Taking a day car trip from Ronda to Grazalema, to Zehara, to Setenil de las Bodegas, and back to Ronda (about a 64m loop).
Is one day enough to fit that all in or am I shorting the area and need to split Setenil de las Bodegas for another day (only 11 miles north of Ronda)?
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6546 posts
Total driving time visiting those towns will be about 3 hours. The drive between Grazalema to Zahara de la Sierra, while short distance wise, takes 30 minutes. You can adequately see Sentenil de las Bodegas in 1-1.5 hours.
If concerned about time, you could do is visit Grazalema first, followed by Zahara. Then, you can decide if you wanted to visit Sentenil the same day. The roads in that area are in good repair. All are 2-lanes and you’ll be driving at about 70km/42mph at most, most of the time. The countryside is very picturesque, especially when approaching Zahara and the reservoir.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7310 posts
Month and year? I found Zahara to be way off the beaten track. The paved roads are perfectly good, but they are narrow and curvy. Don't expect to make fast progress. And it's not the kind of pretty Spanish landscape you can see with Canola flowers or Sunflower fields. I haven't been to Sentenil.
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
5581 posts
I would say if you actually want to see the towns, one day is not enough. We stayed in Grazalema and did Ronda as a daytrip and then did a really quick stop in Setenil, wished we had more time, there. We really enjoyed Zahara. It is small. We did it as a quick stop on our drive from Sevilla to Grazalema. (We also stopped in Arcos) My favorite photos from the white villages were in Zahara. Didn't hurt that we were there in the golden hour.
I did think that the area was picturesque and enjoyed the drives. We stopped at several overlooks, and yes, the view approaching Zahara was gorgeous.
Our trip was in November so we had the advantage of fewer people.
We made it a point to NOT drive in the evening/night. We didn't think it wise with the narrow, curvy, unfamiliar roads.
Posted by
NC
241 posts
In September, we spent a day driving from Arriate (near Ronda) to Sentenil to Olvera to Zahara to Arcos de la Frontera. Total drive time was about two hours. Our favorite white village was Olvera: It is a lovely, authentic community. Ronda was extremely crowded and touristy. Zahara was small, pretty, but also touristy to the point that restauranteurs were unwelcoming and rude. Parking there was very difficult. Very happy to have visited all the villages but would only return to Arriate and Olvera. The drive itself was gorgeous and enjoyable.