Arcos de la Frontera

Arcos stands on a long spur of soft rock with the Guadalete river curving around its base, and on the northern side the ground simply stops: the Plaza del Cabildo at the top has a low wall and a drop of over a hundred metres to the valley, with the parador on one side and the church of Santa Maria de la Asuncion on another. The old town behind is a maze of lanes too narrow for two cars, with the Basilica de Santa Maria, the church of San Pedro on its own cliff, and Moorish and Renaissance houses along the way. It is the first of the pueblos blancos on the standard route east toward Grazalema and Ronda, and the largest of them.

What you actually see

• Plaza del Cabildo - a clifftop square with a hundred-metre drop below.
• Santa Maria de la Asuncion - a Gothic and Renaissance basilica on the square.
• The narrow lanes - a medieval street plan barely wide enough for a car.
• San Pedro - a second church standing on its own section of cliff.

When to go

Spring and autumn; the Guadalete valley below is green in spring and burnt by August. Holy Week processions through the narrow lanes are a notable event, and the summer heat here is severe.

Honest expectations

Driving into the old town is genuinely difficult, with lanes that mirrors barely clear, and most visitors park below and walk up. The climb is steep. Churches keep short and irregular hours.

Nearby

Grazalema and Zahara lie east; Jerez and its sherry bodegas are thirty kilometres west.