Which White Towns Are Your Favorites?

You don't give yourself much time for the considerable drive to Granada if you have to return the car at 11am n Oct 1.

Sep 29 - via Arcos de la Frontera to Grazalema
Sep 30 - Zahara & Ronda
Oct 01 - early departure for Granada

David,
On the 29th, I was thinking of driving to Arcos, then Zahara, then Grazalema (2:40 drive). On the 30th, we would hike and visit Ronda for a bit. On the 1st, we would visit Setenil briefly (just to see the way the town is set into the rocks) on the way to Granada (2:35 drive). Doable?

I think you are pushing it on the 29th and 1st. You can all but try though.

I checked the driving times on viamichelin.com. Grazalema > Setenil > Granada = 3 hours 20 minutes, without pit stops. Most of the driving is on a multi-lane divided highway. Allow time to get gas before returning the car!

You'll want about 1/2 day for Arcos. It's about 1.5 hours to drive from Sevilla, without traffic. At Arcos, park below the old town and either walk up or take the minibus. That should give you enough time to see some of Grazalema that day. Driving times in the hills is hard to estimate. First, there are pull-outs to admire the views and take photos. Second, the roads are mostly 2 lanes and winding, so you could get stuck behind a slow-moving vehicle for a considerable distance.

Thanks David and Chani for your comments. If we have to pick between Arcos and Zahara, which would you visit? Is there really enough to see in Arcos to spend 1/2 day?

I have been using Google Maps for driving times, but I think on past trips, we have had more accurate times with Via Michelin, so I appreciate your mentioning that Chani. We are dropping the car at the airport, which saves us about 20 minutes, but I think I will see if we can get a later return time.

Is Setenil worth a brief stop? It looks really unusual.

A 1/2 day in Arcos is generous. I always drove to the top of the town to the church and overlook, so an hour or so was plenty. However, if parking at the bottom of the hill and walking or taking the minibus, you'll need longer. FYI, the drive up the hill is a very narrow road with a couple 90 degree turns on the way down. If you have anything larger than a VW Passat sized vehicle, park at the bottom. I used to live somewhat near there and visited frequently, so if this is your first time there, allow a few hours to see the town at a leisurely pace.

After reading and looking at travel times more thoroughly, I am thinking we will skip Arcos. The first day we will drive to Grazalema via Zahara. The second day we will do a loop from Grazalema to Setenil to Ronda and back to Grazalema. On October 1, we will drive from Grazalema to the Granada airport to drop off the car. Does this make more sense?