IWNA 2019 Issue 2

INTERVAL WORLD

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Issue 2, 2019

Start your visit in Málaga, the provincial capital — no lon-

ger just an airport destination. This birthplace of Pablo

Picasso has transformed into a sleek cultural metropolis

with a revitalized waterfront, a Soho arts district, and a

film festival championed by local hero Antonio Banderas —

pop into El Pimpi, his bar in Málaga’s Old Town, for terrific

tapas and

ambiente

(ambiance). After Málaga, make your

way to the Costa del Sol’s quaint whitewashed villages.

If you have time to visit just some of them, here are 10

quintessential experiences you simply can’t miss, ordered

from east to west.

1. GO UNDERGROUND INTO THE NERJA CAVES

It’s hard to bypass bustling Nerja, but its richest treasure is bur-

ied 2 miles east of the pretty Moorish seaside town, beneath the

mountains of Maro: the Nerja Caves. A vast network of soaring

cathedral caverns that were home to Stone Age man, these natural

wonders were chiseled by the elements over millennia into fantas-

tical forms evocative of Gaudí sculptures. The more-than-400-step

underground trail winds through the Chamber of Ghosts with its

spooky shadows, past a mighty Guinness World Record–holding

stalagmite, into the Hall of the Waterfall or Ballet, named for its

stalactite cascade. In June and July, this natural concert hall hosts

a world-class festival of music and dance. And in the summer, you

can have your caves and Nerja, too, when a cute red train shuttles

between town and caverns, making pit stops at Nerja Museum

and the Maro square.

2. SCALE SPINE-CHILLING CAMINITO DEL REY

Dubbed the world’s most dangerous walkway, Caminito del Rey, or

The King’s Little Pathway, is not for the faint of heart. The 3-foot-wide

boardwalk in Málaga province is pinned to the side of a gargantuan

gorge above a 328-foot drop to the river. Undaunted, several million

adventurers have hiked the hair-raising, 1.8-mile mountain-pass trail

since its 2015 restoration. Built in 1921 to connect two hydroelectric

stations, and personally tested by King Alfonso XIII, today it features

spectacular glass-floor sections, a hanging bridge, and a 984-foot

tunnel, dimly lit in deference to the resident bats. The full 4.7-mile lin-

ear route through jaw-dropping scenery takes three to four hours to

complete, with a return shuttle bus from Ardales or El Chorro, about

an hour northwest of Málaga city. Reserve your time slot online —

and don’t look down!

bruev/Getty Images; T_Mizuguchi/Getty Images; freemixer/Getty Images