Ronda

Afternoon arrival, dusk on the Puente Nuevo, bullring before the coaches

Stay one night in Ronda. Arrive by early afternoon to cross the Puente Nuevo and see the Casa del Rey Moro, take the track below the bridge for the classic view in the late afternoon, and visit the 1785 bullring and the Alameda park next morning, before the day-trip coaches return.

Arrive by early afternoon and leave your bags near the Plaza de España. Walk straight onto the Puente Nuevo while the day-trip coaches are still in town; you will come back later for the quiet version. Cross into La Ciudad and head for the Casa del Rey Moro, where the water mine, a stairway cut through the rock, drops right to the river. Come back up through the lanes past the Palacio de Mondragón and the church of Santa María la Mayor.

In the late afternoon, follow the track from Plaza de María Auxiliadora down towards the old mills for the view everyone photographs, the bridge filling the gorge from bottom to top. Climb back as the light softens, then cross the Puente Viejo and look into the Arab baths by the river if they are still open. Eat in the tapas bars of Calle Virgen de los Remedios rather than on the bridge terraces.

Next morning, before the coaches return, visit the Plaza de Toros of 1785 and its museum, then stroll the Alameda park, whose railings hang over the cliff with the Sierra de Grazalema filling the western skyline.

Rabo de toro and the tapas bars of Calle Virgen de los Remedios

Eat on Calle Virgen de los Remedios in the Mercadillo, where small tapas bars let you graze through a dozen plates at the counter, and order rabo de toro, oxtail braised in red wine. The restaurants lining the bridge and the Plaza de España are priced for day visitors.

Calle Virgen de los Remedios in the Mercadillo has a run of small tapas bars such as El Lechuguita and Bodeguita El Coto, where you can graze through a dozen plates standing at the counter.

The meat to look for is rabo de toro, oxtail braised slowly in red wine, a dish that sits naturally in a town so tied to the bullring. Mountain cooking from the Serranía also brings game, stews of chickpeas and greens, and good cured pork. Breakfast is simple: toasted bread with olive oil and tomato and a café con leche in any bar, plus a pastry from one of the pastelerías.

Wine has come back strongly in the hills around town, where small bodegas make reds and whites. The Interpretation Centre of Ronda Wine, in an old winery on Calle González Campos, explains the area and pours tastings. Ask too for Anís del Tajo, the local aniseed spirit, served as a digestif.

Acinipo, Setenil and the Pedro Romero feria

Spend a second day around Ronda at the Roman ruins of Acinipo, the cliff-hung streets of Setenil de las Bodegas, or the white villages and trails of the Sierra de Grazalema. Spring and October are the best seasons, and the Feria de Pedro Romero in early September fills every room.

A car makes this country easy to explore. To the northwest, the Roman site of Acinipo, known locally as Ronda la Vieja, keeps a theatre stage on a windy ridge with views over the plateau. Setenil de las Bodegas, a short drive further north, has streets running under great overhangs of rock, with houses built into the cliff. West lies the Sierra de Grazalema with its white village of the same name, and to the east the Sierra de las Nieves national park, which takes in Ronda's own municipality, offers pine and fir forest for hiking.

Timing matters. Spring brings green fields on the plateau and comfortable walking, and October is as good. July and August are hot in the middle of the day, and the town is at its fullest. Winter is chilly at this height, with rain and occasional frost, but the streets are almost empty.

The big date is the Feria de Pedro Romero at the start of September, when the corrida goyesca is fought in Goya-era costume in the old ring. Book well ahead if you want a room then.