Ronda

Ronda is one of those towns that is cut in two by a huge gorge, the Tajo, with the Guadalevín river running along the bottom. Everybody knows the Puente Nuevo and you really have to see it, but we found the rest of the town just as nice. We had two days here and that gave us time to take it slowly, walk everywhere and still sit down for a coffee.

The bridge and the gorge

The Puente Nuevo connects the old Moorish town with the newer part, El Mercadillo, and it took more than 40 years to build. From the top it's impressive, but I think it's even better from below, where you see how high the arches really are and a small waterfall comes down right next to it. Also walk along the edge of the gorge, because the view changes every few meters. White houses sit right on the cliff edge and you can see old buildings hanging against the rock further down. There's also the new walkway down into the gorge and under the bridge, we wrote about that one separately.

Alameda del Tajo and the views

The Alameda del Tajo is the park at the edge of the town with the viewpoint over the valley. On a clear day you look out over farmland and olive trees to the mountains for miles and miles. There's a little bandstand and plenty of places to sit, so it's a good spot for a break. It's close to the bullring too.

Wander through the old town

The best thing you can do in Ronda is just walk. The old town is full of narrow cobbled streets, wrought iron lanterns, big wooden doors and white houses, and every now and then a gap opens up and you look out over the valley again. Some of the paths are steep and the cobbles are quite uneven, so wear proper shoes, and keep in mind that whatever you walk down you also have to walk back up. If you can, go in the morning or in the evening, when the tour buses are gone and it's a lot quieter.

More to see

If you have the time there's plenty more. The Arab Baths are one of the best preserved Moorish baths in Spain and we have a separate article about them. The Plaza de Toros is the oldest stone bullring in Spain, built between 1779 and 1785, and you can visit it as a museum. Museo Lara is a private collection with everything from old weapons to clocks. The Casa del Rey Moro has a staircase cut into the rock that goes down to the river. The church of Santa María la Mayor took over 200 years to build, so it mixes Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque, and the Palacio de Mondragón has a garden on the edge of the cliff.

The area around Ronda is also wine country, with more than twenty wineries, often family run, and most of them want you to book ahead. Setenil de las Bodegas is only about 15 minutes away, so we combined it with Ronda, and you can read about that in our other article.