Andalusia’s Pueblos Blancos route is a must-do trip for anyone who hires a car when on holiday and wants the freedom to escape the city and the beach to explore a slower pace of charming life, culture and history on a trip to Malaga.
Dating back to the times when Andalusia was ruled by the Moors, these quaint Malaga White Villages hilltop towns, often boasting their own fortification or castle, dazzle with brightness as you approach them. Whitewashed houses, reminiscent of those that the Berber who moved to Andalucia from the north of Africa lived in, these white villages near Malaga are located near the mountain ranges of the Alpujarras, Sierra de Grazalema and the Sierra Nevada and you can easily see several in a day if you choose to!
First stop
The first stop on your driving route tour of the white villages is Arcos de la Frontera where the houses form a half circle on top of a cliff looking down over the the Guadalete River. With two beautiful churches, Basilica of Santa María de la Ascension and the Church of San Pedro and a famous Easter festival, we recommend a visit all year round but time it for Easter if you really can.
Hangin on
Ronda hangs on the edge of a cliff, literally. Overlooking the El Tajo Gorge, the Puente Nuevo crosses a ravine that is a whopping 98 metres in height. Ronda is well known in Spain as the place to go for bullfighting and its bullring is the second oldest in Spain. If you need to know where to sleep in Ronda then look no further than the Catalonia Ronda hotel where the pool has stunning views of the bullring and this wonderful whitewashed town.
For prime location Ronda hotels, the Catalonia Ronda and Catalonia Reina Victoria are top choices for business and holidaymakers alike. Once the workplace and residence of Czech poet Rainer Maria Rilke, the Catalonia Reina Victoria hotel has its own small museum dedicated to the poet and fabulous terrace views out to the surrounding mountains.
White villages from the coast
If you are staying in Estepona on the Malaga coastline and want to see the best of the route of the white villages Spain, you can easily get to several other villages on the route. Villanueva de la Concepción is close to the El Torcal national park and is lined with olive trees. Casares stands at the top of a 1,427 foot-high cliff and is one of the lesser visited of the villages thus offering a true insight into the slower pace of life in this region.
Mijas is a small region that has both a white village and beaches to visit and you can even take a donkey taxi from here to explore further afield. Antequera has a 14th century Alcazaba, a smaller version of the Alhambra in Granada and is never overrun by tourists making it the ideal place to relax in the sunshine with good local food and a refreshing drink.
Last but not least
If you decide to hire a car to fully explore these villages don’t forget to consult a White Hill towns Spain map to maximize your journey and see the best that this beautiful region has to offer.
