is 10.1km long, has an elevation of 185m and takes approximately 4 hours to complete.
There are a number of alternative length walks for this popular route but this one starts near the Río Dúrcal. We begin the route by crossing the river over a bridge. We follow the river up to an acequia which we follow. The acequia goes through a narrow, low tunnel. At this point of the walk, there are fantastic views of the river below. At the end of the acequia, we continue following the river and here there are times when it is necessary to walk through the water. After this point, depending on the amount of water, there are a number of waterfalls and we finally get to the Cascada de los Bolos. This walk involves around 2 hours of actual walking in the river and there is a narrow section where you have to take off your backpack to be able to get past.
This walk has to be done when the river has the right amount of water. Too much and it is impassable and too little the waterfalls would not be so impressive. The best time is July and August. On the weekends in July and August there hundreds of people so it is best to go midweek. Even in the hottest part of the summer this walk is cool.
The ayuntamiento of Durcal have made a special parking spot next to the instituto. See meeting point link. (which does not appear on Street view at the time of writing)
There is a lot of discussion about which footwear to wear. There are many opinions. The best footwear will not rub your skin when it gets wet and soft. I wore a pair of old soft walking boots which had plenty of room and this was OK. Some people wore flip flops or sandals. What you could do is test your footwear out before doing the walk by wetting it and then walking, also you could take a back up pair of sandals in case your feet start to blister or rub.
This walk is a circular walk but we missed the path down to the river a couple of times and we ended up walking down a steep path to get down to the river below. After a while you get to some steps which go down to the left and there are some pleasant tables for eating on. There are many fewer people on this part of the walk.
| Distance | 10.124 km |
| Duration | 3 hours 31 minutes GPX ------ 3 hours 0 mins (Naismith) |
| Total Climb | 185 m |
| Highest Point | 938 m |
| Weather Link | Click here |
Meeting Point: Dúrcal: Río Dúrcal - Cascada los Bolos - Instituto Valle de Lecrín
LINK 1: More info
LINK 2: You tube Video of the waterfall
See map full screen Click here
Note: You can choose different types of maps using the drop down (top right) EG ArcGis Ariel is satelliteSorry we do not allow download of the gpx file of this walk because our group suffered a takeover by the weasly walkers. Click here if you would like to know what a walking group takeover is.
This page has been seen 3161 times since - 5th July 2022