The Serranía de Ronda displays one of the most stunning autumn sceneries in the inland of the Province of Málaga. Bosque de Cobre [Copper Forest] is a metaphor of a wonderful landscape made of the leaves that fall from chestnut trees every year and colour mountains brown, yellow, orange and ochre.

The forest is in the Genal Valley, one of the three largest geographic areas (besides the plateau and the Guadiaro Valley) which make a rather mountainous landscape unit of the Serranía de Ronda. Its terrain is made of rough, steep mountains, but it is gentler in the areas which surround the Gibraltar area (Campo de Gibraltar), Costa del Sol or Antequera Plains.

The towns which form part of the Copper Forest (Alpandeire, Benadalid, Benalauría, Cartajima, Faraján, Genalguacil, Igualeja, Jubrique, Júzcar, Parauta, Pujerra and Yunquera) have many traditions related to chestnuts. They can be visited any time of the year to admire beautiful landscape and plenty of festivals, some of which have been designated Unique Tourist Festivities due to their importance for the province, like Art Festival in Genalguacil, which is celebrated every two years in August, Moors and Christians Festival in Benalauría in August, Wine and Chestnuts Fair in Yunquera in November, Rabbit Festival in Parauta in November or Aguardiente Festival in Jubrique in December.

However, what everyone likes is the food in this area. You can check their recipes through our published work ‘Cuisine in the Serranía de Ronda’, or the brochure about the Copper Forest, which includes the most prominent and typical dishes in every town.

Chestnuts

We invite all those interested in finding out more about chestnuts to link to our news item "Chestnuts, quality dry fruit from Málaga with international fame".