I am planning a week long trip to Andalucia. in November. I am looking at 2.5 days in Seville, a day trip to Cordoba, bus/train to Granada for 1.5-2 days and then train back to Madrid to leave the next day.

I would like to visit the Pueblos Blancos--Ronda. We could bus from Seville to Ronda and then to Granada. (staying overnight in Ronda). Or we could do a Paul McGrath tour from Seville. I do like staying in one place as a base--less packing and unpacking. With the McGrath tour we would see more than one town. Are the towns on his tour "as amazing" as Ronda? (like there could be towns that weren't )

We are not generally guided tour people. But we did a small wine tour in France and loved it--turned out to be just us and the guide in a van.

I arranged tours with Paul two years ago for a group of friends. Paul was a great guide, we saw quite a bit more than we would have otherwise. It was a terrible rainy, windy day and we could barely get out of the van, but Paul coped, told us lots of interesting stuff and when it was truly horrible led us to coffee shops etc. The second group went the next day, sunshine and all. Everybody agreed it was a good trip and well worth the money, and they were part of a group of world travelers who had flown in from all over the world for a weekend in Seville.

Now, the reason I'm here: is there left luggage anywhere in Oxford UK? For some reason Paul McGrath popped up on the left side of the page when I searched!

I don't think that Paul McGrath does these trips to the White Villages any more. At least he didn't when we went to Seville in October 2010. We stayed in Ronda for two nights. It is lovely. We took the train from Granada to Ronda and the bus from Ronda to Seville.

By the way, check into day tours and night tapas tours given by reallydiscover dot com. The tapas tour was great. You won't need dinner!

Pat

You can visit Ronda on your own nicely, but going to the White towns (basically Grazalema and Zahara) on your own is a different thing, especially if you rely on public transportation. The old part of Ronda looks a lot as the white towns. And crossing the bridge you have a XIX century busy neighbourhood.

Paul McGrath just started doing the tours again after taking almost a year off. His web site is the same as before: www.theotherspain.galeon.com. He's also on Facebook under Paul's White Villages Spain.

We stayed 4 nights in Seville and took a day trip to the villages with Paul last year. Loved it and him -- he's a font of historical and cultural information, has a good sense of humor, knows all the back nooks and crannies of these places and we're really glad we went with him.

We considered having him drop us in Zahara on the way back so we could take a bus to Ronda, but ended up going back to Seville with him, anyway, as it was less hassle.

We continued the following day via bus to Ronda, where we stayed 2 nights. Ronda is a lovely, lively town with plenty to do for a couple of days. It's hard to compare Ronda with, say, Grazalema or Zahara -- they're so tiny and a wee bit sleepy. I could see myself staying in G or Z in the summer to do some hiking, but that's really all there is, except for a few cafes and tourist gift shops.

Ronda is a large, real town, although very picturesque and filled with tons of historic sites and restaurants and regular shopping. So, it's really apples and oranges.

You will see much of the same dramatic scenery en route to Ronda on the bus, as it's the same road Paul takes south until he splits off to see Zahara. But you'll be able to see Zahara (in the distance) from the road.

If you had more time, I'd say definitely do both, or try to figure out a way to get to Zahara by bus, taxi to Grazalema and bus to Ronda (it's doable, but it will take 2 days, as the bus schedules are not convenient. I was going to do this.)

If I HAD to choose -- I'd pick Ronda over the smaller villages, simply because I loved the historic buildings -- arab bath, the bridges, the old town -- and enjoyed wandering along its beautiful streets.

Here's Paul's Facebook page -- lots of photos of the villages: http://tinyurl.com/47onhba