Day trip from Ronda to Zahara de la Sierra

We stayed in Grazelema and took a day trip to Ronda. I highly recommend a visit to Grazelema and Zahara. Ronda is not very central, but it does have more restaurants. I think it is doable to do Grazelema and Zahara on a day trip.

Perfectly feasible. R to G to Z is less than 90 minutes on the road and then the more direct route back from Z to R is less than an hour. Or do it in reverse. Obviously doing both G and Z in one day limits the time in each, but neither really have any major sights as such, it's more the "ambiance". I'd pick which one you want to have lunch in and then plan around that.

You could go to Arcos de la Frontera via Zahara de la Sierra (or Grazsalema) and stay there as well. Once you're out of town the drive to Seville from Arcos is flat country roads and highways and is pretty easy. It's probably an hour to Zahara and a hour to Arcos each realistically.

Arcos is much smaller (and less touristy) than Ronda but larger than Zahara in terms of restaurants, streets to wander and places to stay. It depends on what you're looking for but I would rather stay in one of the smaller towns than just Ronda if you have the chance. For me one of the joys of small towns is staying long enough to get into the local rhythm and driving through or arriving late and leaving early does not achieve that, but a one nighter can still be worth it.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

I agree with the comment above that its more interesting/fun to stay in one of the smaller hill towns, unless you are one that likes more of the nightlife/restaurants, then you'd want to stay in Ronda. In Ronda, I think the charm is the gorge and bridges. The town, not as much. My husband and I are light and organized travelers. We do like staying in a location at least 2 nights or more, depending on the logistics, but we can pack/check out in a short amount of time. For us, it would eat up more time to back track to Ronda than it would to change inns. Zahara and Grazelema are in an stunning setting and while there is no big huge attraction, they are places you'd want to "soak in".

Hi,
The day trip makes sense (everything being so close, there is not much backtracking), but if you want to spend more time in Ronda, you could also stop in Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra on your way to Sevilla from Ronda. Zahara to Sevilla is only a 90-minute drive and the two villages, while beautiful, are also very small - quick visits in my opinion, a coffee stop in one and a lunch stop in the other will allow for a good sampling of the atmosphere. (just, if you stop with a luggage-filled car, try to make sure that nothing is visible and take passports and wallets with you. Break-ins are rare but do happen)

So, I thought about this a bit. I'm not sure if the time estimates match with our experience, and depending on the person, there is much more to do in these little villages than lunch or a glass of wine. We left the Sevilla Santa Justa station before 10am with a rental car. We drove to Arcos and were there about 3 hours doing the RS walking tour and just poking around. We then drove thru the mountains to Zahara and stopped at a few overlooks prior to Zahara, in the mountains. The driving isn't really difficult, but it is narrow mountain roads without a shoulder. We spent at least two hours in Zahara. There is a fort on the very top of a hill/mountain and the town is a bit below the fort. There is some interesting history. It was fall and we were there at the "golden hour" for photography, so probably spent more time than we probably would have, but still we were there for at least a couple hours. As you drive away from Zahara there are some nice overlooks where you can stop and photograph Zahara with the lake in the foreground. We got to Grazelema after dark. The next day we took a day trip to Ronda and came back to Grazelema and did a lovely walking tour of the town. We didn't stop for lunch/snack/wine either day. These were fun days, but quite full in terms of activity.

I don't necessarily disagree with the other posters, it is all probably dependent on how much you enjoy the villages and the amount of time spent in each. Plus if you are there in the late spring or summer you'd have more daylight than we had in early November. I just wanted to prepare you for the possibility that if you stay in Ronda, these day trips may be longer than you think they will be. Also, in my opinion, the only feasible way to do Arcos would be a stop on your way to Sevilla.

Thanks to everyone for the input. We haven't booked Ronda yet, but I chose it for the 2 nights because "everyone" says you have to stay overnight to get the real flavor of the town. If it is just looking the gorge and a bridge, I can do that with lunch on the terrace of the hotesl that overlooks it. We are not nightlife people, but enjoy good food and wine and prefer charm to glitz. We could do just 1 night and then move again the next night to Arcos, but that would mean that Grazlema and Zahara will only get a "drive by". Oh the decisions..... we will just have to come back like everyone says.