24 hours in Ronda

In September 2019 my beautiful girlfriend and I took a road trip around the south of Spain, and one of our favourite locations was the town of Ronda which is around 100km west of Malaga. This town is at the very top of a mountain, and driving there was a whole fun adventure in itself as there are no main roads in to the town, and the roads to the top of the mountain town are very steep, winding, and narrow. On top of this we drove there in the dark! Ronda is most famous for the Puente Nuevo bridge and the Plaza de Toros bullfighting ring, but there are plenty of other interesting places to visit there too! We managed to see all of the following places within our one day stay in the town, everything is super convenient and within walking distance, so it's worth adding an overnight trip to Ronda if you're doing a Spanish road trip!  

Another interesting location to visit in Ronda is the old bullfighting ring "Plaza de Toros de Ronda" and while I don't support bullfighting at all, it was interesting to visit the museum which is attached to the ring. Ronda is where modern bullfighting in Spain was born, so there is a lot of interesting history to see here, you can visit the ring and walk around it, sit in the stands, and see the stables and bull holding areas. The museum which is included in the ticket price was very interesting as it had a lot of horse tackle equipment and costumes worn by the matadors. If you do want to see a bullfight they do occasionally host them in Ronda, so check the website for dates and times. Entrance to see the ring and the museum was 7 Euros per person and the bullring is only about a 2 minute walk from the bridge, so it is also very easy to get to!

My personal favourite place in Ronda was the "Alameda del Tajo" which is a park that was built in the 1800s which has a beautiful tree lined promenade that leads to balconies overlooking the steep cliffs. From here you can get amazing panoramic views of the valleys and if you can stay long enough to see the sunset it is absolutely amazing. I wish I had a drone at the time to capture some of the amazing landscapes you can see from the top of the cliffs! Again this is a short walk from the bridge and the bullring, only around a 2 minute walk from the bullring in the same direction you travelled away from the bridge.

As far as food options go in Ronda, you are spoilt for choice! We ate at a cute little cafe next to the park where we ordered coffee and tapas for a very reasonable price, I can't remember exactly but I think the total bill for 2 people came to around $15 and the food was delicious! There are also more filling options around, but be aware of the siesta times because many restaurants and bars will close for several hours or only be offering coffee and no food during these times. Most shops and businesses will close between 2pm and 5pm, and most bars and restaurants close between 4pm and 8 or 9pm. We made the mistake of not thinking about this more than once during our road trip and ended up buying snacks instead, not the most interesting food to be eating in the land of tapas!