One on the great thinks about living in the Costa Del Sol is the ability to go skiing  in the winter months

The ski and mountain resort of Sierra Nevada is Europe’s most southern ski resort and has 10,544km of runs. Sierra Nevada is located 171km to the east of Malaga International Airport and just an hour and a half drive from the Costa del Sol’s most eastern resort of Nerja. This makes it possible to ski in the morning and then be sun bathing on a Costa del Sol beach by the afternoon.

Sierra Nevada skiing resort sits in the national park of Sierra Nevada in the Granada region of Andalucia. The coastline in this region is known as the Costa Tropical and is just over an hour’s drive away. Located on the coastline are a number of resorts and numerous beaches and ports and here is where the mountains run right down to the sea.

In the ski resort there are over 20 peaks more than 3000 metres high which makes Sierra Nevada the second highest mountain range in Europe after the Alps. This area is also popular for hiking, pony trekking, bird watching, climbing and mountain biking. It is also the sunniest ski resort in Europe with 80% of its days basking in sunshine. The ski season opens in late November and finishes around the end of April but can be as late as mid-May dependant on weather conditions.

At the foothills of Sierra Nevada are the city of Granada and the Alhambra Palace, a UNESCO world heritage site. Granada City and the surrounding areas are steeped in history with buildings, churches and monuments dating back to the Muslim occupation of southern Spain and its Christian liberation of the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Around the city and into Sierra Nevada there are many unspoilt villages and small towns offering up stunning views of the Mediterranean, white capped mountains and the rugged agricultural landscape of Granada.