Los Corrales is a sweet little rural village, nestled in the Seville province of Spain. Its small population (4,095 people in the last census) means that the Town feels very unspoiled. We visited back in March earlier this year – some friends invited us to visit this lovely little town, where they also ran the local backpacking hostel.

Location

To get to Los Corrales we flew into Seville airport, and were then kindly picked up my our hosts. As they were incidentally visiting the city. The drive took a little over an hour, so it could be a great option to hire a car and drive over.

Alternatively you can reach Los Corrales via train and then bus. The nearest stations are Osuna and Campillos and then an onward bus will bring you into the town. Check the timetable though, as they are quite infrequent and I believe only run on weekdays!

Los Corrales – the town

The town itself is small, but perfectly formed.

Most of the buildings are compact, pristine white washed houses, with shutters and thick walls. (Which I assume are to keep the heat out in summer.) The streets are thin and can be winding and cobbled, so each twist and turn can be a bit of a surprise. The local church is a bright and outstanding building among the others, with a little plaza out the front. Which in the early spring sunshine was a sight to behold. I imagine in summer this place practically gleams!

Laguna del Gosgue

During our short stay we decided to head out on a few walks to get a real feel for the Spanish countryside. As soon as you leave the town limits, you find yourself walking along a dusty road, sparsely peppered with the odd car, and surrounded by fragrant olive trees. Our first excursion took us on a leisurely stroll to the nearby town Martin de la Jara. Which was the next town over. Much like Los Coralles, it had a few shops and again, not much tourism. So very ‘local.’ We stuck out like a sore thumb!

We must have looked quite unusual walking through with our backpacks, as we definitely drew local resident’s attention. Including a dog who followed us for quite literally THE REST of the day!

Having walked straight through the town, we continued to the lake beyond. The lovely Laguna del Gosgue, glistens just east of Martin de la Jara. Here we found a sweet little picnic area (with unfinished loos/no plumbing so we had to have a sneaky wee in a bush and be each others lookouts.)

We settled in for a lovely lunch and tucked into the picnic we’d brought with us. (Aided by our little friend who was definitely scrounging for some snacks!)

And then went to spot some flamingos! Unfortunately they were some distance away from our viewing spot on the side of the lake. But we actually did see some in the distance. I wish I’d had a pair of binoculars to hand as they were a little too far away to observe properly. If you look closely enough, you can see some pink blobs in the distance, but this was as close as we could get.

The dog followed us all the way from Martin de la Jara to the lake and back again. At which point we felt really mean but we had to shoo it away so it wouldn’t follow us all the way back to Los Corrales. I hope the wee little thing was alright!

Rocky outcrop

Our second walk took us to a rocky outcrop somewhere outside of Los Coralles. I’m not sure it even had a name really – our hosts just pointed us in the direction and off we went. We didn’t entirely know where we were going and sort of ambled along. We passed a bunch of dogs in a fenced off area, that went ballistic as we walked by. Which I found absolutely terrifying (and a bit embarrassing, as lots of local lads came out to see what the noise was about.)

We made it someway along the track, not really with a destination in mind but just taking in the very green landscape. At this point the heavens opened and it started to rain heavily, so we turned a round to head back into town.

Local generosity

It was then we bumped into a local man who was harvesting some sort of plant.

With our very vague Spanish we got the gist that it was an Andalusian speciality, and he kindly gave us some to take with us. We had absolutely no idea what to do with this mystery plant. And neither did anyone at the hostel.

To note – the people there are so friendly that the following day the same man passed us in his car, beeped his horn and waved enthusiastically at us out his window. We made a friend!

Food and drink

Being a small town there weren’t many options for food and drink. We ate in the hostel a few times, and had snacky things from the local supermarket. (And the wine was very reasonably priced!) But on a few occasions we headed to a local tapas place. Oh my. This was my first foray into tapas and boy was I in for a treat! We tried almost everything ont he menu. The beauty of Tapas is that as each dish is small you can try a huge variety ina short space of time. When we visited this was 

One of our hosts was french and recommended we try the tripe. But I must admit that was the one dish I couldn’t take to.

Day Trips

We didn’t have the time there to do many day trips but we were told that Malaga, Seville and Cordoba are all within a good distance to visit as a day trip from Los Corrales. We did later visit Cordoba, but we traveled from Seville via the fast train.

But if you were staying in Los Corrales it would make a great quiet base for visiting various other towns and cities in the area.

Santa Semana practice

We were in Spain during the run up to Santa Semana. One evening we were pleasantly surprised to stumble across the locals practicing the music and procession through the streets. It was noisy and felt so authentically Spanish, we were truly blessed to be there, and spent a little of our evening watching them wander slowly up the street and listened to there incredibly wonderful music.

Later in Seville we stumbled across many other processions. Its a fascinating celebration to witness. But be prepared for crowds and getting stuck/blocked off from certain streets. It makes navigating the city a bit more problematic!

Accommodation

As Los Corrales is such a small town there are few accommodation options. We stayed at the local hostel – Hostel Villa Cabreros (see my review here) but you can also stay in the nearby town Martin de la Jara –  there are some great options such as: Tripadvisor link.

Overall Los Corrales is a sweet and remote little getaway. I felt like we were able to experience a real rural Spanish town, without the fluff of tourism fakery and cliche. Perfect!

Next on the agenda was our little Spanish adventure was a few days in Seville!

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