The Sierra de Mijas rises immediately behind the village to a high point of 1,150 metres at Pico Mijas. The range is made of white marble — the same stone that was quarried here for centuries and carried down to the coast by the donkeys that are now the town's tourist mascots. On clear days the summit views extend south across the Mediterranean to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
Several hiking trails climb from Mijas Pueblo into the sierra. The terrain is steep in places but the marble rock gives the landscape a distinctive white and grey character, with scattered Mediterranean scrub and the occasional ibex. The sierra separates the coastal strip from the Guadalhorce valley inland and acts as a natural backdrop to the entire Costa del Sol.