dodi66

I'm trying to format a preliminary itinerary for our upcoming trip to Spain. We prefer basing ourselves for a few days and doing day trips and I'm rather boggled by the white villages portion of our trip. Can someone help, please? We will have a car, picked up in Toledo and plan to travel to Granada for a few days, then what? Thinking maybe Malaga (I know that is not considered a "white village", it just looked intriguing), then possibly Ronda, Arcos, Grazalema, any others? Our time is flexible at this point, and our current plan is to visit a few of the villages, and then proceed on to Sevilla, with maybe a stop in Cadiz on the way. Is there one of the villages that could/should be used as a base? I know the distances aren't far between some of them. We have toured both Tuscany and Provence by using a small village as a base and doing day trips to other villages, and I was hoping that would be the case here. If you have any other suggestions of villages to see, instead of or in addition to, I would be open to that, too. Thanks for all input!!

Robert2533

Málaga would be nice following Granada, just make sure your hotel can arrange parking.

I would then base myself in Ronda to visit the villages nearby, and then spend some time in Jerez, using it as a base to visit Cadiz, El Porto and Sanlúcar (by train). You will need to drive if you want to see Vejer de la Frontera. You can visit Arcos on the way to Jerez.

You can drop the car off in Jerez after visiting Vejer and take the train up to Sevilla. It's one city you do not want to drive in if you don't have to.

You might want to download http://maribelsguides.com/Sherry_Triangle.pdf

tower

Ronda...if only for the old bull ring and museum.

chapla

i don't understand the interest in the white villages,just worth a drive by/through-seen one seen all. Malaga just got voted the best place to live in Spain!

aliced

We drove in the reverse from Seville: one night in Jerez (missed seeing the horses but enjoyed Tio Pepe tour, but otherwise did not find Jerez very interesting); up and around Arcos for lunch, onward to Ronda for two nights (which we loved exploring off the main drag), on to Granada for two). We did not stop in Malaga but continued on to Marbella which was the perfect spot to end our 3-wk trip. It wasn't too bad navigating out of Seville but you surely do not want a car in the city (Granada was hard enough).

IMDonehere

I am with Chapla and Tower, I do not understand this fascination with white villages. There is an immediate sameness to them, although I do like Ronda for the bridge, vista, and bullring.

dodi66

Thanks for all the information and input. We were thinking that the white villages were of interest in the same way that many of the villages in Provence and in Tuscany/Umbria are. And we found that the ones we visited in those areas were very different, and all charming. Of course, some more than others. Is that not the case with the white villages? If they are, in fact, much the same, then perhaps we need to be rethinking our rough itinerary at this point. We do prefer small villages and were hoping for a place to base ourselves in one of them and explore others. Maybe that isn't a good idea or the best use of our time?

Robert2533

No, each of the white villages tend to be unique, despite what some think. Included in the list of interesting white villages are: Alhama de Granada, Medina Sidonia, Montefrio, Casares, Arcos de la Frontera and the classic Vejer de la Frontera.

But you can make you own decision of what to do with your time.

WomBatt

There are hundreds of villages and towns which 'count' as white villages all over four provinces of Andalucia. Some are attractive within, some from afar, some have fine views, some have the interest of cave houses, small museums, churches or any permutation of the aforementioned and other sites which might interest you and some are .....white. There is even the white village which is now blue.
I suggest you google and see what interests.

dodi66

Thanks, Robert.......that was exactly what I was looking for...a narrowed down list of some of the villages that someone found interesting!!!! WomBatt, I have goggled, and was looking for some personal input and thoughts. It is always helpful to sift through advice and personal experiences. Thank you to all.

MmePerdu

I rented an apartment for a week several years ago on the edge of the village of Iznajar, not far from the larger town of Antequera. Either would be convenient coming from Granada and going to Seville. Antequera has a train station where we parked our rental car and did an overnight to Seville which worked well.

We flew in & out of Malaga and visited Ronda on our way back to the airport. I enjoyed the ambiance and the fact that there were few tourists in both Iznajar and Antequera and would happily spend time there again.

el13207

I think your plan sounds like a good one. We did a variation of what your planning but going in the reverse direction.
We loved driving through, and staying in, the white hill towns a few years ago.This is a beautiful place to drive, and is indeed somewhat like our experience driving through small villages in southern France, although the towns themselves have a very different feel.
We picked up a car in Sevilla and drove to Arcos de la Frontera where we spent a night (btw this is a very tricky tone to navigate with a car IMO), continued on to Ronda for another night (staying at the posada there which is beautifully situated), and generally enjoying our meander through places like Grazalema. We ended up dropping our car in Granada after a few days (really didn't care for what we saw along the Spanish coast- very very built up. We stopped for lunch in Nerja, but can honestly say that we never need to see that part of Spain again - and that is coming from someone who's planning a return trip to Sevilla for May '15). You will no doubt have a wonderful time!

yorkshire

Ronda is actually a city, with a while village attached so to speak. If you want lots of options, then choose Ronda. If you want a true tiny village, then I would continue the research. If interested in hiking, then Grazalema would be at the top of my list.
Malaga is also a city, but the historic core is wonderful.
Arcos and Vejer felt very small, but with day trippers. If I am in a village I like it to stay small and quiet the whole day, haha.

Gardyloo

Not much to add, except to link to a TR I filed a couple years ago. We picked Tarifa as we wanted to be near the beach; it afforded us the opportunity to day trip to a couple of white villages, and, had we chosen, also to day trip to Morocco (which we didn't do - too much to see locally.) Tarifa itself isn't much to look at, but the countryside around it is fab. We'd go back to the Hurricane in a split second.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ruary-2012.cfm

dodi66

Thank you to all...the input and opinions were very helpful. We are thinking now of skipping Malaga, or perhaps just a brief stop, then base ourselves in either Arco or Ronda for a week. Yes, el13207, we were thinking it might be rather like (only different!) our trip through southern France, where we based ourselves in a tiny village (Isla sur la Sorgue)and traveled around each day. We like the idea of renting an apartment and not moving from place to place,which we've done in several other countries, in addition to France. The list of white villages to visit has grown from this post, so we will have lots to see! And, hopefully, time to just absorb the ambiance!!!