Montefrío to Granada Bike Route – Technical Chart
This is the kilometre-by-kilometre description of the final stage of the Washington Irving Bike Route. The ride leaves Montefrío, crosses the northern foothills of the Sierra de Parapanda, drops through Íllora into the Vega of Granada, and finishes in the city after Santa Fe and the Puente de los Vados.
The stage is about 58 km. The first third is the only demanding stretch: a steady climb out of Montefrío and a long descent off Parapanda. From Íllora onwards the ground is mostly flat farm tracks, quiet lanes and the old alignments of the Vega. Surfaces mix asphalt and earth; the steep drop into Íllora can be loose.
Kilometre-by-kilometre description
KM 0–20: Montefrío, Parapanda and Íllora
Leave Montefrío by climbing the old Camino de las Cruces, now an asphalted road. The rise is about one kilometre: steady rather than steep. At the top a crossing leads to the cemetery. The trail then descends to a bridge and another junction: to the right a fountain, to the left a path towards the medieval site of Los Castillejos. Continue straight on the main road, which soon feels deceptively flat.
The large fountain of Cortijo Curro de Lucena appears on the right — a reliable place to refill bottles. The trail begins a gradual climb with views of the broken skyline of the Sierra de Parapanda. Near the foot of the mountain a crossroads on the left (often closed to motor traffic) leads to Las Peñas de los Gitanos. The short detour is worth taking: the site holds Neolithic shelters, megalithic tombs and later settlements, and it is a natural rest before the next climb.
The main route continues uphill to the right on a winding trail along the northern foothills of Parapanda. A hermitage stands to the right of the path. About five kilometres after the previous junction, having rounded the north side of the sierra, the highest point of the stage is reached and the long descent begins. Ignore the track on the right that climbs to the signal masts on the summit and turn right onto the now-asphalted Camino del Zumacal.
The road drops, rises briefly, then drops again around the eastern side of Parapanda, opening a wide view of the Vega of Granada and the sierras that close it. A steeper, more technical descent brings Íllora into view, with the remains of its fortress on the rock above the town. Control your speed here if the surface is loose.
KM 20–35: Obéilar and the Molino del Rey
Leave Íllora on the road towards Obéilar. Just outside the town the route passes the old mill and the Acueducto del Molino del Rey: a nineteenth-century arcade, not a Roman work, built to drive the mill on the Dehesa Baja. The road to Obéilar runs under two of its arches.
After the small village the cultivated floor of the Vega takes over. Escóznar lies just off this corridor; the main line continues towards Valderrubio across olive groves giving way to irrigated fields.
KM 35–50: Valderrubio, Fuente Vaqueros and Chauchina
Follow the road into Valderrubio. On the right, the Paseo Lorquiano leads to the Fuente de la Teja, a small spring beside the Cubillas about 500 metres from the village (in the municipality of Pinos Puente). Federico García Lorca walked here as a young man; it is an easy, worthwhile pause.
Cross the Cubillas and continue towards Fuente Vaqueros through asparagus beds, maize, poplar groves, tobacco plants and drying sheds. Beyond Fuente Vaqueros the route passes the Torre de Roma (Torre de Romilla), a Nasrid watchtower in the Soto de Roma, then runs through the farmland of Cortijo San Isidro del Soto de Roma into Chauchina.
Leave Chauchina, cross the Arroyo Salado by the bridge, and follow the old tram alignment to El Jau. At the A-92 pass under a bridge and approach Santa Fe along Calle Buena Vista.
KM 50–58: Santa Fe and arrival in Granada
Ride through Santa Fe, the geometrically planned town founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1491 as the camp for the siege of Granada. Enter through the Puerta de Loja (west) and leave through the Puerta de Granada (east). The other two cardinal gates are those of Seville and Jaén. Exit the town on Calle Real de Mariana Pineda.
After Cortijo de los Prados and the Huerta de Santa María, cross the Puente de los Vados and join the trail that runs parallel to the Genil. That path brings the stage into Granada. Washington Irving crossed this same embroidered vega in 1829; the ride ends when the city rises ahead of the river — the natural close of the route that began in Seville.
Map of rural roads to Granada
