One of the reasons why Marbella is one of the most famous tourist destinations is its wide sports selection. Sierra Nevada Ski Resort is just 216 kilometers away from Marbella, about two and a half hour car journey.
Sierra Nevada Ski Resort is located in the Natural park of Sierra Nevada in Penibetic system, province of Granada. It is the most southern ski resort in Europa and the highest in Spain with a peak of 3.330 meters. It is 27 kilometers away from the city of Granada and less than 100 kilometers from Motril, in Granada’s coast, so you can enjoy both mountain and sea in the same day, just in one hour car journey.
Sierra Nevada is well known for its warm temperature and sunny days. For this reason it is one of the most visited ski resorts in Spain. Its total length of marked slopes is 106,80km. It has 21 lifts, 2 gondola lifts, 14 chair lifts and 1ski lift. It includes 124 runs 19 of which are green (very easy), 41 blue (easy), 50 red (difficult), 7 black (very difficult) and 7 snowpark.
You can also find the snowpark Sulayr, dreamland of the most intrepid and gifted freestyle skiers and snowboarders doing jumps, pirouettes and tricks. Snowpark has its origins in the skateboard and both have common singularities. The name of Sulayr was given by Arabs and means Mountain of Sun.
Dog sled tours or mushing are available as well. Though now considered as a sport, it has been and still is a Nordic method of transportation pulled by huskies and used to move fast through the snow. The term comes from the French ‘march’, meaning go on, run. It is a command to the team to start pulling.
Sierra Nevada gives the possibility of night skiing due to lightning along El Rio slope, located between Borreguiles and Pradollano, a pioneer in using artificial light for winter sports in Spain. This slope includes 3.3 kilometers with 35 light points dotted along the route. Parallel to El Rio you can find another illuminated piste, Maribel, with 2.5 kilometers.
There is a wide range of season ski passes: spring, promotional, high and low. This information is available on the website of Sierra Nevada.
Those people who want to enjoy snow without skis cannot miss La Fuente del Mirlo Blanco, an amusement park including a roller coaster, a Russian sleigh to fly over the snow, a magic carpet, toboggan runs and bouncy castles. And all these things at 2.100 meters altitude.
Other options are tandem paragliding flights up to 1500 meters altitude, mountain bike routes to the circuit of Fuente Alta, host of the mountain bike World Championships in 2000.
In summer you can do every kind of mountain and outdoors sports (cycling, riding, hiking, climbing, etc).
Sierra Nevada Ski Resort is provided with all the necessary services and facilities and many shop centers for ski equipment rental. It also has a wide gastronomic selection throughout the resort as well as parking, urban transport, nursery, playground, lockers and much more… For all these reasons, Sierra Nevada plays a fundamental role in Andalusia tourism and is an international reference for snow tourism.
