River NerjaHUNDREDS of tourists and locals are to be banned from Nerja’s Chillar River.

The river has been turned into a tourist hotspot over the last few years, with residents and tourists using it as a ‘water park’ in the summer.

But the fun looks to be coming to an end.

New government proposals are set to restrict access to the river, after it became overrun with rubbish and the walls were graffitied on.

“We need to do our best to prevent the widespread increase of tourists in the area and the damage to such a valuable site,” said environmental councillor, Jorge Bravo.

“We can no longer turn our backs to this problem, but look for creative solutions that will also mean new jobs for our residents.”

Proposals to limit the number of people using the river have been mooted as well as making it an outright ‘no-go’ zone.

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8 COMMENTS

  1. This should be at the top of the governments to do list and they are right to ban everyone from walking up there, too many people leave litter and even the occasional chocolate eclair on the river bank. The sooner we get rid of those pesky tourists the better! Banning people will certainly save on the cost and bother of installing “creative” solutions like bins and toilets.
    Perhaps the next innovative item they can look at is blocking up all the toilets on the coast to prevent millions of litres of untreated sewerage being flushed straight into the sea?

  2. Banning “tourists” or locals from river walking up the Rio Chillar is a really dumb idea. It’s a beautiful area, and a great part of the appeal of the Nerja area. If this is an accurate quote from Jorge Bravo, it isn’t well thought out. Whatever his official position, the Rio Chillar is a well known, popular feature for locals and tourists alike. Sr. Bravo would have been more realistic to talk about the need to help educate Rio Chillar river walkers on the need to respect Nature and the area by not leaving trash or painting the wonderful walls of the Narrows with stupid graffiti, both very serious problems. In addition, It would help if Nerja had officers or “park rangers” regularly patrolling the area and issuing stiff fines for leaving garbage or debrie, and VERY stiff fines for graffiti. A more difficult task would be controlling the numbers of visitors walking up the Rio Chillar. It sounds great, but crowds very considerably, by day of the week, weather, time of the year and other factors. Controlling the crowds sounds good, but in practice, might be very difficult. I have hiked the Rio Chillar often, and recently spent two Sunday mornings scrubbing off graffiti. Reasonable ideas for enhancing the attraction are great, but they need to be well thought out!

  3. ““We need to do our best to prevent the widespread increase of tourists in the area”

    In the Axarquia’s main tourist town. Doh. The authorities should improve, monitor and monetise the resource, not ban it.

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