Ronda

Ronda perches its white town on a rock that the Guadalevin river sawed clean in two: the El Tajo gorge drops almost 100 metres between the Moorish old quarter and the newer town, and the Puente Nuevo - completed in 1793 after decades of labour - stitches the halves together with a stone bridge that seems to grow out of the cliff itself. Houses run their balconies to the very lip of the chasm, paths wind down to the gorge floor for the upward view that explains everything, and the 1785 bullring - among Spain's oldest and most architecturally admired - anchors the newer side with its elegant colonnaded ring. Writers from Rilke to Hemingway fell for the town's high romance, and the surrounding serrania of olive and cork country keeps the drama going in every direction.

What you actually see

• The Puente Nuevo - the 1793 bridge filling the gorge's throat.
• The El Tajo viewpoints - balconies and paths over the 100-metre drop.
• The old quarter - Moorish lanes, palaces and the Arab baths below.
• The 1785 bullring - one of Spain's oldest rings, now largely a museum piece.

When to go

Spring and autumn are ideal for walking the gorge paths; summer middays are fierce at this exposure. Day-trip coaches peak from late morning - an overnight buys you the bridge at dawn and dusk, when it is at its best.

Honest expectations

Ronda is firmly on the Andalusian coach circuit, and the main viewpoints jam by noon. The descent into the gorge for the classic upward photograph is steep and rough underfoot - allow real time to climb back. Prices along the bridge streets run tourist-high; a few lanes back the town relaxes.

Nearby

The white villages of Grazalema, Setenil de las Bodegas and the Malaga coast.