Ronda and White Villages Route (156 km)

Arcos de la Frontera to Ronda · one way, about 156 km back to the start

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Why this ride

A one-way ride of 156 km, Arcos de la Frontera to Ronda - roughly 2 h 09 in the saddle. On the way it passes Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra and Setenil de las Bodegas. The highest point is about 850 m. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Roadbook

1. Arcos de la Frontera start

   Arcos sits on top of a limestone ridge with a sheer drop on one side and the river Guadalete curling around the bottom of it, which is exactly how you want your first white village to look. It is the gateway to the Pueblos Blancos of Cádiz province, and you can see the whole town from a long way off as a tumble of whitewashed houses heaped along the crest, with the church tower and the old castle holding the high end. Jerez and its sherry cellars are about half an hour to the south-west, which tells you what the surrounding country smells like in late summer: dry earth, sunflowers gone to seed, and a little wine on the wind.

   The town was a frontier settlement for centuries, and the name says as much, since "de la Frontera" marks the line between the Moorish south and Christian Castile before the reconquest in the thirteenth century. That history is still in the layout. The streets in the old quarter are narrow, steep and sometimes barely wider than a car, and the cobbles are worn smooth, so ride the upper town slowly or park low and walk. The Basílica de Santa María de la Asunción and the castle face each other across the main square, and the balcony beside it hangs over the cliff with a view down to the reservoir and across a wide plain of farmland. It is worth the short stroll even in full riding kit, though you will be sweating by the time you get back.

   For the motorcycle, Arcos is a starting gun more than a destination. A town of this size has plenty of fuel on the lower ring road, as well as bakeries and bars open early, so top up here before heading east. The ride toward Ronda gets interesting quickly once you pass Bornos and begin climbing into the Sierra de Grazalema, where the road tightens into long, rolling bends between cork oak and rock. Surfaces are generally decent, though some patches of the smaller roads get bumpy after rain. Summer afternoons here are properly hot, often well into the high thirties, so an early start is not a suggestion but a survival technique.

   If you are hungry before you leave, ask in a bar for something local, perhaps a plate of cured pork, tortillitas or a glass of the dry fino from down the road. Then settle your helmet, point east, and let the white villages come to you one by one.

2. Grazalema scenic

   In Spain, the wettest place is in the south. That surprises people who think of Andalusia as a land of endless sun, but the Sierra de Grazalema catches the Atlantic weather as it comes in from the Gulf of Cádiz and forces it upwards, and the result is the highest rainfall in the country, with well over two metres in an ordinary year. The village of Grazalema sits in the middle of this, at the foot of a limestone crag, a cluster of white houses with red-tiled roofs, balconies with geraniums, and a small square with a church. The surrounding natural park protects one of the last forests of Spanish fir, the pinsapo, an ancient tree that survived the ice ages in these damp mountains and nowhere else.

   You get to it by climbing, and that is why people ride here. From Ronda the road twists up through oak and rock, with views across deep valleys, and the surface is generally good, though it can be wet and slippery after rain. From the other side the road crosses high passes with long open bends and griffon vultures circling on the thermals, and drops down towards the dam at Zahara, where the water is a startling turquoise. Mist often fills the hollows in winter and spring, and in summer the heat is dry and the air smells of thyme and rosemary.

   Grazalema has a quiet craft tradition. It has for centuries made woollen blankets and ponchos on old looms, and shops in the village still sell them. The region is also known for its goat cheese, Payoyo, which is excellent, and for hearty mountain cooking, including stews and game. Cheese and a cold beer on the square make a satisfying stop.

   Ronda is the place to fill up, or Ubrique, a leather-working town to the south, and carry enough to cover the mountain loop. Spring, when the hills are green and the wild flowers are out, and October are the best times to ride. In winter, check for fog and ice, and in August expect crowds on weekends.

3. Zahara de la Sierra scenic

   Zahara sits on a cone of rock with a Moorish tower on top and a turquoise reservoir at its feet, and the combination is so photogenic that it looks like a poster for Andalusia. The village is a tumble of white houses with terracotta roofs, narrow lanes and flower pots, climbing the steep hill below the ruined castle. The reservoir below, fed by the Guadalete river, is a startling green-blue, especially in spring, and the sierra of Grazalema rises in grey limestone walls all around.

   The castle at the top, a Nasrid fortress with a surviving keep, has a bigger role in Spanish history than its size suggests. In 1481, the Nasrid emir of Granada seized Zahara in a surprise attack at night, a raid that outraged the Christian kingdoms and is often cited as the spark that began the final war for Granada, which lasted until 1492. The Castilians retook the fortress two years later, and the place has been quiet ever since. The climb to the keep is steep and takes about twenty minutes from the village, and the view over the reservoir and the plain makes it worth the effort.

   The village lies on the edge of the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, a protected area of limestone peaks, gorges and Spanish fir forest that catches more rain than anywhere else in Spain. Griffon vultures circle over the cliffs, ibex graze on the high rock, and in the damp gorges you will find ferns and old holm oaks. The landscape is green in winter and gold in summer. The park is also one of the most popular ride areas in southern Spain, with a network of mountain roads that wind between villages.

   The road from Zahara climbs toward the Puerto de las Palomas, then runs on to Grazalema, with views over the reservoir and a rolling series of bends through cork oaks and pines. The surface is generally good but narrow, and fog and rain can arrive suddenly. It is a rewarding road for a slow, steady pace. Be aware of cyclists and goats, and of the sharp drop at the roadside in places.

   Zahara has a few restaurants, bars and shops, but for fuel you should go to Algodonales, about five kilometres away. A glass of local wine and a plate of cheese made from Payoya goats, a local breed, is a pleasant lunch. Spring is best, when the hillsides are bright with wildflowers and the reservoir is at its fullest.

4. Setenil de las Bodegas scenic

   Most villages are built beside a river. Setenil is built inside it. The Guadalporcún river has cut a narrow gorge through the soft rock, and over the centuries the people of the village found it easier to roof their houses with the overhanging cliff than to build their own. The result is a lane where white-painted houses stand under a huge natural ceiling of grey rock, with terraces and bars tucked into the gaps and a line of sky visible only as a thin ribbon overhead. The most famous streets are called Cuevas del Sol and Cuevas de la Sombra, the Caves of the Sun and the Caves of the Shade, and in August the shaded side is the one to sit on.

   The name has a story attached. One explanation says Setenil derives from the Latin septem nihil, seven times nothing, because the village resisted seven attempts by Christian armies to take it from the Moors in the fifteenth century. It finally fell in 1484, after a siege with early gunpowder artillery, and that is the version most locals prefer. Whatever the truth, the name stuck, and the lanes and the old fortress at the top still show the marks of that period. The word bodegas in the name refers to the wine cellars that once filled the caves.

   This is the heart of the white villages, the Pueblos Blancos of Andalusia, and the roads between them are a delight. The route from Ronda, about twenty kilometres to the east, runs through rolling country of olive groves and fields, then drops into the gorge in a series of bends. The surface is generally good, and traffic is light outside weekends and holidays, though coaches full of tourists can fill the village streets by midday. In the village itself, bike parking is restricted to car parks at the edge, and the lanes through the old quarter are narrow and steep, so walk.

   Setenil has about three thousand inhabitants, and while it has a few shops and a basic selection of services, Alcalá del Valle, about five kilometres away, is bigger and a better option for fuel. The bars under the rocks serve tapas of local chorizo and morcilla, cured ham, and sweet pastries based on almonds. Eat in the shade, and watch the swallows nest in the cliff above you.

   Go early or late in the day, when the coaches have gone and the lanes are quiet.

5. Ronda finish

   Ronda is built on both sides of a gorge, and nobody quite believes it until they stand on the bridge. The Tajo, a cleft some hundred metres deep, cuts the town in two, and the Guadalevín river runs along its bottom. The Puente Nuevo, a tall stone bridge finished in the late eighteenth century after earlier collapses, joins the old Moorish quarter to the newer town on the other side, and the views from the viewpoints around it, down the cliff and out over the plain, are among the best in Andalusia.

   The town has a long past. The Romans and then the Moors settled the rocky platform, and Ronda was a stronghold of the Muslim rulers until it fell to the Catholic monarchs in 1485. The old Arab baths, among the best preserved in Spain, still lie below the old town. The bullring, one of the oldest in the country, is the home of the Ronda school of bullfighting, which shaped the modern tradition. Writers and artists have always liked it: Hemingway set scenes of For Whom the Bell Tolls here, and Orson Welles loved it so much that his ashes were buried in a ranch nearby.

   For a rider, Ronda is a crossroads of great roads. The route from San Pedro de Alcántara on the coast climbs through cork oak and pine in a long series of bends, and is one of the favourite roads of Andalusian motorcyclists. To the north-west the road toward Grazalema and the Puerto del Boyar winds through the Sierra de Grazalema, with limestone cliffs, griffon vultures and white villages on the hillsides. The surface is generally good but can be slippery after rain, and the mountain wind can blow hard.

   The town has thirty-six thousand people and every service: fuel, restaurants, hotels and tapas bars. The local food includes oxtail stew, rabo de toro, and robust mountain dishes such as partridge, game and chorizo, and the wines of the Serranía de Ronda are increasingly good. The old town is cobbled and steep, so park at the edge.

   Spring and autumn give the best conditions. July and August are hot, with crowds, so go early in the morning, while the light on the gorge is clearest and the day-trip buses have not yet arrived. The ride continues through the White Villages.

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