Has anyone on this forum ever spent any time running in Spain?
I will be in Mijas Andalucia for about 2 weeks over December and am looking for good places to run.
Does anyone have any experience with this area? Are there good trail runs, tracks, boardwalks...?
Any websites that you could recommend (I understand Spanish on a conversational level). I expect a comment or two about running with the bulls, but a few informative answers would be appreciated as well.
Thanks
Hey, I spent the entire summer in spain and ran every day, including with the bulls. Anyway, I didn't make it to andalucia, but I was in madrid, caceres, and just about every town possible to the north. I imagine you'll be flying into madrid, which is a huge city, but there are plenty of parks with long trails to run on. I'm sure you'll find trails everywhere you go, but keep in mind you'll be running on roads (cobblestone) alot. People are pretty friendly too. Have a good time.
I lived very close to Mijas part of the year and will actually move back there soon.
Luckily there is a protected national park that extends to Mijas and the area surrounding. Don't worry about your spanish in Mijas, the place is crawling with English tourists. Strangers there approached me speaking English.
Despite the tourists, it is beautiful. Im sure there is some kind of access to the trails that run through that area. I was on some trails in a nearby village and they were uneven and overgrown but still runable. In Marbella there is a boardwalk type thing you can run on, although I never saw anyone running there. You can always run on the beach.
Sorry no bulls in the costa del sol. The running of the bulls is in the north and its in May.
Lonely Planet guide might be good. If you have no one to show you around it is really the next best thing.
-Suerte
My mistake, the Running of the Bulls I was referring to are in July, in Pamplona. I have heard that there are other fiestas that are similar, although I know of none.
Thousands of drunk idiots taunting a defenseless animal...not really my thing. But hey its just my opinion.