Cascada de Linarejos

Cerrada del Utrero / Sierra de Cazorla, Jaen, Spain

About Cascada de Linarejos


Hiking Distance: 1.6km loop; 2km round trip
Suggested Time: 60-75 minutes

Date first visited: 2015-05-29
Date last visited: 2015-05-29

Waterfall Latitude: 37.92707
Waterfall Longitude: -2.92116

Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Cascada de Linarejos was our waterfalling excuse to check out the mountains of the Sierra de Cazorla.

However, as you can see from the photos on this page, this 60m tall waterfall wasn’t doing too well during our May 2015 visit.

Linarejos_061_05292015 - Cascada de Linarejos
Cascada de Linarejos

Although it doesn’t seem like it in the photo above, the waterfall was flowing.

Moreover, in order to resolve the flow in photos, we had to zoom in enough to see its waterflow.

That said, this was probably the easiest of the waterfalls to access in the Sierra de Cazorla area.

Given how it appeared this part of Spain had already seen the last of its sustained rains at least over a month ago, this was the best that we could do under the circumstances.

Linarejos_080_05292015 - Zoomed in on the base of the Cascada de Linarejos and its plunge pool to prove that it really was flowing during our May 2015 visit
Zoomed in on the base of the Cascada de Linarejos and its plunge pool to prove that it really was flowing during our May 2015 visit

Indeed, this was one of those waterfalls where we needed to time our visit for right after a sustained rain (something we didn’t have the luxury of doing when traveling from abroad).

The Hike to the Cascada de Linarejos

We started the hike to the Cascada de Linarejos from a road bridge over the Río Guadalquivir (see directions below.

We then followed a trail that skirted alongside the rim of the gorge carved out by the river.

This undulating path had railings in most of the spots that were exposed to dropoffs.

Linarejos_028_05292015 - Context of Julie and Tahia hiking on the undulating path alongside the gorge of the Río Guadalquivir en route to the Cascada de Linarejos
Context of Julie and Tahia hiking on the undulating path alongside the gorge of the Río Guadalquivir en route to the Cascada de Linarejos

Thus, we were fairly comfortable letting our four-year-old walk (holding her hand of course) while doing this trail.

For the first 400m of this undulating hike along the rim, we then started to hear the roar of a waterfall.

The trail then started to descend into the gorge down a series of steps until we reached a dam that was releasing some of its water.

Unfortunately, this was the source of the noise and so our hopes that the legitimate waterfall would be flowing well took a turn for the worse.

Linarejos_045_05292015 - The artificial waterfall that produced most of the noise, but it was unfortunately not the Cascada de Linarejos
The artificial waterfall that produced most of the noise, but it was unfortunately not the Cascada de Linarejos

Anyways, after walking alongside then below the dam, the trail then followed the base of the very tall cliffs flanking the Gorge of the Río Guadalquivir.

We encountered one Spanish family that was playing in the water amongst rocks at some small cascades downstream of the dam.

However, a short distance further from this area was the mirador along the trail looking across the gorge towards the Cascada de Linarejos.

It appeared that there were some trails that might have crossed the river then went closer to the base of that waterfall with its plunge pool, but we didn’t explore that option.

Linarejos_057_05292015 - Context of Julie and Tahia beneath the tall vertical cliffs looking across the gorge towards the Cascada de Linarejos
Context of Julie and Tahia beneath the tall vertical cliffs looking across the gorge towards the Cascada de Linarejos

This was also the turnaround point of our hike as we opted not to complete the longer loop hike.

So we spent about 75 minutes away from the car though we went at a really slow pace given how hot it was during our visit (possibly between 35-40C).

The literature indicated that the full loop hike was only 1.6km requiring a minimum of 45 minutes.

Authorities

Cascada de Linarejos resides near the town of Cazorla in the Jaén Province of Spain. It may be administered by the Parque Natural Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may want to visit this website.

Linarejos_007_05292015 - Looking towards the trailhead by the Rio Guadalquivir, which I'd imagine that this is how people parked by the nearby shop would see the approach to get started
Linarejos_019_05292015 - Looking over the Río Guadalquivir and its gorge from the bridge by the trailhead for Cascada de Linarejos
Linarejos_020_05292015 - Here's a portrait view from the bridge over the Río Guadalquivir just to give you a sense of how deep this gorge really is
Linarejos_024_05292015 - Julie and Tahia following the trail skirting the rim of the gorge of the Rio Guadalquivir while providing a small amount of shade from the hot weather
Linarejos_026_05292015 - Julie and Tahia continuing along the rim of the gorge of the Rio Guadalquivir. As you can see here, they had put up wooden railings to minimize the exposure to dropoffs. So we never really needed to wear the child carrier since Tahia was able to walk on this hike
Linarejos_029_05292015 - Perhaps this shot gives you a sense of how narrow the trail to Cascada de Linarejos can be in some spots
Linarejos_030_05292015 - Closer look at some of the rocky steps we had to ascend while on the gorge rim along the Rio Guadalquivir
Linarejos_038_05292015 - Looking down at the dam responsible for the fake waterfall on the Rio Guadalquivir that caused the noise that we had heard while hiking along the gorge rim en route to the Cascada de Linarejos
Linarejos_047_05292015 - We noticed this mountain goat while hiking within the gorge alongside the Río Guadalquivir. This might indicate that the Sierra de Cazorla was protected enough to allow a reasonable chance of wildlife sightings
Linarejos_050_05292015 - Looking upstream along the Rio Guadalquivir towards the dam. This was the spot where another Spanish family we encountered was cooling off from the hot weather
Linarejos_054_05292015 - Julie and Tahia continuing along the base of the cliffs comprising the gorge of the Río Guadalquivir as we looked for the Cascada de Linarejos
Linarejos_069_05292015 - Our first look across the gorge towards the Cascada de Linarejos
Linarejos_074_05292015 - Broad contextual view of the Cascada de Linarejos from the turnaround point of our hike
Linarejos_083_05292015 - Zoomed in look at one of the upper tiers of the Cascada de Linarejos, again showing that we weren't kidding about this waterfall still clinging onto what's left of its flow
Linarejos_085_05292015 - Looking up in the sky above the Cascada de Linarejos, where some soaring birds seemed to reinforce the wild nature of Sierra de Cazorla
Linarejos_088_05292015 - Beyond the spots along the trail where we got to look across the gorge towards the Cascada de Linarejos, we could see that the trail kept going as shown here, which I'd imagine would ultimately form the 1.6km loop that we had known about
Linarejos_089_05292015 - As we looked high up on the cliffs across the gorge, we noticed these caves where I'd imagine there might be some wildlife taking advantage of the natural shelter
Linarejos_095_05292015 - Zoomed in look at a little more of the Cascada de Linarejos still showing that there's a remaining ribbon of water
Linarejos_098_05292015 - Julie and Tahia heading back up towards the dam after having had their fill of the Cascada de Linarejos
Linarejos_101_05292015 - Walking up above the calm reservoir upstream from the dam on our way back from the Cascada de Linarejos
Linarejos_106_05292015 - Julie and Tahia back up at the rim of the gorge of the Rio Guadalquivir as we hiked the final stretch back to the trailhead
Linarejos_107_05292015 - Julie and Tahia finally making it back to the trailhead and thus ending our hike to the Cascada de Linarejos


To reach Cascada de Linarejos from Úbeda, we drove east on the N-322 to the town of Torreperogil.

Then, we followed the A-315 to the southeast for about 22km to the town of Peal de Becerro, where we then hopped onto the A-319.

Linarejos_013_05292015 - The car park at the trailhead for the short hike to the Cascada de Linarejos
The car park at the trailhead for the short hike to the Cascada de Linarejos

We followed the A-319 further east into the town of Cazorla (after 13km) before continuing on the A-319 as it climbed up above Cazorla for the next 21km to the bridge spanning the Río Guadalquivir.

Right before that bridge, there was a tiny car park with room for probably four cars maximum (assuming they were parked in the right configuration, which you can see in the photo above).

Otherwise, you’d have to backtrack for 100-200m or so to get to the cafe which has a much larger roadside pullout space for car parking.

This drive from Úbeda to the trailhead would probably take about 90 minutes in each direction.

Linarejos_006_05292015 - This was the cafe a little further up the road where I'd imagine that if you couldn't find parking by the bridge over the Rio Guadalquivir, then this is where you might have to park the car to hike to the Cascada de Linarejos
This was the cafe a little further up the road where I’d imagine that if you couldn’t find parking by the bridge over the Rio Guadalquivir, then this is where you might have to park the car to hike to the Cascada de Linarejos

It took us about 45 minutes to get from Úbeda to Cazorla or vice versa.

For some additional context, Úbeda was 10km (under 30 minutes drive) east of Baeza, 146km (90 minutes drive) north of Granada, 150km (over 90 minutes drive) east of Córdoba, 281km (about 3 hours drive) east of Sevilla, and 315km (over 3 hours drive) south of Madrid.

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Examining the waterfall at low flow


sweeping around and getting a closer look at the man-made waterfall on the Guadalquivir River near the Cascada de Linarejos

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Tagged with: cazorla, sierra, cerrada del utrero, jaen, cordoba, granada, spain, waterfall, andalucia, andalusia, baeza, ubeda



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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