There is something very evocative about the old gold mines, which were at their peak of activity in the mid-20th century; a fascinating bit of industrial wreckage in a barren red-rock landscape. Stop first at La Casa de los Volcanes at the top of the village, a museum with excellent displays on the mines and the geology of Cabo de Gata. Behind the museum you can walk up among the abandoned crushing towers and decantation tanks from the 1950s.
The gravel road continues through the hills behind, pocked with abandoned mines and the ruined miners' hamlet of San Diego. It's dangerous to enter any of these, but the Sendero Cerro del Cinto walking trail, starting just below the Casa de los Volcanes, is an 11km circuit through this dramatic post-industrial landscape.
