DAY 12
Drive from Granada to Ronda with stopover in Antequera
For our fifth and final leg of the trip, we were headed west to explore some of Andalusia’s famous Pueblos Blancos, or White Villages. We would spend the last few nights of the trip in Ronda, using it as our home base as we explored the region.
There is limited rail service to Ronda, so we decided to rent a car for this part of the trip so that we could get around a bit easier. Plus, it’s the beautiful countryside and its rolling hills that makes this region worth visiting — ideal for a road trip.
We picked up our rental car in Granada in the morning and hit the road.
After about an hour of driving we made a pit stop for lunch in Antequera. We did a quick walk around town before settling on a tapas restaurant along their main commercial street. After lunch, we swung by a cafe to sample some of Antequera’s famous deserts.
We took a look at the map over lunch, and noticed a national park outside the town that looked interesting. We decided to make a quick detour to check it out.
Half an hour later we arrived to El Torcal de Antequera. We parked at the visitors center and made the short walk over to a viewing platform with amazing views of the unusual rock formations.
The pillars of rock reminded us a bit of the martian landscapes we found in Bryce Canyon while road tripping around the American southwest the year before. El Torcal was such an interesting place, and we were really glad to have made the quick stopover. Definitely recommend it if you’re passing through!
From El Torcal, we had about one and a half hours left to get to Ronda.
The drive was beautiful, with plenty of nice views and panoramic stops along the way. By this point of the trip we’d reached the end of May, and the wildflowers in southern Spain were full-bloom.
Traveling by train is really convenient and efficient (especially with a little one), but the flexibility of driving and the spontaneity that comes with it always makes for a nice memory on vacation.
At last we arrived to Ronda.
We parked the car in an underground garage and checked into our hotel, which was very centrally located right next to Ronda’s historic bullfighting arena.
Where we stayed: Hotel Catalonia Ronda
After settling in at the hotel, we still had a little time to kill before dinner.
Ronda is well known for its unique positioning perched right on the edge of a cliff high above the surrounding farmland. We went for a walk over to Alameda del Tajo park just across the street from our hotel to get our first glimpse of the town’s famous view. And what a view it is!
We wrapped up our busy travel day with a dinner Puerta Grande.
We had a fantastic meal of oxtail, salmorejo, and artichoke and planned out our final days of the trip.
DAY 13
Plaza de Toros and a swim at the hotel pool
For our first day in Ronda, we started things off with the usual breakfast of the trip: churros con chocolat at Churreria Alba. I swear I could eat this every morning and never get tired of it.
We sat upstairs and managed to snag the one table on their small balcony. Luna enjoyed her view of the busy street below while we ate.
After breakfast we headed over to check out the main attraction in town, the Plaza de Toros.
The Plaza de Toros opened in 1785 and is actually the oldest bullring in Spain. I’ve never had a desire to see a bullfight, but it was interesting to get to see the ring and all of the back-of-house spaces, like the pins where they keep the bulls before the fight.
It was scorching hot out in the middle of the ring, so we stuck mostly to the shady stands at the perimeter.
Looking for an escape from the heat, we headed back to the hotel.
We changed into our swimsuits and rode the elevator up to the rooftop pool, which has an amazing and unique birds eye view of the Plaza de Toros.
Despite the intense sun and heat, the pool was still icy cold. We still managed to take a dip, and even Luna was brave enough to take her first swim!
We took it easy the rest of the afternoon, hanging by the pool and resting back in the room.
We went out for a walk around town just before sunset and grabbed dinner at Gastro Bar MK.
The menu had a lot of familiar dishes but each had its own creative twist. Everything was really tasty, and it was nice to have something a bit more “fusion” than the more traditional restaurants we’d been going to.
DAY 14
Driving tour of Andalusia’s white hill towns Zahara de la Sierra and Arcos de la Frontera
For our second-to-last day of the trip, we decided to take a driving tour to check out some of the other white hill towns in the region.
After breakfast we picked up our car from the garage in Ronda and hit the road for our first destination, the small town of Zahara de la Sierra.
We drove straight to the center of town and soon found ourselves lost in a maze of steep and very narrow streets. Unsure where to go, we decided to park the car in a public lot and continue our exploration on foot.
We did some quick research in our guidebook and determined the main sight in town was the castle perched high above the town.
We hiked up to the castle and were rewarded with a sweeping view of the town and the turquoise Zahara-El Gastor Reservoir just beyond it. The castle itself wasn’t much of an attraction itself, but the scenery definitely made the trek worthwhile.
Back to our car, we made our way to our next destination, Arcos de la Frontera, about a 45-minute drive from Zahara de la Sierra.
The drive between the two towns was on mostly small two-lane roads with beautiful farmland all around.
We reached Arcos de la Frontera just in time for a late lunch. We grabbed a bite at a cafe and did our best to stay cool in the midday heat.
After lunch we did a self-guided walking tour from our guide book that took us down narrow alleyways butressed with arches and to all of the main sights in town.
Our tour ended at the Plaza del Cabildo mirador. The view was just as spectacular as the one in Ronda.
We made the one-hour drive back to Ronda and took some time back in the hotel room to rest.
We kept thing easy for dinner and ordered takeout from a restaurant to eat back at our hotel. After putting Luna down to sleep, I went out for a solo walk around town to watch the sunset. Ronda’s white houses looked beautiful in the golden hour light.
DAY 15
Hike to view Ronda’s famous Puente Nuevo bridge
15 days into the trip, and at last, we’d reached the end of our time in Spain.
We spent the last day of the trip in Ronda. We set out early while the temperature was still reasonable to do a short hike down toward the bottom of the gorge.
The trail leaves from the town and takes you all the way down to the river. Having learned our lesson while hiking down into the Grand Canyon the previous year (it’s easy to go down, but not so easy coming back up), we decided to only hike about a third of the way down the trail. It only took about half an hour and we were rewarded with a fantastic view of the Puente Nuevo bridge.
Kept it easy the rest of the day. We did a little souvenir shopping and even found some beautiful etchings to purchase from a local artist.
For our final dinner, we kept it low key and had dinner at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant.
We had an early flight back to Amsterdam the next morning and needed to do some packing, so we put Luna to bed and hung out the rest of the night in the room.
After over two weeks on the go, we were happy to be heading home. But man oh man, what a memorable trip!
This was our first time travelling as a family of three, and I couldn’t have been happier with the experience. This will definitely go down as one of my all-time favorite European trips!
Don’t miss it…
This post is a part of a larger two-week trip around Spain. Check out the full itinerary and an overview of the trip here!
