Improved access and surroundings planned for Benaoján's La Pileta cave

Malaga's provincial council and Benaoján town hall are working to improve the access and surroundings of the Cueva de la Pileta, located in the Guadiaro valley, in the Serranía de Ronda. It contains what is considered to be a prime example of cave painting, being the cave with the largest number of representations of this type in the south of the Peninsula.

The cave has been under the protection of the Bullón family since the start of the 20th century and it was discovered by farmer José Bullón Lobato. Visits are possible, and they last approximately an hour with a pre-booked appointment and in groups no larger than 25 people.

As explained the mayor of Benaoján, Soraya García, work is planned in the coming months that will focus on improving the visitor experience, adapting the access, improving the parking area, recreating a viewpoint from an existing one that is currently rarely used and, ultimately, "having an area to house those visitors who have to wait to go in". "Somewhere they can be out of the sun, not on the steps or in a cramped space ...", said the councilor, who did not specify what the investment would be for all this but said that more details of the project will be announced soon.

Cueva de la Pileta is one of Benaoján and Malaga province's key tourist attractions alongside Cueva del Gato, also located in the area. The latter has future work planned, with a new steel bridge set to be built over the Guadiaro river to improve access to that location after two occasions when the river overflowed and destroyed previous infrastructures.

Moreover, there are also plans to allow access into the first few metres of Cueva del Gato and the creation of a Prehistoric Interpretation Centre in Estación de Benaoján, which would also include Cueva de la Pileta.

The neighbouring town of Montejaque is also improving the Cueva del Hundidero, which is the other access point to the Hundidero-Gato cave system, one of the most important ones in Andalucía. The project will also consider making the top of the Los Caballeros dam visitable, creating a walkway that has already been baptised as the 'Caminito de Montejaque', in allusion to the 'Caminito del Rey'. A footbridge will be installed to cross the gorge, a suspension bridge and two via ferratas, among others.