From Costa del Sol - Costa del Golf

Heading on from Orgiva, the first settlements you reach, almost directly above the town, are CANAR and SOPORTUJAR , the latter a maze of sinuous white-walled alleys. Like many of the High Alpujarran villages, they congregate on the neatly terraced mountainside, planted with poplars and laced with irrigation channels. Both have bars where you can get a meal and Soportújar can provide excellent-value en-suite rooms for the night; ask at Bar Correillo on Calle Real ( behind the church ).

Both villages are perched precariously on the steep hillside with a rather sombre view of Órgiva in the valley below, and the mountains of Africa over the ranges to the south. Just below the two villages, the tiny hamlet of CARATAUNAS is particularly pretty, and offers a comfortable place to stay, El Montañero , which has a pool and offers a variety of activities, such as mountain-biking, horse-riding and mountain walks.

Two kilometres out of Carataunas a turn-off on the left ( signed " Camino Forestal " ) beyond the Los Llanos restaurant ascends 6km ( the last three a rugged unpaved track ) to the Buddhist monastery of Osel Ling