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Route 5 Istán - Casa Balatín

Ayuntamiento de Istán
Ayuntamiento de Istán  • info@istan.es  • 952 869 603

Ayuntamiento de Istán

Route 5 Istán - Casa Balatín

  • mapa_bicisLength:  9.300 metres
  • Route:  linear
  • Approximate duration:  1 hour 30 minutes one way
  • Difficulty:  Medium
  • Maximum incline:  125m
  • Departure point:  Plaza de Istán (Istán Square)
  • Season:  Any
  • Cartography:  National Topographical Map of Spain.  Page 1065 II – Istán.  Page 1065 IV - Marbella.  Scale 1:25.000
  • Recomendations:  Camera.  Swimming costume depending on season.

We leave from the Plaza de Istán and we go up the “CALVARIO” hill, heading towards the sports centre, which we will leave to our right.  We carry on and, shortly before the Hotel Altos de Istñan, we take a left and approximately one kilometre from our departure we will arrive at the “NACIMIENTO” (source) of the Río MOLINOS (30S-0326457 / UTM-4050017), where we will replenish our water if we didn’t do so in the town.  From here we will always continue along the main lane, without paying any attention to the multitude of secondary lanes we will pass.  At 4.400 metres from the point of departure we will find the first crossroads (30S-0326647 / UTM-4051486) to bear in mind, ours is the one on the left, which descends.

Some 800 metres from this crossroads we will find a track that joins ours to the left, it is the GALLEGA track and we are in the PUERTO DE LOS BARRANCONES (30S-0326655 / UTM-4051999).  We continue descending until we almost reach the river and at 6.500 metres from the start of the route we cross the BORNOQUE stream (30S-0326844 / UTM-4052627) and just as we cross we will see a track to the right which goes up, it is the PALOMERA track, we find a chain which we can easily get past on the right and we carry on some 1.500 metres more to find on our left the house of the PALOMERA (30S-0326802 / UTM-4053417).

We follow the main trail and some 400 metres from this house we come to an intersection (30S-0326726 / UTM-4053824) where we will take the left track, the right-hand one would take us to ARCAS.  After a few metres descent we reach the Río Verde.  We will have two options, we can either cross over the river itself or we can cross by a hanging bridge (30S-0326801 / UTM-4054032) made by the owners of the BALATIN house, although this second option is not advisable due to the bad condition of the bridge, and with the river we must take great care when we cross in the rainy season.

When we cross the river we leave our bicycle to one side and walk up-river some 20 metres, coming to a paradisiacal spot called CHARCO DEL CANALÓN (30S-0326832 / UTM-4054119) one of the most beautiful spots of the Río Verde valley.  With all due precautions we can take a swim if we feel like it.