Dúrcal

Dúrcal is 27 km from Granada, and is a small town in the Lecrín Valley, its location is ideal due to its being between Granada, the Sierra Nevada and the Costa Tropical.

The Arabs called the town Quasb, a term that refers to sugar cane crops, and in the area there are abundant orange and lemon groves which were probably planted during the Arab Andalusian period.

After the conquest of the kingdom of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs, Dúrcal was an important shipping point from which Muslim families journeyed to the coast en route to Africa.

Dúrcal, always in the line of communication between Granada and the coast, has had two major nineteenth-century civil engineering works built in its locality: the cable car, which, with a length of 38 kilometres, was the longest in Europe, ending in the port of Motril and was dedicated to air freight for regional products (it was dismantled in the year 1958), the other being the iron bridge over the railway.

Monuments

Ermita de San Blas (convent)
Iglesia Parroquial de la Inmaculada (Parish Church)
Puente de Lata (bridge)
Puente Romano (bridge)
Penon de los Moros (Rock of the Moors)
Banos de Urquizar or de Vaca Mia (ancient baths)
Pilar de la Plaza
Fuerte Margina

Gastronomy

Platas Alpujarreños, (dishes local to the Alpujarras). Big game stews. Roast lamb Roast kid. ‘Papas pajarillas’. Tortilla de chorizo. Canned vegetables.

Directions

Exit Granada towards Armilla and continue until Ogíjares Armilla. Pass Puntal. Continue to Maracena and follow the road to Bailen - Motril. Pass Cuera de la Valdesa. Arrive in Dúrcal.

Distances