Aventura Polar en el Sur–a polar experience in El Puerto de la Ragua mountain pass

Many of us would like magical doors to exist that transport us from one place when we just walk through them. Magical doors to teleport us to distant places in a very short time. It's great to dream but, what if we told you that those magical doors are right here in Andalusia? The experience we bring you below will ensure you enjoy a genuine polar adventure in forests that will surprise you and will make you think you are in Lapland, Switzerland or Alaska just by passing through them.

Can you imagine becoming a musher on a dog sleigh for one day and being able to drive your own team of dogs?

Would you like to experience riding through surroundings like these on pure Spanish horses?

The adventure we are proposing departs from the nearby Laujar de Andarax, which we will use as base camp, staying overnight at the Hotel Villa de Laujar de Andarax.

From there, we will head towards El Puerto de la Ragua mountain pass at over 2000 metres with its wonderful forests.

The information point at the Puerto winter resort will be where we meet the adventure organisers. From there, our Aventura Polar en el Sur guide will take us to his home, right in the heart of the National Park , at the bottom of El Chullo, the highest peak in the province of Almería, where the adventure will start.

There, in an idyllic setting like the one you see, lives Fran, his wife, his pure Spanish horses and his sleigh dogs.

As soon as you arrive, you will be welcomed with a cup of tea that you will drink sitting on some spectacular benches built from trunks that have been carved by Fran himself.

Francisco is a wood artist who will surprise you with his creations and stories.

Just meeting him and discovering his daily life is a real experience that we will show you in full detail below.

Become a dog musher for a day

Many of you will relate sleigh dogs to places like Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia, but here in the south, in El Puerto de la Ragua, you can experience a true polar adventure at any time of year thanks to the entertaining dog sleighs on wheels so that, even if there were no snow, the route could be done perfectly along the incredible forest trails of La Ragua.

As you reach the dog sleigh enclosure, you will automatically see the hullabaloo that takes place as the dogs recognise Fran and see that it is time to go out running with the sleighs. Leaping, howling like wolves…, the extraordinary beauty of the animals is incredible.

Animals that Francisco describes as his best friends.

He has had great experience with them in extreme situations… fog, storms and countless adventures. According to what he tells us, they give everything in exchange for nothing and, for him, his dogs are his life.

You can see what these animals mean to him and his wife just by looking at him.

A passion for sleigh dogs that he conveys to you and that will take you sleighing where, as we told you at the beginning, you will become real dog sleigh mushers, travelling along the forest tracks of the National Park with your own team of dogs.

To drive these sledges, you don't have to be an expert. The dogs are perfectly trained and Fran himself will guide you with them. You can drive your own sleigh just like someone riding a bicycle. There's nothing else to it.

You will travel without an engine, with only the sound of the barking and the little paws of the dogs and… at top speed!

Without a doubt, the experience of visiting the heart of El Puerto de la Ragua mountain pass in this way is one of the best ways to enjoy the beauty of a place like this.

Adrenalin, speed, nature and, above all, it's ecological. Does anyone give you more?

Horseriding routes, that are different.

Another of the best experiences that you can have at Aventura Polar en el Sur is riding a beautiful pure Spanish horse broken in naturally.

Both weekend routes through the Alpujarras on horseback and short routes through the forests of La Ragua will provide you with a different horseback experience.

In Andalusia, you can do many riding routes through beautiful places but, if there is one that it is truly worth doing, it's this one. The forest tracks of El Puerto de la Ragua.

Francisco lived and coexisted with American quarter horses and appaloosas for a time on a ranch in Canada where he learned all the secrets of natural horse training. You will find it incredible how Francisco can communicate with the horse just by speaking to him and looking at him. Amazing.

As we said, a unique experience in different surroundings. You will see for yourself.

Recharging batteries… under stars!

Everyone knows that "the country air opens your appetite” and, if you are spending the day on dog-sleigh and horseriding routes… all the more so! So what better way to end this experience than with a superb rice supper…

Or a real, delicious Argentinian roast lamb.

Imagine what it is like to eat a wonderful roast like this, under the stars, among friends with only the light of the barbecue and some distant howling.

Doesn't it sound marvellous?

A privileged setting

"With only the sound of silence, the cheeping of little birds and my dogs”, that's how Fran describes his daily life there, in the middle of those forests, without any noise, cars or anything to disturb the peace of the place.

A unique experience that you will want to repeat. The surroundings alone will hook you, you will have fun with the adventures of Francisco and his dogs in the snowy steppes of southern Europe and you will never forget the adventure of riding and driving your own team of dogs

Come and enjoy a genuine polar adventure in the south!