Please sign in to post.

Visiting White Villages with rental car

We are renting car from Granada train station at 8 am ( mid November, sunset time 18:15) and returning it to Seville train station at the end of the 3rd day.

On day 1 we are planning first to drive to Olvera and hike to Castillo de Olvera. After drive to Setenil de las Bodegas and spend some time walking along the streets. Then we are driving to Ronda, where we are staying overnight. In the evening we are going to walk around Ronda and may be visit the Bullring Museum (it will be open till 18:00)

On day 2 start around 8-8:30 in the morning and hike Circular El Tajo gorge walk (looks like will take us around 3 hr). Leave around 12:30 and drive via Grazalema to Jerez de la Frontera where we are staying for the night. In the evening walk around the Jerez de la Frontera.

On the 3rd day drive to Cadiz to explore the city ( reserved a free walking tour at 11 am), leave around 4 pm, and drive to Seville to return the rental car.

During our long driving days we are probably going to have sandwiches with for a picnic lunch.

1.Should we skip Olvera, save more time for Ronda and do Circular El Tajo gorge walk in the afternoon of the day 1?

2.Are views from Olvera Castle somewhat similar to views from Grazalema? Which one would you prefer?

3.If we leave earlier from Ronda on day 2, should we make a stop to visit Arcos de la Frontera? Is there a point on the road where we can just park our car briefly and enjoy the view of Arcos? Or should we just allocate more time for Jerez de la Frontera? We are not into sherry tasting and there is no horse show during our stay.

Thank you very much.

Posted by
7157 posts

From Ronda to Jerez via Grazalema you have to drive right past Arcos. It would be silly not to stop and go up to the overlook by Basílica de Santa María de la Asunción. Arcos is about a 30 minutes drive from Jerez.

Posted by
396 posts

On our Andalucia roadtrip last September, Olvera was our favorite of the white towns. The views from Arcos de la Frontera are gorgeous but getting into the city is a pain and, unless you are staying the night, probably not worth the time and effort. We found Ronda super crowded, touristy and unwelcoming. Would not return there, though the nearby small town of Arriate was lovely and offered exceptional food at Taberna Malacana. Not familiar with Circular El Tajo but nearby El Caminito del Rey was, for us, a highlight of Andalucia. Highly recommend.

Have a great trip!

Posted by
15784 posts

I wouldn't expect any place to be crowded in November. Arcos is worth 3-4 hours. The RS book has a good walking tour. Park in the lot at the foot of the old town. There's a free shuttle up to the top or you can walk, it's steep but not terribly hard.

If you have sunny days, driving the hills is beautiful, with lots of great views and frequent pull-outs where you can enjoy the scenery and take photos. The bullring in Ronda is worth seeing and the museum is interesting. Get there early enough to enjoy the views in the late afternoon light.

Posted by
3 posts

Thank you very much for all your replies. So many places to see! Do you think this itinerary realistic considering shorter daylight time?

Posted by
7157 posts

The wild cards are the amounts of time you take for your walks. I normally only plan to visit two places in a day. Your itinerary looks reasonable. To save time, look up parking lots ahead of time so you can go straight to them. Fortunately, the places you intend to visit are fairly close together so there’s not a lot of driving time between stops. There are some winding roads in the white towns area so you’ll probably be driving about 70kph / 42mph much of the time.

Posted by
3 posts

@ jaimeelsabio, thank you for your suggestion about planning our parking ahead and not to waste time on arrival.