A driving tour through the pueblos blancos (white villages) of Andalucía

Arcos de la Frontera stands on top of a towering sandstone cliff around which the Guadalete river flows. As the name suggests, for years it sat on the frontier between warring Muslims and Christians. The former chose this strategic clifftop location to provide protection from attackers.

Today, this peaceful village belies a more dangerous past. Narrow lanes wind up and over the clifftop. With very few shops and cafes in the village, it maintains an ageless feel. Cabildo Square, at the top of the village, contains a 15th-century church built over the remains of a Moorish fortress; the town hall and – Arcos de la Frontera’s star attraction – sweeping views over the Andalucían landscape.

It doesn’t take long to stroll around the village and you can pick up a useful map and guide at the tourist office on the way up to the square.

The real reason Arcos de la Frontera makes our list is the view from the bottom. Standing by the meandering Guadalete river and craning your neck skywards, you can see the white facades of Arcos’s houses and churches barely peeking over the vertical cliff wall.

WHITE VILLAGE OF GRAZALEMA

Grazalema is one of our favourite pueblos blancos, not because there’s much to see (there isn’t), or because it has excellent Spanish food (it definitely doesn’t). Grazalema makes the list for its enviable location.

Sat on a rocky ledge, deep in the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, towering craggy mountains rise all around it, giving it a dwarfed feel that’s ideal for some classic pueblos blancos photography. There is no better way to savour the scene than by grabbing a seat in its main square, ordering a terrible coffee and staring in awe at the rocky monoliths that peer over white houses and their red-tiled roofs.

The other winning aspect of Grazalema is its central position in the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park. The park has excellent hiking trails through magnificent scenery. It’s famous for the Spanish Fir tree which is fiercely protected in the park, as a result, some areas required a permit to enter. If you have more time and you’re interested in hiking to the highest peak in the area, read about the climb up to El Torreón.

WHITE VILLAGE OF ZAHARA DE LA SIERRA

Zahara is our favourite white village in Andalucía. Perched on the side of a hill in the northern part of Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, it’s postcard-ready with magnificent views, a cute atmosphere, a little history, some interesting churches and good eating and sleeping options.

The town is overlooked by a 13th-century Moorish castle that sits on a rocky promontory. After all the driving on your pueblos blancos tour, the stroll up to the castle will get the heart pumping. Here for 150 years, during the 14th and 15th centuries, Muslims stood on this castle and stared across at the Christian white town of Olvera which you can still see in the distance today. The village also contains two churches (one of which is gaudy pink and red) and a maze of windy lanes and squares that dribble down the hill.

Unlike many other white villages, some decent food and accommodation options have found their place in Zahara. Some competition has even entered the equation with a number of tapas bars vying for attention from locals and tourists.

WHITE VILLAGE OF SETENIL DE LAS BODEGAS

People live in some strange places and the inhabitants of Setenil de las Bodegas are literally living under a rock. The village lies along the gorge of Trejo river and the walls of this gorge contain many natural caves. Locals over the years built white facades over the cave entrances and created homes. Cheap to build and cool in summer, they were ideal for storing food pre-refrigeration. They have been dwellings ever since, accumulating in one of the most interesting pueblos blancos in the area.

The name of the town comes from the Latin words ‘septem nihil’ referring to the seven times the Catholic monarchs tried to recapture the town from the Moors. Bodegas reflect the vineyards that Christians introduced after they finally succeeded. In the 1860s an insect infestation destroyed the vines and they never recovered. Its heritage remains in name only.

It’s a great place to stroll the streets and explore the houses that are built into the rock, but like many of the pueblos blancos, it goes to bed early. It’s a very quiet place in the evening, with barely a restaurant open.

WHITE VILLAGE OF RONDA

In the interests of full disclosure, Ronda is not really a village, it’s more of a town. But it is white and it is beautiful.

Sitting on a vertical sided plateau the town is cut in half by the El Tajo river, which has carved a 100m deep canyon through the rock. A bridge spans the canyon joining the two halves of the town. It’s a stunning setting and a fascinating place.

The old town dates from Islamic times and signs of its Moorish past can still be seen today. The mosque is now a church, the Moorish palace a mansion, and Arab baths lie ruined in the shadows of the gorge. The town also has one of the finest bull rings in the country.

You can easily spend a day exploring all the buildings, hiking up and down the gorge and staring at the sweeping views. Those in the know grab lunch at Casa Maria just outside the southern walls of the town where Maria serves whatever is fresh that day.

BLUE VILLAGE OF JÚZCAR

Before 2011 Júzcar was just another one of the many pueblos blancos perched over the Rio Genal. Life was slow and the odd visitor came to hike its verdant paths. But in spring of that year, the entire town was painted blue to celebrate the worldwide premiere of the Smurf movie, held in little old Júzcar.

The plan was to paint it white again after the premiere ended. But the blue village had created a mini-sensation and it is estimated 95,000 people had visited over the course of 6 months. The locals smurfed out an opportunity and decided to leave the town blue.

The joy of Júzcar is that, while a bit gimmicky, it’s actually a fun place set in a beautiful location. Large statues of Smurfs and colourful red mushrooms dot the town, murals and cartoons cover the walls, and cute road signs show you the way. Within an hour you will have explored every nook and cranny but what a fun hour it is.