Marbella

Day trips from Marbella to Ronda, Gibraltar and the white villages

Ronda, about an hour inland over the A-397 mountain road, is the day trip most people take from Marbella and the best reason to hire a car. Gibraltar is about an hour and a half west along the coast, and the hill villages of Ojén and Istán lie within half an hour.

Ronda is the trip most people make. The A-397 climbs north from San Pedro de Alcántara through the Serranía de Ronda in a long series of bends, roughly an hour each way, and ends at a town split in two by the gorge of El Tajo. Walk across the Puente Nuevo, look down from the cliff-top gardens and see the old bullring before the afternoon coach tours arrive.

Closer to home, two hill villages lie within half an hour of the centre. Ojén sits up the valley behind the town, a white village with a long tradition of distilling aguardiente, and Istán clings to the hills above the Río Verde. Both are quiet on weekdays and good for a slow lunch.

Gibraltar is about an hour and a half west along the coast. Most visitors park in La Línea on the Spanish side and walk across the border, then ride the cable car up the Rock for the Barbary macaques and the view over the Strait. For something gentler, Mijas Pueblo, in the hills above Fuengirola, has whitewashed lanes, donkey carts and views down to the sea.

Plaza de los Naranjos, Sierra Blanca and Puerto Banús over three days

Three days in Marbella work well: the old town, the Alameda and the beach on foot on the first, a morning hike in the Sierra Blanca and an evening at Puerto Banús on the second, and the mountain road to Ronda or a parasailing flight from the town marina on the third.

Keep day one on foot. Have breakfast at a café on Plaza de los Naranjos while the square is still quiet, then wander the lanes to La Encarnación and the tiny Ermita de Santiago. Leave the old town by the Alameda park, buy an ice cream and follow Avenida del Mar past the Dalí bronzes to the sand. Spend the afternoon on the beach and eat a street or two back from the main square in the evening.

Start day two early, before the heat builds, with a climb into the Sierra Blanca behind town; on a clear morning the mountains of Morocco show across the water. Come down for grilled sardines at a beach bar and a long siesta. After dark, take a taxi along the Golden Mile to Puerto Banús, stroll the marina past the yachts and do not expect the clubs to warm up before one in the morning.

Use day three to leave the coast behind. Pick up a hire car for the mountain road to Ronda, or, between Easter and October, book a parasailing flight from the town marina and give the rest of the day to the pool.

Espetos on the beach, ajoblanco and early dinners in Marbella

Order espetos, sardines grilled on a cane over an olive-wood fire at the beach bars, with a plate of pescaíto frito, and in summer try ajoblanco, Málaga province's cold almond soup. Eat dinner early if you like: many places in Marbella start serving from about 18:00.

Sardines on a cane are the Costa del Sol's own fast food. Beach bars, the chiringuitos, thread espetos onto sticks, plant them in an old boat filled with sand and grill them over an olive-wood fire; order a plate at lunch with a cold beer and eat with your fingers. The same bars fry pescaíto frito, small fish, squid and anchovies in a light flour coating, best squeezed with lemon straight away.

In summer, cold soups make more sense than anything hot. Gazpacho is on every menu, but look for ajoblanco, a white soup of almonds, garlic and bread that belongs to Málaga province and usually comes with grapes or melon on top.

The lanes around Plaza de los Naranjos are packed with restaurants, menus in ten languages and staff calling to passers-by from the door. Eat there for the setting under the orange trees, not for the cooking. Paella appears nearly everywhere, though it is a Valencian dish, so treat it as a lunch order, not a local speciality. One habit sets Marbella apart from the rest of Spain: many places start serving dinner from about 18:00, and some offer deals to early diners.