The Sierra de Aracena is located in southwestern Andalusia, between Seville and the Portuguese border. This green, wooded, low mountain range has peaks of up to 700m. An ideal area for hiking or cycling.
The largest city, Aracena is a lively, real Spanish town. A short distance from here are beautiful villages such as Alájar, Fuenteheridos and Almonaster la Real.
Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche Natural Park are protected areas in the Sierra de Aracena Mountains, part of the Sierra Morena Mountains, Huelva Province. The natural park extends over 28 municipalities with a population of only 41,000 people.
Isolated region
The people of the Sierra de Aracena had long been left to their own devices. For years, existence was virtually at a standstill. Almost everything was made, built, rebuilt and done by the towns people themselves. Everyone helped each other; together the land was cared for, together they reaped and sowed; the strong helped the weak. There was simply no room and no need for scaling up.
As a result, the landscape of the Aracena has remained almost as it was. With an enormous diversity of crops and trees such as figs, many kinds of vegetables, fruit trees, olives, nuts, grains, mushrooms, sweet chestnuts, eucalyptus and especially many cork oaks. Goats, chickens, cows and pigs can roam freely everywhere and lynx, imperial eagles and black vultures find their safe habitat here too. Do not be surprises you have to stop to let a deer cross the road when driving along this area. It is not uncommon at all.
Aracena
At the heart of the region is the town of Aracena, a still largely undiscovered town, where you can experience ‘the real Spain’. Worth a visit is the Gruta de las Maravillas; a cave in the center of Aracena. It was the first Spanish cave to be opened to the public in 1913. It includes a total of 2130 underground meters.
The Sierra de Aracena region is about 100 kilometers from the Costa de la Luz. Head up the winding roads into the mountains behind the coast and you will arrive at one of the most stunning natural landscapes, mountain ranges punctuated by plains stretching as far as the eye can see. Welcome to the Sierra de Aracena.
