Pueblos Blancos route in the Andalusia region of Spain

Edson Amorina Jr

2 years ago

Pueblos Blancos route in the Andalusia region of Spain

On our trip to Spain, we included a perfect destination in our travel itinerary. We took a wonderful tour along the Rota de los Pueblos Blancos or in English, the White Cities, nestled in the mountains of arid climate and brown in the region of Andalusia.

Other itineraries that can help you better plan your trip to Spain:

Where to stay to visit the Pueblos Blancos

As there are several cities to visit, wikipedia indicates 22 villages on this tourist route, we made a previous selection for a 2-day itinerary. Choosing those that had their own characteristics, to make the most of what this tour has to offer.

Another tip is to set up a base, a city to stay, close to or within the Pueblos Blancos region, to facilitate travel between them. We stayed in the city of Ronda, at Hotel Catalonia Ronda and, as we said in the planning post for Spain, it was an excellent choice.

Find other options for where to stay in the Andalusia region on Booking.com.

Our trip was at the end of the year, during the winter season, which can be quite harsh and even snowfall, as many roads pass through high-altitude areas. But we were very lucky and the days were beautiful, with lots of sun and temperatures of up to 2 digits.

The only problem is that due to the season and the festive period, many restaurants and museums were closed. The advantage is that the number of tourists was very small and gave us the opportunity to visit family restaurants and have snacks and picnics with food bought at the market.

We go to the cities visited on our itinerary.

Our itinerary of Pueblos Blancos in Spain

We visited these cities in two days, dividing the itinerary into:

Seville – Vejer de la Frontera – Arcos de la Frontera – Ronda
Ronda – Grazalema – Olvera – Setenil de las Bodegas – Ronda

And yes, although there are some guided tours along the Pueblos Blancos Route, the ideal is to rent a car and do it at your own pace. In addition, the landscapes and roads in this region are wonderful and deserve a stop in the rest areas to enjoy and take pictures.

But in case you can’t rent a car, we recommend the Pueblo Blancos tours offered by GetYourGuide . There are several options, worth researching.

Route of the Pueblos Blancos, a perfect tour in the region of Andalusia in Spain

Now I will write a little about each of the white villages, the Pueblos Blancos, visited.

Vejer de la Frontera

It was love at first “plaza”. There’s no way not to start talking about this city if it’s not about its beautiful Plaza de España. The square with the fountain with the colorful tiles and its orange trees is very cute, especially with the white houses in the background.

From there we went up the hill to reach the upper part of the city towards the Historic Center, but first we had lunch and chose the El Cabalo, one of the family restaurants in town. Very delicious homemade food. We ate a Rabo de Toro, a traditional oxtail from the region, and he really liked it.

After eating, we went for a walk and in addition to strolling through the alleys and white houses of the city, I recommend four points not to miss:

The Plaza de Armas, of course;
The Don Quijote viewpoint, which has a beautiful view of the city;

A small viewpoint with Cobijada, a statue of a black nun; and
The Molinos de Vejer, which are typical Spanish windmills.

Access to these two places is much easier by car, but I saw that there are bus stops where we stopped.

Oh! On Sundays there is a craft fair on the main street of the old town that sells a little bit of everything. A good opportunity to get to know a little more about what is manufactured and purchased in the region.

Arcos de la Frontera

Here was love at sunset. We visited this town in Pueblos Blancos in the late afternoon of the first day and to reach the old and walled center it is necessary to climb a slight slope that burned all the calories from lunch, afternoon snack and even dinner that we hadn’t even eaten.

Despite the narrow alleys, Arcos de la Frontera is not so small and has several viewpoints, churches to visit and opportunities to walk through its whitewashed houses.

We saw the sunset at Plaza del Cabildo and it was amazing. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a surreal orange end of the day and even more so with the beautiful mountains of the Andalusia region on the horizon.

Still in the medina, the old walled centre, it was really cool to get lost in the alleys that started to take on bluish tones due to the fall of the night. We headed towards the Mirador Pena Vieja which overlooks the valley and the Guadalete River. Due to the night, we didn’t have much view of the landscape, but it was still beautiful and we killed our curiosity.

Setenil de las-bodegas

Beautiful and picturesque. As soon as we stepped out of the parking lot, we came face to face with the houses in symbiosis with the rock formations of the place. It’s all very beautiful and also kind of claustrophobic. With the feeling that everything can fall apart at any moment.

The village of Setenil de las Bodegas was built using the mountain as walls and even roofs for their houses. The tiny main square is very beautiful. But the tip is to really be lost in its alleys, but with the warning that the walk is long and full of unevenness. A beautiful walk in Pueblos Blancos, but very tiring.

A true place that seems lost in time.

Grazalema

It was love at first sight. Even arriving at the end of the day, we were enchanted by this village nestled between mountains within the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park.

The road to this town in the Pueblos Blancos is beautiful, very different from the roads we take in Andalusia. We can see other different things from olive trees, olive trees, more olive trees and the color brown. The vegetation along the park road is more vivid green, with flowers even in December. And we passed through tiny villages lost in time, with little men and women walking calmly along the road.

The city of Grazalema itself is beautiful, compact and very easy to walk around. And the best thing is that in the city there are several shops with local products, where we could taste a fresh jamón, buy homemade raspberry candies and cakes at Panederia Golosa.

Two cool tourist spots to visit are:

Parking on the road, which has a wonderful view of the city and the peaked mountain in the background
Viewpoint near the city’s public swimming pool that overlooks the mountains of the Parque Natural de la Sierra of Grazalema.

Olvera

From afar, but we fell in love. For this village in the Pueblos Blancos, the tip is to take that beautiful photo. The suggestion for a sightseeing tour is a best view of Olvera is from afar.

We had the chance to see her from different points during our way to Grazalema. It was really worth those stops as she is very beautiful.