#62 Caminito del Rey, the formerly most dangerous hiking trail in the world

January 28, 2022: El Chorro

J. The Caminito del Rey, the King's Path, is located in the mountains behind Málaga and is known for once being the most dangerous hiking trail in the world. Back in 1999 and 2000, several hikers fell and died, leading to the trail being closed. It runs along the steep walls of a gorge that is up to 200 m deep and is about 100 m above the ground. Of course, some adrenaline junkies couldn't resist conquering the trail despite the closure and high penalty. So the trail was completely renovated in 2015 and is now accessible to the public again.

We already noticed that you can climb well in the mountains here. We spent the night in a beautiful parking lot under pine trees together with incredibly many young people. For the first time since our trip, we are no longer mainly surrounded by retirees, but by young Europeans who are also traveling in vans. Most of them have gathered here with a larger group for several days of climbing. Nevertheless, the nationalities mainly kept to themselves, so there was a Belgian, a French, and a Czech camp, and many individual vans in between.

To get to the starting point of the Caminito del Rey, we took a bus and then walked for another 30 minutes on a beautiful walking path through the forest. Since we had estimated all of this to take longer, we were at the scheduled time we booked on the internet 40 minutes early. However, we were also allowed in 40 minutes earlier.

Do you have to book an appointment for a hiking trail on the internet? Yes, exactly. After this trail was once the most dangerous in the world, it is now designed for safety in every way. Only a certain number of people are allowed on the trail at the same time. The trail is made of wood and steel above the old concrete trail, and of course, has a proper fence and handrails or steel ropes on both sides. At the entrance, you get a helmet, and every few hundred meters there is an employee, perhaps to ensure that no one climbs over the fence. At first, this may sound boring, but there is still a breathtaking view down the gorge and onto the opposite mountains. Above the mountain peaks, vultures circled, which were impressive to see, and far below us, the river lazily flowed through the rocks.

As the trail is a boardwalk, you can look down through the boards. Often, the trail runs directly above the old, quite dilapidated trail, which sometimes consists only of rusty steel beams and sometimes of holey concrete. I wouldn't like to walk on that, especially not at this height.

After a while, we came to a gravel road that led us further through the valley. We enjoyed the magnificent views and the good weather.

But towards the end of the trail, it got really exciting again. After walking for a while in a former, quite narrow canal, the second boardwalk that clung to the smooth rock face began. Unfortunately, it was closed. Apparently, the formerly most dangerous hiking trail in the world is still occasionally very dangerous. This part of the trail is not always closed, as we later found out, it was still open last week. So that we could still walk to the end of the trail, we were redirected through a tunnel. It was a very long, very, very dark tunnel. On a trail that is designed for safety in every way, we found it surprising that this tunnel was only lit with occasional, tiny LEDs. I think tea lights would have been brighter. So we groped our way forward in the darkness, and every time it got a little too creepy for me, there was light at the end of the tunnel, and we reached a small viewing point from which we could see the gorge and the currently blocked trail.

After three of these endlessly long, dark tunnels, we were finally back outside and were rewarded with a beautiful view. However, we also got a little wet, as a waterfall was falling down the cliff nearby. When we went around the next bend, we also knew why we were getting wet from this waterfall. There was such a strong wind blowing here that the waterfall only fell one meter and then blew sideways in thousands of water droplets. Right at this spot, there was a suspension bridge over the gorge. Even in calm weather, this suspension bridge, where you only walk on grids 100m above the ground, is certainly not for people with a fear of heights. But now there was such a strong wind blowing here that I would even be afraid of being blown away on solid ground. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the view, which is surely breathtaking from this bridge. I was too busy holding myself and my camera, which would have been blown away for sure, and trying to get to the other end as quickly as possible.

While we were on the bridge, an employee came with a wind measuring device, perhaps they were considering closing the trail. But we were allowed to continue. On the other side, the boardwalk hung halfway up a 200m high cliff. The gorge opened up here into a slightly wider valley, and we could see far. However, the trail now went, still along the cliff, first down on very narrow steps, and later a staircase, through whose steps you could see the vast void excellently, led up again. Of course, still in very strong wind. It's a good thing we don't have a fear of heights. Nevertheless, I was glad when we had solid ground under our feet again, and many people came after us trembling, clinging to the railing at the end of the trail.

It was a breathtaking trail. However, I do not recommend it for anyone with a fear of heights, claustrophobia, or fear of darkness to do this trail in strong winds. (In better weather, you can take the trail around the tunnel and surely also have great views.) Later, we met two Americans who had walked this trail a few days before us in almost calm weather. However, one of them has a fear of heights. They made a video about it, which also shows beautiful drone shots. (If interested, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqKyIU9PyRM&t=24s )

After the end of the second boardwalk, we had to walk for another half an hour through the beautiful landscape until we could return our helmets and were back at our van. The whole route was announced with 4 hours, but it includes all the paths before and after and even the bus travel time. We only spent a total of 2.5 hours on the Caminito del Rey, with many breaks. However, it was beautiful and a great experience!

Day 105 - Total tour 6,749 km

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