With an estimated investment expected to exceed 5 million Euros the restoration of the Caminito del Rey seems to be on schedule and is due to open in January or February 2015. It is hoped that king Felipe of Spain, like his great grandfather Alfonso XIII will open the hanging footpath high above the Gaitanes Gorge. Once completed, the 6 kilometre path will take about an hour to walk.
Work on the Visitor Centre has yet to commence and will be situated at the El chorro railway station.
As of today access to the footpath is still prohibited but it is possible to walk up to a viewpoint to see the extent of the work carried out from the El Chorro side of the path.
I’ve been living in this lovely area of Western Andalucia for the last 20 years or so and dedicate most of my time to the running of English language tourist information websites for the towns of Cádiz, Ronda, Grazalema, the famous or infamous Caminito del Rey, and also Wildside Holidays, which promotes sustainable and eco-friendly businesses running wildlife and walking holidays in Spain.
Appears they have ruined the place . . .
Hi John, could you be more specific as to why they have “ruined” the place? Yes, it has changed since the early days when a minority of people came to a very poor and run down area of Malaga province. Back then it was the domain of adrenalin junkies and climbers from all over europe and even the world who put very little back into the local community. (Including myself)… I think that the benefits outway the loss of access to a realtively small area of climbing locations and anyway climbers are still allowed into the area free of charge so long as they have personal insurance.
The challenge has gone?
Yes indeed, but there is still plenty of challenging climbing in the area of El Chorro and the Caminito del Rey…