Review of El Camino Del Rey

Read on for our quick review of El Caminito Del Rey. Everyone who either lives here or is visiting should take the time to visit this amazing place.

El Caminito del Rey (English: The King’s little pathway) is a walkway, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Ardales in the province of Málaga, Spain.

The name is often shortened to Camino del Rey (English: King’s pathway). The walkway had fallen into disrepair and was partially closed for over a decade. After four years of extensive repairs and renovations, the walkway re-opened in 2015. It has been known in the past as the “world’s most dangerous walkway” following five deaths in 1999 and 2000.^[1]  Read More about El Camino Del Rey in Wikipedia

We finally did El Caminito Del Rey, just last week in Semana Blanca 2017.  After taking a lot advice and tips from our fantastic members on The Costa Del Sol Travel Forum we have put together our own quick guide to The Camino Del Rey which we hope will help answer any questions or queries you may have.

I shall admit, I was really nervous. I don´t particularly like heights but once I was actually there, it was just so amazing to be walking El Caminito Del Rey, in a safe, controlled environment, I loved every second of it and forgot about my fear.  One of our forum members said “you won´t want it to end” and he was right.

There are 2 tunnels, the one by El Kiosko (pictured above) is a 2.7 km walk to the main entrance to El Caminito Del Rey.  If you walk just a little further back up the hill you will come to the second tunnel (pictured below) which is a lot longer, narrower and darker but it is only a 1.5km direct walk to the main entrance.

Arriving at The Camino Del Rey Entrance

Once you arrive at El Camino Del Rey there is a cabin for tickets, staff, guides,  toilets, a vending machine for drinks and a guy selling nuts and dried fruit.  The guides will speak in either English or Spanish giving you the basic do´s and don´ts for a couple of minutes.

Our Tips & Advice for El Camino Del Rey

• Most importantly book ECDR tickets including the Bus Ticket as soon as possible.  Weekends sell out really quickly.
• We understand that you can buy tickets there if you arrive early 9.30am.
• The ECDR isn´t circular so buy the bus ticket unless you have a car waiting the other end.
• Buses run every half hour until 11pm and stop back at El Kiosko.
• When you finish the ECDR there is a further walk up the hill to catch the bus back to El Kiosko Restaurant.
• Take ID just in case and don´t forget your tickets as they need to be scanned.
• You do need to wear helmets which they provide you.
• Toilets – there are toilets at both ends of the ECDR and at El Kiosko Restaurant, take paper with you!
• There are 2 tunnels, 2.7km and 1.5km as explained above.
• From the main ECDR start to the official end took us about 1 hour 15 minutes.  We didn´t stop as the weather wasn´t that great, but there are some little benches to stop and take a snack.
• The round trip took us exactly 3 hours from leaving and arriving back at the hotel.
• If the weather is bad they will close the ECDR so do check beforehand.
• Wear walking boots or trainers, comfy clothing.  It is chilly first thing in the morning depending on the month.
• Take a little snack, there are some places to stop.  In the summer you will need suncream and a hat.
• There is alot of walking uphill and downhill via footpaths and steps.  You don´t need to be superfit, you can take your time, but you need to be able to walk for at least 2 hours all in all.
• If you suffer severe vertigo, you probably should avoid.
• You can´t take selfie sticks or tripods, here is a long list of other rules and prohibitied items.
• Myself and my 13 year old daughter absolutely LOVED it and would do it all over again tomorrow!

How to get to El Caminito Del Rey

By Car:  The majority of us have Smart Phones, just type into Google Maps “El Caminito Del Rey” or “El Kiosko, El Chorro”and follow the directions.  Ardales is the area.   It really is very simple, there is parking outside El Kiosko and all along the road, or you can carry on a little further, over a little bridge where you can find more parking, (the hotel mentioned below) and have a photo on the “Kings Seat”.   Here are more driving directions to El Caminito Del Rey.

By Train:  All information on how to travel to El Caminito Del Rey by Train

By Bus:  All information on how to travel to El Caminito Del Rey By Bus

Places to Stay for El Camino Del Rey

It really isn´t very far from the Coast at all.  Just 40 minutes from Malaga and 1 hour from the Marbella Area to give you an idea of distance.  You do need to leave enough time to walk to the main entrance for your alloted time.

We stayed at Hotel Mesón La Posado Del Conde  as it´s just an 8 minute walk to the 1.5km start and we had to be there at 9.30am.  If our time was say at 11am I wouldn´t stay overnight.

There are lots of places to stay, but make sure its closeby and preferably in walking distance.  If you live or are staying on the Coast already, theres no point staying somewhere near there where you still have to drive for 30 minutes or so.

If you have a Property perfectly situated for El Caminito Del Rey and would like featured on this page, please contact us via Facebook.

Join us on Social Media

If you still have questions just go to The Costa Del Sol Travel Forum on Facebook and search “Caminito Del Rey” where you will find a post with many tips and great advice from other members and like our main page @MalagaAirportEu.

We hope this inspires you to do “El Caminito Del Rey” and if you do, please do let us know and post your photos up on the Forum.