Around an hour outside Málaga, this cliffside path takes you through narrow walkways, deep gorges, and a high suspension bridge at the end. It’s about 8 km one-way and takes a few hours, depending on your pace. It used to be known as dangerous, but it’s now rebuilt and safe, with handrails and a clear path the whole way. You’ll need to book ahead, and there’s a shuttle at the end that takes you back to where you started. The views are what people come for — steep rock faces, bright blue water, and huge open skies.

The countryside has many interesting spots and villages worth a visit, such as Elne and its 2,700-year-old citadel, Riversaltes, renowned for its vineyards, or Saint Estève with its beautiful landscape at the edge of the Pyrenees chain. The coast has also some best-kept secrets, like the typical Catalan village of Saint-André.

Take a trip to the mountains to discover an alternate view of the island. Rising to almost 2,000 metres above sea level, the Troodos peaks provide panoramic views of all corners of the island, a cool retreat from the heat of the coast and a popular destination for taking in the healthy mountain air and enjoying nature in all its majesty. Charming villages, some with cobbled streets and preserved folk architecture, nestle on terraced slopes among pines or amid vineyards and orchards. Wander through the village roads in the Solea Valley, known as the “apple valley” and Marathasa, known as “valley with cherry trees”. Those areas are renowned for their traditional architecture and their Byzantine churches and monasteries. Explore the traditional character of the villages of the picturesque Pitsilia, the interesting churches and the hospitality of their inhabitants and also the Wine Villages (Krasochoria), renowned for their vineyards and wine. A number of small wineries welcome visitors on wine tasting tours. Burbling mountain streams and nightingale’s songs are often the only sounds to fill in the air in a region that poets have waxed lyrical over. The Troodos mountains are where the painted churches of Cyprus can be found, superb examples of Byzantine art, ten of which have been listed among UNESCO’s World Heritage wonders. There’s much you can do, from mountain biking to playing tennis, angling in one of the dams, or even skiing in winter. A series of walking trails will take you through areas of exceptional beauty among scented pines, running streams and the occasional waterfall, stopping at a shady picnic site. Some of these form part of the European path E4, an international network of long-distance walking routes crossing the whole of Europe. The specific climatic conditions created by the high altitudes and the peculiar geological substratum may have contributed to the unique flora found in Troodos with nearly 800 different plant species, 12 of which found nowhere else in the world. Occasionally, if lucky, one may spot a Cyprus mouflon, a kind of wild sheep which roams free in the extensive forests. Birdwatchers may spot the rare and protected eagles or the colourful hoopoe with a pink body, a black and white crest and a call which can be heard from miles around.

The natural landscape of the stone forest is a spectacular limestone formation, which has been named a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. Exposed to rain and winds and eroded by the elements, the limestone ranges were shaped by time into a vast forest of stone. The karst formations are believed to be 270 million years old and are located just under 100 km away from Kunming.