Andalucia Road Trip - please input & advise - specially on Pueblo Blanca

Setenil de las Bodegas is north of Ronda while the other popular villages are west of Ronda. If you stopped at Setenil en route to Ronda you could make a loop of the other white towns on day five. I’ve been told one only needs about an hour in Setenil to adequately see it. An alternative would be to stop there on day 6 on the way to Sevilla. Olvera is supposedly a nice place to stop. It too is en route to Sevilla. On day five you’d be free to drive to Arcos de la Frontera via Zahara de la Sierra and return via Grazalema.

Many thanks, jamie. I’ve begun saving on my google maps, the various white towns/villages we may want to visit. I’ll have to play around with the exact routing on the day I drive from Malaga to Ronda which is a real brief trip, the next day when we will have all day for nothing but this activity and final day returning to Seville from Ronda.

Just some personal preferences…

Arcos de la Frontera was a disappointment. It is a hassle to get into the center and the highlight, if any, was the view.
Staying in the old center of Tarifa was surprisingly interesting and fun.
Málaga was welcoming, walkable, enjoyable.
Ronda was very touristy and unwelcoming…
but El Caminito del Rey was a highlight of Andalucia…
and the nearby white village of Arriate was lovely with great local food.
Olvera was our favorite of the pueblos blancos.
Frigiliana is lovely. Nerja is very much an expat community but beach is nice. Have not been to the caves.

jamie, as you suggest, I’m going to catch those two on day 6 on my way back to Seville. Day 5, we will go cover all or some of Benamhoma, Benaocaz, Grazalema, Zahara, and botanical garden in El Bosque, a nice circular drive from/to Ronda. If we spend more time in place or two then we can can skip some others

Many thanks, mml for your perspectives

We are only going to nerja caves, not the town. On the way back we will stop in Frigiliana and perhaps Axarquia.
I realize that Arcos is fairly large so there may not be any charm.

Now that pur hotels/trains etc are booked, we will focus more on specific places and wihin cities our must see.
We will stay flexible. That’s another reason we are renting a car rather than use buses/trains for this part of Andalucia.

To me, the charm of Arcos is the view from Mirador Plaza del Cabildo and the area right by it. The road up to the plaza is narrow, but straight. There used to be a parking lot at the plaza, but I’m not sure if it is still there. From the plaza back down the hill there are a couple 90 degree turns that are difficult to maneuver if the rental is too big. Most people park in the large lot, Parking Arcos, at the bottom of the hill. There used to be a tram to take people up to the plaza. One can also take the 17 minutes walk up the hill.

Thanks, jaimee. Yes, I’ve looked into a bit more. We may be able to park and take the tram. My current car booking is for a Toyota Yaris hybrid, which is quite small. I will make alternative booking for something larger for both a more powerful engine and due to my size (6’2”; 186cm).

There are also certain other spots from where one can get good wide panoramic perspectives. One of our interest is photography so even if we are unable to walk around the town, we will hopefully get some nice photos.

On a related matter - are parking areas (paid or free) generally safe? We will be stopping enroute so will have bags and things. I understand that in larger cities it may not be safe but am hoping smaller towns are safe. We obviously won’t leave cameras/passports in the car.