Ojén, the white village behind Sierra Blanca: the back story

About Ojén, the white village behind Sierra Blanca: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Marbella Editorial Team

Ojén is a small white village of about 4,750 people, surrounded by orchards and mountains, just over the ridge from Marbella. Here is its long history and why it is worth the short drive.

A village on the mountain

Ojén sits on the coastal mountain chain behind Marbella, among Sierra Blanca, the Sierra de Canucha and the Sierra Alpujata, with Marbella to the south and Monda, Coín, Istán and Mijas around it. It has about 4,750 inhabitants, and its people are known as ojenetos, or, colloquially, churrucos.

Forests and wildlife

The hills of Ojén are covered with Mediterranean forest of gall oak, cork oak, holm oak and pine, reaching right down to the roadside. The Iberian ibex and the golden eagle live here, along with genets and mongooses, and there is a rare colony of Spanish fir. Aromatic herbs such as sage, rosemary and thyme grow wild, and in spring orchids flower in the sierra.

In 1485 Ojén, like Marbella, passed to Ferdinand the Catholic; for centuries it sent raisins, figs and almonds down to Marbella’s port.

A long history

Neanderthals roamed this area in the Middle Palaeolithic, and a settled Neolithic community has been found at the Pecho Redondo cave. The name may come from a Roman estate owner called Ursus, through Arabic. Ojén first appears in the chronicles of the emirs of Córdoba, when Abd al-Rahman III fought rebels before the walls of its castle, and in 1485 it surrendered to Ferdinand the Catholic. For centuries it sent raisins, dried figs and almonds down to Marbella for export.

Visiting

Ojén is about ten minutes’ drive from Marbella. Walk its white lanes and squares, have lunch in a village bar, and continue up the mountain road to the Refugio de Juanar for walks in Sierra Blanca.

Our advice: come on a weekday morning, walk the village, then drive up to Juanar for a picnic among the olive trees.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Ojén, the white village behind Sierra Blanca: the back story before you go.