The road climbs from Estepona toward the Genal Valley, a true odyssey of tight turns at 40 km/h, where the Mediterranean fades behind you as the forest of pinsapos and chestnut trees of Sierra Bermeja opens up. There, in the heart of the range, among ancient trees on a finca hidden in the white village of Jubrique, lies Cabañas entre Castaños, the most personal project of Fina Márquez.
The owner has spent 26 years tending the family estate and is one of the few women working the land in this area. Seven hectares of chestnut groves, cherry trees, a garden and a vineyard provide the perfect backdrop for one of the most interesting rural accommodations in the province of Málaga. Two wooden cabins, Mirlo Blanco and Oropéndola, named after two of the birds most often heard here, face the valley.
Conversation, Siesta, and Family
Fina doesn’t run this place like a hotel. She sparks conversation, tells where every item comes from and leaves in the cabin produce from the garden, fresh eggs from her hens and her homemade jams, which are so good you might fill a couple of jars to take home. Between her two dogs, who are always ahead of any introduction, and the horses grazing at the back of the estate, in just two days she has drawn you into her own family. And as a true animal lover, this is a pet friendly space: your pet is part of the city’s getaway plan.
During the day the chestnut grove is in charge. The hammocks swing from the branches, under a shade so dense that the temperature drops by several degrees, and there you settle the siesta and the book you’d been months without opening. But surely the best moment arrives at sunset. The pool faces Benalauría, the village perched on the opposite hillside, and from there you watch the sun dip behind the mountains. Then the crickets arrive, the coolness returns, and one of the best night skies you can enjoy in the province, with not a single streetlight to spoil it.
