Ronda and the White Villages of Andalusia: Your Perfect Day Trip

The region of Andalusia is Southern Spain has some beautiful scenery. Green mountains are interspersed with white villages, including the famous Ronda. Here’s how to spend a day in Ronda and the white villages of Andalusia. 

Last updated: May 2025

The white villages of Andalusia are also known as ‘Los Pueblos Blancos’. It’s a beautiful part of Spain, where the stunning Sierra Nevada mountains are scattered with pretty little villages. As the name suggests, these villages have white-coloured buildings, giving them the name of ‘Los Pueblos Blancos’, or the white villages of Andalusia. There are lots of villages, and one of the most famous is called Ronda. My guide will show you how to visit Ronda and the white villages of Andalusia in one day. I visited the area as a day trip from nearby Seville. It was a great day trip.

With one day to explore the white villages of Andalusia, if you’re travelling from Seville, then you’ll be able to spend some time in Ronda. Ronda is the most famous of all of the white villages, and one of the biggest. But with a full day to explore, you’ll be able to visit more than just Ronda before needing to head back. With one full day, you can get a great taste of this beautiful part of the world. So here’s how to spend a day visiting Ronda and the white villages of Andalusia.

How to explore the white villages of Andalusia 

For a day in the white villages of Andalusia, or ‘Los Pueblos Blancos’, I definitely recommend hiring a car. Having your own car will give you the freedom to explore at your own pace. You’ll also be able to stop whenever you want for photos, and spend as long as you want in each place. 

If you’re staying in one of the major cities like Seville or Granada, there will be plenty of places you can hire a car in the city. You can book car hire in advance. Pick your car up fairly early in the morning, so you’ll have a full day to explore. Driving in the centre of Seville or Granada isn’t super easy, but as soon as you’ve left the city, the driving is easy. The roads around the white villages of Andalusia are mostly good, and there are places to park in most of the villages as well.

Public transport around the white villages is very sparse, if it even exists at all. If you’re relying on public transport to visit Los Pueblos Blancos, then you won’t be able to visit many in one day. You’ll be able to visit one or two, such as taking a day trip from Seville to Ronda. But you won’t have time to visit several villages, nor spend some time exploring the mountains. So a car is definitely the best option for a day trip to Ronda and the white villages of Andalusia. 

My suggested route to explore Andalusia’s white villages from Seville

If you’re looking to spend a day in the white mountains of Andalusia as a day trip from Seville, then it can feel quite daunting trying to decide which of the white villages to visit. There are a lot, and they’re all spread across the region. I spent a long time looking at maps to come up with a route that would take in the best of the villages and the scenery. Here’s a summary of my route, with more details below:

• After hiring a car in Seville, I’d recommend driving to Ronda. It’s 1 hour 30 mins drive from Seville, and one of my favourite villages so I’d recommend doing it first. Spend some time looking around the village, especially the bridge viewpoint.
• Next, check out Puerto de las Palomas. It’s 50 minutes drive from Ronda with great views along the way.
• Villaluenga del Rosario is another pretty white village. It’s about 30 minutes drive from Mirador Puerto de las Palomas.
• For your final stop, check out Espera. It’s about 1 hour drive from Villaluenga, heading back towards Seville. So you can visit this village on your way back to Seville.

To make the most of your day in the white villages of Andalusia, look at a map in advance and plan a vague route that takes in some of the villages you’d most like to see. This is just a suggested route to get you started. However, don’t give yourself too tight a timescale. It can take longer to drive between each village along the narrow, winding roads than you might expect. And one of the joys of a day trip like this is to go wherever you fancy, and change your plans whenever you like. So you can use this route as a vague guide, but give yourself time and space to explore wherever you feel like on the day.

If you take some of the smaller roads through Andalusia, you’ll soon come across some white villages. It’s impossible to spend a day driving around here and not see any of the villages. The moorish influence in this area gives it a feel of being in North Africa. I really enjoyed it. And my favourite of all the places I visited was Ronda.

Ronda and the famous bridge 

The on village you absolutely cannot miss if you’re spending a day exploring the white villages of Andalusia is Ronda. Ronda is one of the most famous and iconic places in the area. Ronda can get fairly busy, but it’s definitely worth stopping at. Try to arrive fairly early in the day, because parking in ronda can be a bit more challenging once you get towards midday. But if you can arrive fairly early, you should be able to find a parking space and have a chance to walk around before it gets too busy.

Ronda has an interesting history of bullfighting, one of the classic features of this area of Spain. But as well as a fascinating history, Ronda is also a beautiful place and has a super impressive bridge.

The village clings to the edge of the cliff along the El Tajo gorge. And one of the best sights in Ronda is the amazing bridge that crosses the 150m deep gorge. It’s an amazing feat of engineering. You can walk across the bridge. But the best views of the bridge are from either side, when you can see the whole bridge and you can see how deep the gorge is.

As well as the bridge, Ronda also has a good range of shops and restaurants. It’s definitely the biggest in the ‘Los Pueblos Blancos’ region, and the village/town is well set up for tourism. There are plenty of places where you can grab a coffee or some lunch before driving onwards. Many of the other white villages aren’t anywhere near as busy or set up for tourism. So if you want to buy souvenirs or food and drink, get this in Ronda before heading onwards.

The mountains and wildlife of Andalusia 

Andalusia is often more green and mountainous than many people imagine Southern Spain to be. So as well as the pretty villages, you can also enjoy some lovely scenery and wildlife in your day in the mountains.

I recommend visiting Andalusia in spring for the best views of the mountains. Visiting in spring means you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains at their greenest. Make sure you take time to stop and enjoy the views along the road. 

Keep an eye out for wildlife as well. In spring, you might see storks nesting. They build huge nests, high up in the air. So you might be able to spot the storks as they sit on their tall nests. And in the skies, vultures can glide overhead, surveying the land below. If you see any wildlife, this website can help you identify them here.

Enjoy spending a day in Ronda and the white villages of Andalusia! If you’d like to explore Andalusia more, why not check out a few days in Seville, a day trip to Cordoba and a day in Granada. Or you could travel further through Spain to visit Barcelona in 3 days and the nearby Montserrat monastery in the mountains. Or you can visit the capital city of Spain, Madrid. Check out my guide to spending 3 days in Madrid, and also taking a day trip from Madrid to Segovia and a day trip from Madrid to Toledo.