Capileira

Member of Los Pueblos más Bonitos de España

Mark ChinnickCapileira and Sierra Nevada CC BY 2.0
José Luis Filpo CabanaBarranco del Poqueira. Capileira CC BY 3.0
Dr Graham BeardsCapileira 2000 CC BY-SA 3.0
Stephen LeaCapileira church CC BY-SA 3.0
Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer)Capileira seen from the Sulayr Trail (DSCF5861)CC BY 4.0
NikaterCapileira05 CC BY-SA 3.0
NikaterCapileira19 CC BY-SA 3.0
Fco. Miguel Sánchez RuizChimeneas nevadas de CapileiraPublic domain
NACLE2Guisando capileira CC BY-SA 3.0
Roberto Chamoso GLocales Comerciales, Carretera de la Sierra, Capileira. (2)CC BY-SA 3.0 es

Last and highest of the three villages in the Poqueira gorge, Capileira has a municipality that climbs all the way to the summits of Veleta and Mulhacén. Walkers use it as a base for the Sierra Nevada, and each 5 August the Virgen de las Nieves is carried on foot up to Mulhacén. On 1 November the square fills for the mauraca, a night of roast chestnuts and anís.

Highlights

Church of Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza, with a gilded 17th-century Baroque altarpiece
House-museum of the writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcón and of Alpujarra life
The mauraca chestnut festival on the night of 1 November
Trails up to Mulhacén, the highest peak of the Iberian Peninsula
Old public wash-houses below the Hondera and La Pileta springs

Text adapted from Wikipedia (Capileira (ES), Capileira (EN), Capileira (IT)). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Population: 590

Things to see

Refugio Poqueira (ES)
Sitio histórico de la Alpujarra (ES)

Events through the year

Noche de San Antón Seasonal · January, San Antón nightNeighbours light the chiscos, bonfires built over the previous days
Fiestas of the Virgen de la Cabeza Religious · Last Sunday of April and second Sunday of AugustMasked diablillos made to run for money in the zapeo
Feast of the Virgen de las Nieves Religious · 5 AugustThe image is carried on foot up to Mulhacén
Mauraca Food and wine · 1 NovemberNight chestnut roast in Plaza del Calvario with anise and mistela