Driving through the White Towns of Parque Natural Sierra Grazalema
Summary
Picture-perfect, bright white Andalucian towns dramatically wedged in to the rugged peaks and sharp valleys of the Parque Natural Sierra Grazalema make this one of the most achingly beautiful places in Europe, if not the world. Being able to drive through it, as you stop repeatedly to gorp at the latest sensational vista, also makes this one of the best driving routes in the world, and, in my opinion, Spain’s premier tourist experience
Top tips:
- You’ll want to have a car. There may be some organised tours, but so much of the experience is about stopping for the gorping moments!
- The route – follow the Lonely Planet’s route from Arcos de la Fontera to Ronda (shown in photos). Whole route is 147km / 90 miles and takes around 3.5 hours time driving. As you can see from the route, there are a couple of places where you can do shortcuts to reduce the overall distance if rushed
- 1 or 2 days? We did this in one day (starting from Vejer de la Fontera so adding on an extra hour) and it was a long day. Would have been more pleasant to stay overnight in one of the small villages in the park
- Hiking – there were some sensational hiking routes, but be aware that many of the best ones are closed June – September due to fire danger, and that you need a hiking permit outside of these dates, which is a annoying
- Best towns to stop at – they’re all achingly beautiful and you’ll naturally drive through them anyway, so there is no need to miss any. That being said, Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema were the most photogenic; and Ronda (for its bridge and gorge) and Seteril de las Bodegas (for its cave houses) were the most unusual. Ronda also has the benefit of the bull ring, which is worth a visit, and is the most developed town for accommodation options. The pass at Puerto de las Palomas is also worth stopping at for its huge vistas, and also for the eagle watching you can do from there
highlights
#1 Wandering through the picture-perfect village streets of Grazalema, tucked perfectly into the valley
#2 The driving itself - enjoying the 147km / 90 miles of dramatic winding roads and stopping every 20mins or so for the latest must-do-photo
#3 Ronda's dramatic El Tajo de Ronda - the bridge that looks like something straight out of the mines of Lord of the Rings
#4 The views from the high pass at Puerto de las Palomas, including it being the best spot around for Eagle Watching
#5 Walking through the caves dug into the gorge of Seteril de las Bodegas
#6 Gorping at the setting of Zahara de la Sierra, which can be seen from miles around
#7 Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza - the atmospheric bull ring with its tour that gives you a great flavour of the deep history of this place
The route
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Great Dives around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone