La Cresta del Gallo: a peak to conquer near your property at La Manga Club

There’s no doubt about it: hiking is one of the healthiest and most accessible sports out there, and if you have a property at La Manga Club you’ve no excuse not to try it! The Region of Murcia is full of impressive landscapes just around the corner from our resort where trail and hiking lovers can enjoy stunning views and a good dose of nature in its purest form.

Here’s one quite close to our luxury resort: La Cresta del Gallo. This is a destination favored by cyclists, climbers and hikers and it offers a great number of trails where you can lose track of time contemplating the different flora and fauna in the area. It also has a great collection of lookouts that offer a bird’s-eye view of all the towns on the southern coast. So if you’re thinking about planning an excursion, take note and prepare yourself to spend a day diving into nature very close to your apartment at La Manga Club.

La Cresta del Gallo is an important rock formation with a 523-meter peak that is located in the foothills of Lages and Los Garres and forms part of the Cordillera Sur mountain range. Its name, which means “the rooster’s crest” in Spanish, derives from the red tones visible at the top of some of its peaks and the fact that it looks like a rooster’s crest as well. If you like climbing, you’ll love this formation’s stark walls, steep and vertical. And if you’ve never given it a try but you have an adventurous spirit, you’ll find a school nearby that is geared towards beginners. One of the tallest peaks of the range is called “La Panocha” because its very peculiar shape looks a lot like a corn cob; this is a majestic rocky monolith 55 meters tall that you can only crest by climbing one of its walls. Though it’s not the zenith of La Cresta del Gallo, La Panocha is definitely the most well known of all its peaks. From it, on a clear day, you can contemplate the beauty and great expanse of the Mar Menor.

But if what you’re looking for is an easy hiking route for the whole family, don’t miss the trails on Pico del Relojero. These walks make for very easy going, and some of the trails are quite old, such as the route, La Tana, that begins in the neighborhood of San José de la Montaña and goes from its cemetery, or the one from La Luz that follows the yellow trail. No matter which you choose, they’ll all lead you to the Pico del Relojero, the final destination on the route.

You can also choose to wind your way up on trails often frequented by cyclists or the occasional authorized car, but we recommend the hiking trails so that you can enjoy their calm, shady areas, and direct contact with nature. As you walk through the forest, you can admire the plant species that are typical of the region, including the Carrasco pine and the cypress, as well as the fauna that inhabit the area: small mammals like the field rat and the vole, reptiles like the Iberian worm lizard and the horseshoe whip snake, and birds like the Little owl and the European robin. And every step will give you jaw-dropping views of the Valle and Carrascoy Regional Park, the plains of Cartagena, the Cabezo Gordo and the Mar Menor. If you love snapping images, prepare your camera and keep your eyes open. You’ll have the opportunity to immortalize unique landscapes visible from the Las Navetas Lookout and the Barranco del Sordo Lookout. From these, Murcia city and its surroundings are a truly impressive sight.

You’ll recognize the last part of the route immediately because it’s a slope covered with the TV antennae that are responsible for transmitting the television signals from Murcia and Cartagena and, indeed, the entire Mar Menor area. From here, you can reach the final and highest point of the Cresta del Gallo, the Pico del Relojero. If you dare to climb its walls you won’t be disappointed, because the views from here are spectacular and will allow you to admire, among other things, the King Kong Walls, enormous calcareous formations that look like large, irregular walls that the trees seem to try to climb, but without success.

As you’ve gathered, a day away from La Manga Club is an opportunity not only to enjoy sun and white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters, but also spectacular surroundings of incredible biological and geographic diversity. Start planning your trip, and don’t forget to wear comfortable clothes and bring a windbreaker, a hat, water, and something to eat. Ready for a new and unforgettable adventure?