Paragliding in the Sierra Nevada

More holidays » Featured Holiday

Spain - Sierras to the Sea Gently paced, this place to place Spanish cycling holiday takes you from the impressive mountain town of Ronda to the wild and beautiful Costa de la Luz. 8 days, from £755 (Group tour). Saddle Skedaddle »

While there are lots of good paragliding spots in Spain, the Sierra Nevada around Granada make the list for me because some great competitions have been hosted here and the scenery is stunning, rugged mountains meeting the sea, The cloud base is high, 4000+ on a good day, but 5000 meters on a great day and most of the take off points are around 1200 metres, even the beginners and tandems, so you get an amazing view. In summer the thermals are at their best and if you’re lucky you’ll add another 1000 metres to your height in updraft so you can look forward to a long flight, but you can fly here year round and lots of competitions train around here. Obviously the best cross country flight you can do is from one of the highest peaks to the coast up around 3000 - 3500 metres. It’s a great trip for when the cloud base is at it’s highest and you can see for miles, it’s like floating, and the light coming through the clouds creates shafts of light on the way down picking out points of interest for you. For experienced pilots remember that the thermals here can be unpredictable, so watch the birds for the one, or go out with some locals who’ll be able to anticipate the wind. Granada is a proper city, so unlike many places to fly you can also enjoy the nightlife, plenty else to do and easy transport options. You’re also only an hour from the beach and in the evenings you can get free tapas in heaps of the bars, which my non flying partner said to mention is excellent.

5 / 5 Review by member Kirk Browne

Have you been here? Why not add your own review or report an error.

If you liked that, you might like these...

• 

  Paragliding around Oludeniz

  It’s the mountains rising just off the coast that make for great paragliding conditions in Oludeniz. The thermals are fairly consistent and the view...

• 

  Cross Country Paragliding Iquique

  There is plenty of good paragliding to be had in Chile but the top spots, especially if you like distance, have to be Iquique and Santiago where the...

• 

  Paragliding over Chamonix

  Europe's Top Tandem paragliding experiences: The Chamonix Valley is one of the most spectacular locations in Europe where one can take a tandem...

• 

  Paragliding in Tapalpa

  It’s not the prettiest place from the ground, the high desert plateaus are mostly scrub, but the range elevations are up to 45000 metres and the...

• 

  Paragliding in La Grande Bornand

  This spot is well set up for paragliding, to the extent that there is a chair lift to the main launch spot at about 1100 metres. The launch is a...