Capileira: Streets, Tinaos and the Pedro Antonio de Alarcón House-Museum

Capileira is the last and highest of the three villages of the Poqueira gorge, at almost 1,500 metres, in the Alpujarra of Granada. Its old town is declared a historic-artistic site. The streets drop steeply between whitewashed houses with flat terrao roofs and pass beneath the tinaos, the covered passages between houses that form another street underneath. In an hour and a half you see the village, the church and the museum; with more time, it is the starting point for routes into the high mountains.

The writer's house and Alpujarran customs

The Pedro Antonio de Alarcón House-Museum is the village's museum of folk arts and customs. It occupies a former manor house owned by the town council and is named after the 19th-century writer from Granada who travelled through the Alpujarra and recounted it in a travel book. It recreates an Alpujarran house with household items, crafts, textiles and farming tools, and keeps 17th-century carvings and lithographs from the time of Alarcón's journey. According to the information published by the Finca Los Llanos hotel, it opens from 11:00 to 14:30 except Mondays; the town council publishes neither hours nor price, so confirm on 958 76 30 51, Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 14:00.

Santa María de la Cabeza

The parish church was built in the 18th century on a church of 1502 that had replaced the old mosque. It holds a 17th-century wooden Baroque altarpiece and an image of the Virgen de la Cabeza which, according to the tradition recorded by the town council, was donated by the Catholic Monarchs. It can be visited Wednesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 14:00 and from 16:00 to 19:00, until 21:00 in summer. For groups, there is a phone number for visits: 698 454 085.

Through the streets from top to bottom

The village is explored going downhill: from the upper part, where the paths to the mountain start, to the oldest neighbourhoods. From the viewpoints you see Bubión and Pampaneira down the gorge and, to the north, the south face of the Veleta. It is not a walk for a pushchair: a baby carrier is better.

Higher than Capileira

Capileira is the departure village for the High Peaks minibus, which runs in summer and autumn up to the Alto del Chorrillo, and for the climb up Mulhacén. On foot, the Cebadilla trail descends from the upper district to the Poqueira river, and the Poqueira villages trail links the three villages. To eat, down the gorge, Casa Alfonso is at the entrance to Pampaneira.