Footpath linking Costa Tropical beaches opens in time for summer

Beaches

The new connection between Castell and Cambriles beaches in Granada province incorporates materials that blend in with the surroundings, ensuring its sustainability and minimising its environmental impact and is accessible

MJ Arrebola

Granada

A new footpath connecting Castell de Ferro and Cambriles which runs along the beach on Granada province's Costa Tropical has opened just in time ... for the busy summer season. After a three-year wait, residents living in the area can finally walk from the coastal village to the beach, which involves a steep slope, safely.

The project, funded by a grant of 86,324 euros included in the 2025 municipal budget, resolves a long-standing problem: a gradient of almost nine per cent over a stretch of just 100 metres which, for many local residents – particularly those with reduced mobility – had become a real barrier.

Mari Carmen Acosta lives in the area and her daughter is in a wheelchair. “Before, we couldn’t go into the village even for a single day,” she says. “The wheelchair can manage the hill, but then the kerb is so steep that the wheelchair tips over – they’re so narrow – and with the garages, we can’t even get out of here.”

As soon as the footpath opened, her daughter went down with her to take out the rubbish. “I wanted to see her, to make sure she could get through,” she says. And when she saw that she could, that there was finally an accessible path, she admits she was so overcome with emotion that she started to cry "out of happiness" she explained.

Antonio Pérez, chairman of the Castell Playa owners’ association, has been leading efforts to resolve this issue for the past three years, as the area comprises around 500 flats which, in summer, accommodate some 2,000 people - representing nearly 40 per cent of the municipality’s population.

The footpath's design incorporates materials that blend in with the surroundings, ensuring its sustainability and minimising its environmental impact and is accessible.

Mayor Toñi Antequera said, “The footpath is now open to local residents - an investment that was in high demand." She acknowledges that the process took longer than she would have liked, but maintains that as soon as the environmental permits were granted, the work was put out to tender and as soon as the tender was awarded, the contract was signed. “We’ve done everything possible to ensure it was ready for the summer,” she said.

The mayor also highlighted the efforts of the company, which completed the work even before the deadline set out in the contract. “They have sped up the work as much as possible and in fact, have finished it ahead of schedule,” she said. She concludes on an optimistic note: “I believe this will be a very positive piece of infrastructure for our municipality.”