Canyoning is the only thing in the Tejeda and Almijara park you need written permission for. Everything else on the official list of activities goes ahead without one.
The Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama natural park covers 40,657 hectares across Malaga and Granada, declared on 21 September 1999. The Junta de Andalucía lists hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, water sports on the Bermejales reservoir and diving off Maro as permitted; only canyoning needs written authorisation. Both information points sit on the Granada side of the line, and a notice dated 21 May 2026 closed the camping area and banned barbecues at La Fábrica de la Luz, in Canillas de Albaida.
Do you need a permit in the Tejeda and Almijara park? Canyoning is the one activity the regional sheet marks as needing authorisation from the natural park, while hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, diving off Maro and water sports on the Bermejales reservoir are listed without it. Of the 33 public-use facilities, 19 sit in Granada and 14 in Malaga.
Permits, fires and the notices dated 21 May 2026
The Junta de Andalucía lists the permitted activities plainly: hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, water sports on the Bermejales reservoir and diving off the Maro seabed. Only canyoning carries the note that it needs authorisation from the natural park.
Alongside that sit three dated notices, all of them touching Malaga-side facilities or fire, published on the sheet with the date 21 May 2026.
The Fábrica de la Luz controlled camping area, in Canillas de Albaida, is temporarily closed for the high fire-risk season. At the El Alcázar recreation area, in Alcaucín, lighting barbecues is banned for that same season, and the Fábrica de la Luz recreation area carries the identical ban.
An older restriction, from a 2021 resolution, bans walking inside the bed of the Cebollón river and other watercourses on the Granada stretches of the park. The exact dates of the high fire-risk season are not published on this sheet, so none are given here.
Where the information points are, and why it matters
The park is administratively lopsided in a way no page states outright. Malaga contributes 8 of the 12 municipalities. Granada contributes 4.
Count the public-use facilities on the same sheet and the balance inverts: 19 of the 33 are in Granada, 14 in Malaga.
The detail matters more than the total. The 2 information points, at Alhama de Granada and La Resinera, are both on the Granada side, as is the park’s only cycle route, Los Arrieros. Malaga holds the only visitor centre, at Sedella, and the only botanical garden, at Nerja.
So a visitor coming up from the Axarquía coast has the interpretive centre near at hand and the staffed information desks an hour of mountain road away.
Six waymarked trails on the Malaga side
| Waymarked trail | Municipality | Distance and grade |
|---|---|---|
| Alcázar-La Maroma | Alcaucín | Not published |
| Casa de la Mina-Pradillos | Cómpeta | Not published |
| El Pinarillo-Fuente del Esparto-Río Chíllar | Nerja | Not published |
| Fábrica de la Luz-Puerto de Cómpeta | Canillas de Albaida | Not published |
| Puente Árabe | Salares | Not published |
| Subida al Pico del Cielo | Nerja | Not published |
Of the 15 waymarked trails in the park, these 6 start from Malaga municipalities. Nerja accounts for two of them.
For none of the fifteen does the sheet publish distance or grade, unlike the treatment given to other protected areas in the province. Those gaps are not filled in here with third-party figures.
For the summit itself, with verified routes and height gains, see La Maroma, and for how it all sits against the rest of the province, hiking near Malaga.
The Chíllar river is on a trail and Nerja has it closed
One of those six trails is called El Pinarillo-Fuente del Esparto-Río Chíllar, in Nerja, and it is still published as waymarked by the Junta de Andalucía.
Nerja town council, meanwhile, publishes that access to the Chíllar river remains closed as a precautionary measure, a decision documented in Malaga’s natural pools.
Neither position is picked here. Two different administrations publish different things about the same riverbed, and anyone who goes will meet one body’s waymarking and the other body’s control.
The sensible move before planning that route is to check the access with the council, because the municipal closure is the one enforced on the ground.
Marble, yews and 2,065 metres on the border
The sheet explains in one line what you see from the road: “white and grey tones dominate the crests and ravines of these mountains, a consequence of the abundant marble in the area”.
The summits, with the Tejeda peak at 2,065 metres, “form a natural border between the provinces of Malaga and Granada”. The yew stand on the climb to Salto del Caballo is described as “the southernmost on the Iberian Peninsula”.
Named among the geological features are the Sima de la Maroma, Los Árboles Petrificados, the Cahorros ravines, the Acueducto del Águila and the Nerja Caves themselves.
The wildlife list runs to golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, a large population of Spanish ibex, cattle egret, pintail, common coot, river crab and genet. The Maro seabed the sheet cites for diving belongs to the neighbouring protected area covered in the Maro-Cerro Gordo cliffs, and the whole park fits a full day in day trips from Malaga.
Frequently asked questions about the Tejeda and Almijara park
Do you need a permit for anything in the Tejeda and Almijara park?
Canyoning is the one activity the regional sheet marks as needing authorisation from the natural park. Hiking, mountaineering, paragliding, diving off Maro and water sports on the Bermejales reservoir are listed without that requirement.
Where are the visitor facilities in the park?
Split across two provinces. Of the 33 public-use facilities listed, 19 are in Granada and 14 in Malaga. The two information points and the only cycle route are on the Granada side; the only visitor centre and the only botanical garden are on the Malaga side.
Can you camp in the Tejeda and Almijara park?
Only at the four controlled camping areas the Junta de Andalucía publishes, two of them in Malaga province: El Alcázar in Alcaucín and Fábrica de la Luz in Canillas de Albaida. The second is listed as temporarily closed for the high fire-risk season.
How big is the Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama natural park?
40,657 hectares across the provinces of Malaga and Granada, declared a natural park on 21 September 1999. The official sheet does not break the area down by province, so no such split is given here.
One permit for one activity, three fire notices, and a park whose staffed desks are all on the other province’s side.