Castellar de la Frontera

Castellar de la Frontera - You will definitely need a car to get yourselves up to this charming, historical town located in the countryside behind San Roque on the western Costa del Sol.

Come off the coastal N-340 at San Roque and take the C-111 road inland signposted for Castellar de la Frontera. It doesn’t take very long before you can see the castle situated high on a distant hilltop.

The surrounding countryside is part of the Los Alcornocales Natural Park and is quite breathtaking, with a wonderful mix of flora and fauna, some of which can only be found in this area.

About 7 km before you get to Castellar Viejo as it is known, you will drive through Castellar Nuevo. This town was built in 1971 to house the inhabitants of Castellar Viejo as, due to neglect, the housing structures up in the town were crumbling and becoming uninhabitable.

Many of the old inhabitants were delighted to move to such a ‘modern’ town with electricity, water and sewage systems. In the meantime hippies began to be drawn to the old town and many still live there selling their crafts from shops and the local market.

As you carry on through the country lanes, you begin to climb up to Castellar de la Frontera itself, and from this point you can see the Guadarranque reservoir which was constructed in the 1960’s and is down to the left of the town itself.

Because of the location of the town high on the hilltop, it has been used for centuries as a lookout point and archaeological finds date the area back to prehistoric and bronze age times, with many caves in the surrounding area that have cave paintings in.

When the Moors and Spanish were coming to blows, Castellar, because of its location, was a town conquered and won back and forth between the two, until eventually landing back to the Spanish Countess of Castellar in 1650. It was then in the hands of the Medinaceli family right up until 1973 when an investment group bought it from the family. 1983 saw the Spanish government declare the town an ‘Historical and Ancient Monument’ and the investment started to restore the castle and village.

It is not possible to drive into the town itself, so park up on the side of the road (quite obvious where – but watch out…the police are hot if you double park, or block off entrances and will tow you away!!) You can then begin your wander through the medieval fortress.

It has wonderful cobbled streets (which by the way are very slippery when wet!) and charming higgledy, piggledy houses, many are still being restored to this day. Lots of artisans have shops selling their wares here and there are a couple of really good restaurants with local produce on the menu.

Even though there are many tourists milling around on a nice day, Castellar de la Frontera is steeped in history and retains its rural charm that is missing so much now in the coastal towns of the Costa del Sol.