Exploring Capileira in photos

Once the sun sets, Capileira becomes a different place. The temperature drops, and you get crisp mountain air, dark skies, and a deep sense of stillness. Streetlights are soft and few, so the whitewashed houses seem to glow gently under the stars.

In the summer months, the village centre is lively with busy restaurants and bars serving tapas and drinks. Souvenir and craft shops stay open late. Then, as you wander through the narrow cobbled lanes, the soundscape becomes mostly natural and quiet — maybe the wind moving through the valley, or water running down the acequias (irrigation channels). In the summer, you’ll likely encounter locals chatting quietly outside their doorways, and from time to time, you pass a doorway with soft conversation drifting out. But in winter, it’s mostly fires in the hearth and early nights.

In the upper part of the village, the lane opens onto a terrace that overlooks the Poqueira Gorge. Down below, the other villages — Bubión and Pampaneira — sparkle faintly, their lights like small constellations clinging to the mountain.

Let’s go and explore… starting in the village centre with bars and restaurants, and then along the narrow alleys into the quieter outer areas of the village.