southern spain

They are both beautiful but in very different ways. We were in both in early November 2018. Grazelema is a darling small, white village in the mountains. Ronda is a much larger, busier city with a lot of tourists. The gorge and bridges are stunning. Unfortunately when we were there it had rained heavily and the paths to the base of the gorge were closed. Grazelema is more central to the other villages like Arcos, Zahara and Sentinel. Ronda is more in the east, and you'd have more options for restaurants. I'm not at all into shopping, but there'd be more shopping in Ronda. We stayed in Grazelema at Le Mejorana BnB and were very happy we made that choice. The views are beautiful. We visited Ronda on a day trip.

If you have a car and want to explore the hill towns, either is okay. Ronda has a lot of things to see and do. If you want to relax in a quieter place that has some sights and not be on-the-go, I'd choose Malaga or Cadiz or maybe Jerez. But my favorites are Cordoba and Toledo.

Ronda has all the facilities of a town so lots of choice of places for eating, shops, etc and is also an interesting place to visit.
Grazalema is a large village in a mountain area up a windy road, with very few facilities, but surrounded by woods and nature and places for hiking in the hills.
It depends if you just want to stay in one place or use the town as a base for visiting other pueblos blancos, or what you want to do.
Both are at 800m (Grazalema 812m Ronda 739m) above sea level so the weather in early November could be chilly, that depends on luck. Grazalema gets a lot more rain.
Here are some opinions on some pueblos blancos
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/12/considerations-pueblos-blancos.html
A description of the day we spent in Ronda
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2018/10/day-35-ronda-and-setenil-de-las-bodegas.html
Another option for relaxing, where the climate would be a lot milder, is Cadiz, which is easy to reach from Seville

Hola from Wisconsin,
Because Spain is like the rest of the developed world except Wisconsin, drinking and driving is severely looked upon. YOu might want to be able to have a drink or two of the great Spanish wines available at wonderful prices while out for dinner (after 8PM) and before going to bed. If that is the case, Ronda is the place to be.

In the southern portion of Ronda, South of the bridge, there are some restaurants serving up some nice food. And the further south you walk the better they get as you are walking away from the tourist joints near and north of the bridge. The Santa Maria is a fun place to eat. Try to get a reservation if eating for the evening. And further south is Casa Maria for dinner (reservation really recommended). Almocabar is a nice low key place to have a small beer and tapas without a crowd or confusion. At noon you can point at one of eight trays of tapas on the bar and have it handed directly to you. They are really good. It also serves up some great food evenings.

wayne iNWI