Cerro del Tambor

The path climbs gradually through cork oak and Mediterranean scrub. Reckon on about 6.1 km according to the official waymarking, though some guidebooks give 6.2 km. The difficulty is rated low, and it takes an hour and a half to two hours to reach the top. The gradient stays reasonable but steady, with a few steeper sections in the final stretch. There is no water point along the way: bring a bottle, especially in the shoulder season when the sun is already fierce by 11am.

The summit is marked by an old military bunker converted into a mirador. This is where it all happens: a view due south over the strait, east over the bay of Algeciras, and above all over Jebel Musa rising opposite, on the other side of the sea. In clear weather you can make out the roads of the Rif and the Moroccan coastal villages. It is also a well-known vantage point for the autumn bird migration, when tens of thousands of raptors cross towards Africa.