El Fraile, Mountain summit in Almería, Spain.

El Fraile, also called Cerro del Fraile or Cerro de los Frailes, is the highest peak of the Sierra del Cabo de Gata, reaching 493 metres near Pozo de los Frailes in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. It is the remnant of an ancient volcanic caldera that formed under the sea; its eruptions produced lava flows, pyroclastic clouds and the domes Fraile Grande, Fraile Chico and Calignera. The stratovolcano later collapsed, and part of the caldera lies beneath the sea.

El Fraile is the eroded remnant of an ancient volcanic caldera that formed beneath the sea, like the other volcanoes of the Cabo de Gata. Its eruptions produced lava flows, pyroclastic clouds and lava domes, among them Fraile Grande, Fraile Chico and Calignera. The stratovolcano later collapsed into a caldera, half of which now lies under the sea; the other half holds the tip of Loma Pelada. Its last eruption was about 8 million years ago.

El Fraile's volcanic slopes served as a film set: scenes from Sugar Colt and Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were shot here in 1966. The bare, eroded caldera terrain stood in for the American West, and visitors can still recognise the ridges and badlands used as backdrops.

The summit is reached by a cross-country hike, without a marked trail, from the area of Pozo de los Frailes inside the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. The climb tops out at 493 metres, the highest point of the Sierra del Cabo de Gata, so carry water and wear footwear suited to volcanic rock and loose ground.

El Fraile is the highest point of the Sierra del Cabo de Gata at 493 metres, and its volcanic domes Fraile Grande, Fraile Chico and Calignera formed under the sea. The 1966 westerns Sugar Colt and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were shot on its slopes.