Years ago, I went to Malaga with friends, absolutely loved it and had wanted to go back ever since. Recently I was finally able to fit it into my diary to go to the South of Spain again with my boyfriend & mother. We decided to do a road trip from Andalucía to Altea (where my parents had an apartment). Seville & the Alhambra seemed to be the absolute highlights, so I made sure we definitely visited those. In this post I will describe what we did in each location.
We visited the following towns:
- Seville (3 nights)
- Setenil de las bodegas (lunch)
- Ronda (1 night)
- Marbella (lunch)
- Granada (2 nights)
- Murcia (lunch)
- Altea (3 nights)
If you have more time I would also recommend to visit Córdoba and go to the Mezquita Cathedral. My mother has been there and the photo’s were absolutely wonderful.
Seville
This was the first stop on our road trip. A beautiful city with beautiful tiling and mosaics everywhere, with authentic streets full with walls and balconies with potted plants. Seville was such a great stop that I decided to give it its own blogpost, you can find it here.
Setenil de las Bodegas
Setenil de las Bodegas is a village that is located on a hill and party located in the hill. We stopped here on the way to Ronda and had a lunch under the rocks. Pork seems to be a specialty here, we just ordered what everybody ordered and loved our food! Setenil de las Bodegas is one of the whitewashed towns which are located in the South of Spain. It makes for a super cute stop.
Ronda
Ronda is located in beautiful agricultural part of Spain, it is surrounded by vineyards and great views overall! The Puento Nuevo is an iconic bridge over the Tajo gorge, we loved the views from up above as well as from below. We walked from the bottom of the Tajo gorge to the Puento Nuevo, on your way you pass some great gardens. I particularly loved the bridge and the walk, Ronda was not the most beautiful white town I have ever seen (I think my expectations were too high). We stayed in Buena Vista Ronda Club, it is a B&B with only two rooms, so we could rent the entire B&B! It has breathtaking views from the rooms and has a little pool, terrace, bar & sauna. You get the place totally to yourself as the owner lives a few blocks away. You get a breakfast at a café nearby. The B&B is super new and is decorated stylishly, we would absolutely recommend it. However if you cannot hire the whole B&B and have to share it with other guests, it does not offer a lot of privacy. I accidentally deleted some of my Ronda pictures, so hopefully you don’t mind the low quality of some of the pictures.
As there are many vineyards close to Ronda, it is also possible to make visit to these wineries. Two popular wineries are “Bodega Garcia Hidalgo” and “Bodega Descalzos Viejos”. If you are more of an adventurer the “Caminito del Rey” is also closeby. You can do a walk on small platforms over a gorge at 100 meters above the ground. It looks absolutely breathtaking, but unfortunately it was not possible to do the hike when we visited, because it is closed on Mondays.
Marbella
We did a little detour on our way to Granada to have lunch on the beach of Marbella. I think Marbella has a tacky reputation, so I was pleasantly surprised while visiting. The beach has many cool bars (affordable & expensive) and the old town is super lovely, with lots of potted plants, bougainvillea and original clothes shops. I can now see why it is so popular, I definitely want to go back to enjoy it a little longer!
Granada
The reason we visited Granada is because the Alhambra is located here. The Alhambra was an absolute bucket list destination for me, so I was super excited to finally visit it! During our two nights in Granada we visited the Alhambra twice. The first night we did a night visit of the gardens, you can arrange this online and it costs € 5. The gardens were dimly lit and it was super romantic to catch a first view of the gardens and the city lights. The second day we did a full tour of the Alhambra palaces and the gardens. We booked our tickets online, they come with a time slot so you do not have to wait. An entrance ticket costs € 15. The Alhambra is located “above” the city, so make sure you factor in time to walk to the main entrance (or take a taxi like we did). The Alhambra is a perfect day out, just bring some food along as you do not have many options once you’re inside. I loved the gardens as well as the palaces, they bring two of my favorite things together: flowers and colorful tiles! Pictures say more than words, so check out my pictures below.
Besides the Alhambra, Granada itself is also a nice place to visit! Because of the Moorish past of the city, there hangs a Moroccan vibe in the city (you could take some pictures and pretend you are in Marrakesh). The historical center (Albaicin) is situated on a hill, so expect a lot of stairs when your hotel is in the historical center. We stayed in an Airbnb which did not have any breakfast options, so we had breakfast in the town at Café 4 Gatos. This is an affordable breakfast bar, with a few tables on the terrace with Alhambra view! They serve healthy options such as granola, and traditional breakfast dishes such as tostadas.
Murcia
On our way to Altea we visited Murcia. Murcia is not a touristic town and it made for a fun wander around. There is one eyecatcher in Murcia, which is the gigantic art “fish” in the Segura river. Besides this, the banks of the Segura are a nice visit, it has a good atmosphere and architecture. The historical town is less charming than famous Spanish cities, but it is a good visit if you like a town that is not touristic but authentic instead.
Altea
Altea is a little white town at the Costa Blanca. It has all the benefits of it being touristy (interesting sights, good choice of restaurants, art shops), while still maintaining an intimate feel and it is relatively undiscovered. Because I went to Altea several times, I have decided to give it a separate blogpost. You can find it here.
