Antequera (population about 45,000) is an attractive town with a well-preserved city center, some fine buildings and some outstanding natural sites close by. About 4,000 years ago the area was inhabited by people who erected some of Europe’s largest megalithic dolmens (tombs of huge boulders), Cueva de Menga and Cueva de Viera. Menga, the larger of the two, is 82 ft long, 13 ft high and composed of 31 slabs of stone, the largest of which weighs 180 tons. You can find it about 9.3 miles from the center of Antequera, on the road leading northeast to the N 331.

The Sierra de las Nieves belongs to the Ronda mountain area and is part of the Betic Cordilleres. Impressive Limestone formations, deep canyons and drop offs mark this mountain range up to an elevation of 1919 meters, high enough for snow in the winter (the Spanish name stands for snow mountains).
In the Sierra de las Nieves you find with 3.000 ha the largest part of the Southern Spain porcupine fir tree forest and a large number of capricorns. Since 1989 the Sierras de las Nieves are preserved as a nature park and 1995 they were declared as an UNESCO biosphere area.

Along the fertile Guadalhorce Valley, shortly after the village of El Chorro, we come across one of Andalusia’s geographical wonders. The Garganta del Chorro is a gorge, in places a mere 30 ft. wide, which the river carved into a 600 ft. sandstone cliff. It can best be seen on the Camino del Rey, a wooden walkway along the cliff that was constructed for a royal visit early this century.

El Torcal is a spectacular limestone rock formation south of Antequera in the otherwise very rural area. 100 million years ago, the whole area was still covered by a huge ocean. The hills and mountains were then shaped during an uplift of the earth shell, maintaining the horizontal layers. From here you have a fantastic view over the whole region, on sunny days you might even see the ocean.