El Chorro (in English, The Spurt) is a small village named after the outlet of the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes limestone gorge in Andalusia in southern Spain, through which passes the Guadalhorce river. The river was dammed in the 1920s, forming three reservoirs.
The gorge is famous for the very dangerous path called Caminito del Rey (King's little pathway). The path gave access to a hydro-electric plant and took its name after an official visit by Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1921. Official access to the path was removed in 2000 on safety grounds. In June 2011, the regional government of Andalusia and the local government of Málaga agreed to share costs of restoration of the Caminito (including car parking and a museum) of €9 million. The project will take approximately three years to complete.[1] Many of the original features will remain in place and the new materials that are used will be in keeping with the old design.[2]
At present the walkway is accessible by climbers but it is dangerous.
The gorge runs from the end of the embalse del Gaitanejo to El Chorro. There are two extremely narrow sections at each end of the gorge with a wider bowl in between. In addition to the currently defunct walkway, the old Malaga to Cordoba railway line runs through the gorge in a set of several tunnels, bridges and dams cutting through the gorge. It is possible, but illegal, to access parts of the gorge along and through the tunnels of the railway line from El Chorro.
The railway and sections of the Caminito were used in location shots in the 1965 adventure film Von Ryan's Express.
The area is renowned as a popular rock climbing area in Europe,[3] but is also very popular for mountain biking, hiking, and camping.