This town is located to the south of Granada, at 860 meters of altitude, in the Puerto of Suspiro del Moro. Gate of the fertile plain of Lecrín, Dúrcal is bordered by the western slope of Sierra Nevada and limits to the south with the Guájares mountain range. Its district is part of the Sierra Nevada Natural Park and in this space they enjoy an own microclimate and places of great beauty. Here it is possible to practice trekking and adventure sports with an exceptional natural frame.
Dúrcal has one of the more beautiful landscaping sets of the region: the small valley formed by its own river when it descents from Sierra Nevada. Bridges of different times save its flow, the medicinal fountains are born in its flanks and the old mills take advantage of its waters. All framed by an immense vegetation that houses some of the most advisable restaurants and hotels of the area.
But they are its high bridges, which rise over cultivations of orange and lemon trees, those that have marked for the traveller the pass by Dúrcal, constituting one of the most characteristic stamps of the journey between Granada and the Coast. Of the four bridges that nowadays save the flow of the river, the oldest and most important one from the archaeological point of view is the Roman bridge, which was constructed with a single eye in the I century. From it the metal bridge, where several companies of active tourism offer the possibility of jumping, can be seen.
The origins of Dúrcal go back to the time of the Muslim domination of the Iberian Peninsula. Its condition of obligatory stop from Granada towards the coast and its fertile land attracted the Arabs. Its name comes from the Arab Quasb, word that alludes to the sugar cane cultivation, although abound in its district the orchards with orange and lemon trees. After the Reconquista carried out by the Catholic Kings the Moorish were expelled from the area, being Dúrcal the departure point for numerous families in the Africa direction escaping from the Christian pressure.
In Dúrcal cereals, almonds, oranges and lemons are cultivated, and aromatic olive oil is elaborated. The greater and smaller hunting also plays an important role in the cuisine of Durcal.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
