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Tourist Information

Ronda

Despite being Andalucia’s fastest-growing town (overtaking Cordoba in the top three Andalucian tourist attractions) behind Seville and Granada, Ronda retains much of its historic charm, particularly in its old town. It is famous worldwide for its dramatic escarpments and views, and for the deep El Tajo Gorge that carries the Río Guadalevín through its centre. Visitors make a beeline for the 18th century Puente Nuevo (new bridge) which straddles the 100m chasm below, for its unparalleled views out over the Serranía de Ronda Mountains.

Across the bridge, where an elegant cloistered 16th century convent is now an art museum, old Ronda, La Ciudad, winds off into cobbled streets hemmed by handsome town mansions, some still occupied by Ronda's titled families. The Casa de Don Bosco is one such, its interior patio long ago roofed in glass against Ronda's harsh winters. Its small, almost folly-like gardens lose out, however, to the true star, a few minutes walk to the furthest end of the Ciudad, the Palacio Mondragón. This still has working vestiges of the exquisite miniature water gardens dating from its time as a Moorish palace during Ronda's brief reign as a minor Caliphate under Córdoba in the 12th century.

The cobbled alley to the Mondragón leads naturally on to Ronda's loveliest public space, the leafy Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, which boasts a convent, two churches, including the Iglesia de Santa María de Mayor, and the handsome, arched Ayuntamiento (council) building.