The Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir supplies drinking water to the city of Malaga and is at the same time a permitted bathing zone under regional health monitoring. Both things are true, which is unusual enough to be worth the trip on its own, and neither of them requires a ticket.
Can you swim in the El Chorro reservoirs? The Conde de Guadalhorce appears as a permitted bathing zone in the regional health department’s seasonal reports, published fortnightly from 1 June to 30 September. Access is free, unlike the Caminito del Rey in the same valley, which requires a dated and timed ticket.
Guadalteba holds 156 hm³, Guadalhorce 126 hm³ and Conde de Guadalhorce 70 hm³, 352 cubic hectometres between them. The Guadalhorce-Limonero system was declared back in hydrological normality by an order of 10 April 2026, published on 23 April, which ended the drought restrictions in this basin.
Free access against a timed ticket
The Caminito del Rey sits in this same valley and runs on the opposite rules: dated and timed entry, advance booking, one direction only. The reservoirs have none of that.
| Detail | Caminito del Rey | The reservoirs |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | dated and timed | free access |
| Booking | compulsory | none |
| Route | one way only | open |
| If it sells out | you do not get in | not applicable |
That difference is what decides the day. Anyone who failed to get a walkway ticket has a full plan here with no ticket desk at all, and anyone holding one can put the two together. Everything about the walkway, including how the train works and the combined ticket Renfe sells, is in the Caminito del Rey from Malaga.
Swimming in the water that supplies the city
The reservoir does two jobs that sound incompatible.
On one side, the three reservoirs, strung through the municipality of Ardales and its neighbours, form part of the six that supply Malaga according to Emasa, the municipal water company, alongside La Viñuela, La Concepción and Pilones. That water is then treated by reverse osmosis at the El Atabal plant, as set out in where Malaga’s water comes from.
On the other, the Conde de Guadalhorce shows as a permitted bathing zone in the season’s reports from the regional health department, which publishes a fortnightly assessment between 1 June and 30 September. Being on that register buys three specific things, and nothing beyond them.
- The water is tested to a published schedule, every fortnight.
- A bad result is published rather than left to word of mouth.
- The site can be checked before setting out, not on arrival.
It does not buy a lifeguard, a car park or any service at all. The full provincial picture is in Malaga’s natural pools.
The drought was declared over in April 2026
Water levels here spent years in the news, and the position has formally changed.
The Junta de Andalucía declared the drought over in the Andalusian Mediterranean Basins by an order of 10 April 2026, published in the regional gazette on 23 April, returning the Guadalhorce-Limonero system — precisely the one these reservoirs form — and the Viñuela-Axarquía system to hydrological normality.
It is worth knowing because a reservoir’s level changes the whole landscape: the waterline, which banks are walkable, even the colour in the photographs.
Three reservoirs, not one
The single-lake idea is the first thing to drop. The figures cited by Emasa put it plainly.
| Reservoir | Capacity |
|---|---|
| Guadalteba | 156 hm³ |
| Guadalhorce | 126 hm³ |
| Conde de Guadalhorce | 70 hm³ |
That comes to 352 cubic hectometres between the three. For scale, the largest single reservoir in the city’s supply is La Viñuela at 170 hm³, with La Concepción at 56 and Pilones at 1.9.
Put another way, this one valley holds more than half of everything Malaga stores, which is why the state of these three shows up in the city’s water news far more often than the other three do.
Getting there without complications
The station named El Chorro-Caminito del Rey sits on the Córdoba to Málaga line and is served by Media Distancia trains, fared separately from the Cercanías network, plus the C2 extended from Álora. Check which service your ticket covers before buying, because not every ticket is valid on every train.
How the two commuter lines and their fares work is in Malaga’s C1 and C2, and whether hiring a car is worth it for outings like this is weighed in hiring a car in Malaga.
- There is no lifeguard. No inland bathing zone in the province has one.
- Check the fortnightly health report if swimming is the plan, because the status changes within a single season.
- Expect fire restrictions in summer, which in this province have closed whole sites.
- If the Caminito is also on the list, the ticket is bought in advance, not on the day.
The rest of the province’s walking routes are in hiking near Malaga, the strangest landscape in it is El Torcal, and the full set of outings with real timings sits in day trips from Malaga.
Frequently asked questions about El Chorro and its reservoirs
Can you swim in the El Chorro reservoirs?
The Conde de Guadalhorce reservoir appears as a permitted bathing zone in the regional health department’s seasonal reports, which are published every fortnight between 1 June and 30 September. That monitoring is what separates it from an unlisted pool.
Do the reservoirs cost anything to visit?
No. Access is free, unlike the Caminito del Rey in the same valley, which needs a dated, timed ticket booked in advance. That difference is what decides how the day is put together, and it is the reason the reservoirs work as a fallback.
How big are the three El Chorro reservoirs?
Using the figures cited by Emasa, Malaga’s municipal water company, Guadalteba holds 156 cubic hectometres, Guadalhorce 126 and Conde de Guadalhorce 70, which comes to 352 between the three, more than double the largest single reservoir in the city’s supply.
Is the drought over in this part of Malaga?
Officially, yes. The Junta de Andalucía declared the drought over in the Andalusian Mediterranean Basins by an order of 10 April 2026, published in the regional gazette on 23 April, returning the Guadalhorce-Limonero system to hydrological normality.
Does a listed bathing zone mean there is a lifeguard?
No. Being on the regional register means the water is tested on a published fortnightly schedule and that any bad result is made public. It carries no obligation to provide a lifeguard, a car park or any other service, which is the gap between these sites and the city beaches.
Two plans in one valley, and only one of them sells out. The other has been there all along, free and without a queue.