Granada's Sierra Nevada ski resort set to close on 3 May

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Europe's southernmost winter sport facility still has 65 kilometres of slopes open which more than 13,000 skiers enjoyed over the weekend

Inés Gallastegui

Granada

Tuesday, 21 April 2026, 16:55

The Sierra Nevada ski resort in Granada province, one of two in Spain, along with Masella in the Pyrenees which are still open, has recorded its best season in recent years with 65 kilometres of skiable slopes still open in the last fortnight of the season. This is thanks to the large amount of snow that has fallen throughout winter and early spring in what has been the wettest in Andalucía for many years.

February's unprecedented train of storms brought a lot of snow which hasn't yet melted at high altitudes, meaning that the Sierra Nevada experienced a record Easter week, the third best in its history, with more than 80,000 skiers on the slopes, according to Cetursa, the company that manages the resort.

Last weekend, when Andalucía's beaches were busy thanks to the warm weather, more than 13,000 skiers still visited the winter resort: 7,010 on Saturday and 6,094 on Sunday. Another 3,200 users, meanwhile, enjoyed some of the activities on offer at the resort, including the toboggans or the bicycle-skiing. In total, 16,300 visitors.

The resort opened fourteen lifts on Tuesday 21 April, giving access to 79 slopes with a total of 65.7 skiable kilometres and a difference in altitude of 875 metres, given that the El Río slope, which links Borreguiles with Pradollano, is no longer operational due to lack of snow.

On the other hand, at the high altitudes of the resort there is still between 180 and 300 centimetres of snow in the Veleta area, between 150 and 300 in the Laguna area and between 120 and 210 in Borreguiles, while the Loma Dílar, Río and Parador areas have between 20 and 100 centremetres.

A four-metre wall of snow that was formed when the Cetursa machines freed the upper station of the Laguna chairlift, buried by the heavy rainfall in February, has become in recent weeks a real attraction for the users of the ski lift, who have posted stunning photos on social media. NevaSport and As newspaper have both described the image as "iconic".

The ski resort is scheduled to close on Sunday 3 May, snow conditions permitting, making Sierra Nevada, Europe's southernmost resort, the only one in Spain open at this point in the spring, along with Masella in the Pyrenees in Catalonia. Most of the country's resorts closed in the first week of April, despite the large amount of accumulated snow.

This forecast may be threatened by the Saharan dust which last week was deposited on the snow which prevents the reflection of light, absorbs heat and accelerates melting.