The Granada Geopark will have a long-distance trail for hiking and mountain biking on a 346-kilometer circular route. To this end, a road consisting of 17 stages with lengths between 6 and 31 kilometers will be enabled and approved, which will link 26 population centers in the regions of Guadix, Baza and Huéscar, 13 of them districts.

The deputy for European Funds, Development, Industry and Employment, Antonio Díaz, has pointed out that “it will be an infrastructure that crosses the regions of Guadix, Baza and Huéscar, offering walkers semi-desert scenarios, unique in the European context, as well as natural resources. and cultural networks that keep the most attractive and unique landscape spaces connected”.

The trail, which has been presented to the mayors of the municipalities through which it runs, takes advantage of existing routes in the Granada Geopark, transforming a heterogeneous, fragmented, local, irregularly distributed and sparsely interconnected supply of routes to turn it into a unified route.

The layout of the trail will include homogeneous and interpretive signage that is linked to the Geopark’s tourist offer. The existing offer is what has been generated thanks to municipal initiatives and as a result of which an inventory of 83 trails has been created. The planned infrastructure will rely on some of the existing paths such as the Great Path of the First Settlers in the Huéscar region, the Sierra de Baza Greenway, in Baza, and the Mozárabe Way of Santiago, in the Marquesado.

This infrastructure will allow the development of active, sports, nature, cultural, leisure and free-time tourism in a coordinated and complementary manner. To this end, it proposes to structure its ecotourism offer around the exceptional nature of the geological landscape, the only natural desert in Europe, with such identifying elements as the badlands landscape, the tourist accommodation in caves, and the richness, uniqueness and relevance of the heritage. natural and cultural.

The Provincial Council of Granada is committed to the consolidation of hiking as an essential product of the ecotourism offer of the Granada Geopark, since it contributes to the tourist activation of the local landscape, natural and cultural resources linked to the network of trails. It is a way to achieve a balanced distribution of tourist activity throughout the Geopark territory.

The Granada Geopark groups 47 municipalities belonging to the Granada tourist regions of Guadix, Baza, Huéscar and Montes Orientales. It is a large rural space with great historical, landscape and cultural personality whose tourist offer has traditionally been based on the heritage wealth of its main population centers, some of them declared Historical Sites, and with a unique offer of accommodation in caves.

The Long Distance Trail is part of the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan (PSTD) currently being developed by the Granada Geopark (2022-2024) under the direction of the Provincial Council. In fact, the strategic objective of the PSTD is to promote its consolidation as an Ecotourism and Geotourism Destination.

The different stages of the GR Geopark of Granada will take place in different locations in the province, including Guadix, Fonelas, Freila, Baños de Alicún, Bácor-Olivar, Cuevas del Campo, Cortes de Baza, Castril, Castilléjar, Galera, Orce, Cúllar, Benamaurel, Zújar, Baza, Los Balcones, Gorafe, Benalúa and Guadix, among others, thus completing the 17 stages that make up this competitive route.

The itinerary runs through diverse landscapes and multiple representative localities of the province, promoting connection and exchange between them.