Routes for La Subbética Cordobesa
The south of the Cordoba province comprises of a mountainous area in which you'll find the impressive Las Sierras Subbéticas nature park which shapes the direction of this route.
We begin our journey in Priego de Cordoba, situated in the picturesque foot hills of the Subbética. You can fully appreciate the beautiful countryside here from the del Ardave view point. This area boast a wealth of artistic heritage, one of the regions perfect examples of the Moorish influence with the La Villa area, the Fuente del Rey, the Sagrario baroque chapel, Asunción parish church and the baroque churches of San Francisco, San Pedro, Las Angustios and Las Mercedes.

From here we take the road in the direction of Carcabuey, where we pass through the breathtaking nature park, whose morphology consists of steep inclines and platforms hanging over narrow valleys, which are partially fed from the Genil and Guadajoz rivers and the Iznájar reservoir. The most spectacular of the mountain ranges is the Cabra, whose highest summit is the impressive Picacho, at 1,217mtrs. the vegetation here is typically Mediterranean , with a varied fauna and numerous species of birds. In Carcabuey itself, we visit the ancient quarter of the town and the lovely San Marcos parish church.

From Carcabuey we go in the direction of Cabra town situated in the foot hills of the spectacular Sierra de Cabra. The town centre is very interesting as the streets still conserve their original Arabic design and lay out. Also there are numerous interesting historically important monuments to visit such as the San Juan Bautista church, ancient mosque and previous Visigoth Basilica the Condes de Cabra castle, the Asuncion church above the Arabic mosque or the baroque hospital San Rodrigo.

To the north of Cabra, you'll find Zuheros, a small mountainous town situated around an ancient fortress, a typical example of Córdoban style. Here we visit the castle, which appears to be situated on Picacho as well as the many local caves such as the Murciélagos.

We take the road from here onto Luque, the pleasant friendly town which has an interesting Plaza de España, numerous ancient Arabic walls and an impressive 9th century castle.

We continue our journey up to Lucena, the most populated town in this region. Over the centuries it was originally a prosperous jewish town until the 12th century when it was conquered by the Arabs and a century later by the Christians. the most important monuments here are the Gothic - Baroque San Mateo church, the main attraction of the town - the Santiago and San Agustin churches and the Arabic castle del Moral, where Boabdil the last king of Granada was imprisoned.

To the south of the region, we stop at Rute, situated in the folds of the mountain range, and at Iznájar a lovely town on the banks of the picturesque Iznájar reservoir where you can enjoy a variety of waters ports. We then move on to the end of this lovely route and visit the Arabic castle and historic renaissance church of Santiago, enjoying the beautiful view over the countryside full of olive trees and the stunning Iznájar reservoir.