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By carDiego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

The White Villages

Cádiz and Málaga, Spain · Spain

Some thirty whitewashed villages spread across the Cádiz range and the Serranía de Ronda, all set high and almost all with a castle. That is no accident: for over two centuries this was the frontier between Castile and the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, which is where the names ending in 'de la Frontera' come from. The whitewash began for hygiene and for the heat, and ended up as the identity of a whole region. Three days is enough for nine villages and two natural parks.

3 days2 nights235 km8 stopsBest season: Spring and autumn. In summer it is far too hot for walking around villages that are all on slopes, and in winter Grazalema is one of the rainiest places in Spain.

Day 1From the Arcos gorge into the range Day 2Cheese, houses under the rock and the north Day 3From the Nasrid quarter to the Ronda gorge

Day 1 · From the Arcos gorge into the range

Arcos, Zahara and Grazalema · 95 km

Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Arcos de la Frontera

history

The most spectacular white village for its setting: the old town leans out over a drop of almost a hundred metres above the Guadalete river. The Plaza del Cabildo holds the viewpoint, the castle and the basilica of Santa María, all in the same place.

Tip

The 'de la Frontera' in so many villages here is not decoration: for over two centuries this was the line between Castile and the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. That is why they all sit high up and all have a castle.

50 min to the next stop · 53 km

Tango7174 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Zahara de la Sierra

viewpoints

A Nasrid castle on a hilltop, the village tumbling down the slope and a turquoise reservoir below. The climb to the castle is twenty minutes of steps, but the view of the whole valley pays for them.

Tip

Carry on to the Puerto de las Palomas on the Grazalema road: one of the highest viewpoints in the range, at over twelve hundred metres, with griffon vultures flying at your eye level.

30 min to the next stop · 17 km

El Pantera — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Grazalema

nature

One of the wettest places in all of Spain, with around two thousand litres a year, because the Atlantic winds hit the range here and unload. That explains the greenery around it, so unusual in Cádiz, and the pinsapar, a relict fir from the last ice age that survives only in a few ranges of Cádiz and Málaga.

Tip

Grazalema blankets have been woven for centuries, and today a single workshop still makes them. It is one of the oldest crafts in the range that is still alive.

Day 2 · Cheese, houses under the rock and the north

Villaluenga, Setenil and Olvera · 70 km

El Pantera — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Villaluenga del Rosario

gastronomy

The highest village in the province of Cádiz and the least populated, with fewer than five hundred inhabitants. It has a curious bullring wedged into the rock, and it is where payoyo cheese is made, from a goat breed that came close to extinction.

Tip

Buy the cheese here rather than in the shops in Ronda: exactly the same, and cheaper. Ask for the one cured in lard.

55 min to the next stop · 44 km

Jialiang Gao www.peace-on-earth.org — CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)

Setenil de las Bodegas

heritage

The houses are not beside the rock: they are under it. The village grew by making use of the shelters the river Trejo carved into the tufa, and whole streets have a stone overhang tens of metres wide for a roof.

Tip

Eat on Calle Cuevas del Sol, under the rock. And notice that they did not hollow out the stone: they built the façade and the rest of the house was already there.

40 min to the next stop · 26 km

Tomas Fano — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Olvera

viewpoints

A Moorish castle and a huge neoclassical church share the summit, and from below they look like a single building. It is the northern end of the range, and from the castle you see the white villages stepping away to the horizon.

Tip

This is also where the Sierra Greenway begins, thirty-six kilometres by bike along a railway line no train ever ran on.

Day 3 · From the Nasrid quarter to the Ronda gorge

Benaocaz, Ubrique and Ronda · 70 km

El Pantera — CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)

Benaocaz and Ubrique

culture

Benaocaz keeps its Nasrid quarter, with the streets and plots as they were before 1492. And Ubrique, below, has been the centre of Spanish leatherwork for two centuries: bags for the great European luxury houses are hand-stitched here.

Tip

In Ubrique there are workshops that show the craft and sell direct. The same artisans, without the label and without the markup.

50 min to the next stop · 43 km

kallerna — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Ronda

history

The end of the route and the largest town. A hundred-metre gorge splits the city in two and the 18th-century Puente Nuevo joins it again; it took more than thirty years to build. Its bullring is among the oldest in Spain, and the rules of bullfighting on foot were set here.

Tip

Go down to the Puente Nuevo viewpoint from the Camino de los Molinos: from below you grasp the structure far better than by leaning over from above. Twenty minutes down and twice that back up.

This getaway is in the app, day by day, with every stop on the map, the drives between them and where to sleep, and the option to save it for when there is no signal.

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