What to see and do on a weekend in Ronda [+ map]
There’s much more to Ronda than its famous bridge. From archaeological sites to palaces, museums and gardens, here are my must-sees in this historic Andalucían city.
The terrace of Casa Museo Don Bosco
Ronda is one of southern Spain’s most seductive destinations. Perched on the edge of a high plateau in the Serranía de Ronda mountain range, its clifftop views and bridge over the deep gorge known as El Tajo offer endless photo opportunities.
The city also has a fascinating past, which is reflected in its monuments and historic sites. Stroll through its historic quarter and you’ll soon see why it has long captivated artists, writers and dreamers.
Puente Nuevo (New Bridge)
Soaring almost 100m above El Tajo Gorge and the Guadalevín River, the Puente Nuevo links the newer, commercial area of Ronda with the historic old town. The steep canyon it spans was once a natural defensive barrier for the old Berber-Arab medina, helping successive Islamic rulers keep control of this mountain citadel until it was conquered by the Christian monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella in the late 15th century.
Inaugurated in 1793, this bridge might not seem particularly “new”, but it’s the most recent of three bridges that cross the Guadalevín here. The other two are just around a bend in the river and much closer to the floor of El Tajo.
Ronda’s Puente Nuevo (New Bridge). The newer part of the city is on the left of the ravine, and the old town on the right
Other than its dramatic height (it was briefly the tallest bridge in the world), the Puente Nuevo is also striking for the way it blends into the tawny rock of the surrounding cliff faces. This is thanks to the resourcefulness of its builders: it was made of stone quarried from the foot of the gorge itself.
The upper span of the bridge has three arches, the middle of which contains a tiny museum that was once a prison.
From the right-hand side of the bridge (when crossing from the new town to the old town), you can enjoy sweeping views of the valley below and the distant peaks of the Serranía de Ronda and Sierra de Grazalema, as well as the whitewashed houses of the old town clustered along the edge of the cliffs:
For the best views of the Puente Nuevo, I recommend three spots: the Mirador de Aldehuela viewing platform just alongside the bridge, the Jardines de Cuenca, and the path down to the bottom of El Tajo, both of which are covered in more detail below.
Ronda’s Puente Nuevo at twilight, as seen from the Mirador de Aldehuela
Casa Museo Don Bosco
Just a few minutes walk from the Puente Nuevo, this stately home with its pretty gardens overlooking El Tajo might be the closest thing the old town of Ronda has to a hidden gem. Built in 1850, the house was remodelled in the early 20th century and its interiors are an eclectic mix of architectural styles.
The house’s terrace (pictured at the top of this article) has a quirky fountain with statues of frogs in it and beautiful views. There’s a reasonably priced bar on the terrace serving drinks and snacks, and in Spring and Autumn, there are daily flamenco guitar performances in the house’s grand salon.
Plaza de Maria Auxiliadora
This leafy little plaza with a fountain at its centre is worth coming to for two reasons. Firstly, it tends to be a quieter spot to enjoy the sunset over the mountains than the popular miradores (viewpoints) on the other side of town. Secondly, it’s the starting point for the path that zig-zags down the hillside to the floor of El Tajo Gorge.
El Tajo Gorge
The Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo
Heading down the path from the plaza, you’ll first come across the ticket kiosk for the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo, which opened in April 2024. When it is completed, this gorge walk - no doubt inspired by the immensely popular Caminito del Rey - will take visitors right underneath the Puente Nuevo and beyond, ending up at the Arab Baths.
For now, only the first phase of this walkway is open, a path of around 200 metres that hugs the cliff face but stops short of the bridge itself. Admission is €5 (booking in advance is recommended during peak season) and it’s compulsory to wear safety helmets, which are provided at the ticket office. Like the Caminito del Rey, children under 8 are not allowed.
The area beyond the kiosk includes a popular viewpoint - the Mirador Puente Nuevo de Ronda - that is now only accessible if you have a ticket for the walk.
I ran out of time to do the Camino del Desfiladero when I last visited, but I’m looking forward to trying it out when the second phase opens.
Pictured: the ticket kiosk for the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo, and the final stretch of the current path, ending just below the Puente Nuevo
Alternatives to the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo
To explore El Tajo without the need to book tickets, turn left at the ticket kiosk and continue downhill away from the bridge. First you’ll first come to a viewpoint called the Mirador del Viento, so-called because it’s near the Puerta del Viento, one of the gates in the city’s medieval walls.
Turn right here and follow the path for a few more minutes alongside the ruins of the walls until you get to a second gate, the Puerta de los Molinos (also called the Puerta de Cristo and the Arab Arch).
The brick and stone archway here is quite intact and the area has some great views looking upwards towards the Puente Nuevo. You can clearly see the waterfall that passes through the bottom of the bridge, another big plus for this viewing point.
Turn your back to the bridge, and you’ll see another archway in the ruins of the wall that frames a view over the fields and distant mountains:
A note about names: a recurring theme of any visit to Ronda is discovering that the landmarks can and do have multiple names. I’ve marked all the places I’ve mentioned in this article in the map below in an attempt to avoid any confusion!
Mondragón Palace
This Renaissance-era palace in the old town is a must-see on any weekend trip to Ronda. Not only is it full of beautiful brickwork and traditional Andalucian tiles, it also has a series of picturesque courtyards and terraces with flowerpot-covered walls and viewpoints over the valley below. You can’t see the Puente Nuevo from here, but the views are gorgeous nonetheless.
The palace is home to the Municipal Museum of Ronda, a great place to learn about the area’s prehistoric past. I particularly enjoyed the displays about the ancient caves in the Serranía de Ronda. You enter a cave-like space where there are recreations of paleolithic cave art, such as the painting known as the “pregnant mare” from the Cueva del Pileta (Cave of the Pool) in nearby Benaoján.
Jardines de Cuenca (Cuenca Gardens)
Across the other side of El Tajo, these gardens are arranged over a series of landscaped terraces, and in late spring and early summer they are full of roses.
The Jardines de Cuenca, with the Puente Viejo (Old Bridge) in the background,. and the Sierra de las Nieves in the distance
As well as being a nice spot for a stroll, the gardens have one of the best views of the “back” of the Puente Nuevo from the lookout known as the Mirador de Cuenca:
Puente Viejo and Arco de Felipe V
From the gate at the end of the gardens furthest away from the Puente Nuevo, you step straight onto the so-called Puente Viejo (Old Bridge). Confusingly, it’s not the oldest of the three bridges across the Guadalevín River - that’s the crossing known as Puente Arabe or Puente San Miguel, which you can see from here as well. The bridge has nice views of the distant Sierra de las Nieves.
With the gardens behind you, look uphill to your right and you’ll see the stone archway called the Arco de Felipe V, a nice spot to take a photo.
A photo taken from the Puente Viejo
To the left of the archway, there’s another stone path that goes downhill towards the valley floor and the archaeological site of Baños Arabes.
Baños Arabes (Arab Baths)
Built between the 13th and 14th centuries, these are some of the best-preserved Andalusi baths in Spain. They were located just outside the old city walls so that visitors could bathe before entering the medina.
The interior of the Baños Arabes
The baths’ water supply came from the nearby Arroyo de las Culebras (Stream of Snakes), and was channelled through a system of water wheels driven by mules. As well as wandering through the different rooms of the baths, which are illuminated by the star-shaped skylights typical of Andalusi hammams, you can watch a video that shows how the baths worked, including the ingenious methods for providing cold and warm water and steam.
Casa del Rey Moro
Zig-zagging back up the hill from the baths and passing through the Arch of Felipe V, you’ll come to the steep street Cuesta de Santo Domingo and the monumental complex known as the Casa del Rey Moro (House of the Moorish King). You may spot a peacock or two on the way; the site is home to several of them.
A curious peacock in the gardens of the Casa del Rey Moro
The complex has three elements: the hanging gardens, originally designed by the 19th-century French landscape architect Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier; the house (currently closed for refurbishment), and the medieval water mine.
Despite the romantic name, there’s no evidence that any Andalusi ruler ever lived on this site, and certainly not in this house - it was built in the 18th century and extensively restored in 1912.
Although the house is not open to the public, you can get a glimpse of its interior in the music video for Madonna’s 1994 song Take a Bow. Read my interview with the video’s director for the story behind this:
The real draw of this site is the water mine. Dating from the mid-14th century, when Ronda was still under Islamic rule, it provided a source of water for the city when it was under siege. You enter the mine through a doorway on the same level as the gardens and then descend about 200 stone steps through a mine shaft that leads to the floor of El Tajo.
It’s an eerie experience. The light is dim and the only sound is the dripping of water. There’s an audio guide that explains the mine’s history, and how - according to Castilian chroniclers - it played a role in the eventual fall of the city to the Catholic monarchs. The mine is a combination of a natural fissure in the rock, some excavated spaces, and some built ones - such as the domed room known as the Hall of Secrets thanks to its “whispering gallery” effect.
Once you reach the bottom, knees hopefully intact, you step out onto a platform over the Guadalevín River. It’s a very peaceful spot, and I enjoyed spending some time here contemplating the tranquil green water, looking up at the towering cliffs, and listening to the calls of the birds that call the canyon their home.
A photo taken from the viewing platform at the foot of the water mine
One question I had when reading up about this intriguing place was why it’s called a water mine and not a well. The simple answer is that it wasn’t just a well, it was a whole engineering project. Along with wells dug into the lowest level there was a large water wheel and a system of buckets and pulleys to scoop water from the river, after which it was poured into goatskins and carried up to the surface.
Unlike the Arab Baths, it wasn’t mules powering this industrial extraction process - no beast of burden could navigate the narrow tunnel with its many steps. Instead, the chronicles tell us, the grunt work was done by enslaved Christian captives.
There are many enigmas and unanswered questions around the water mine, and the University of Seville continues to carry out archaeological research here.
Plaza de Toros (bullring)
Ronda’s bullring is one of the most famous in all of Spain, as well as one of the oldest that remains in use. Designed by José Martín de Aldehuela, who was also the architect of the Puente Nuevo, it was inaugurated in 1785 and is notable for its neoclassical white stone exterior.
A statue of a bull outside Ronda’s Plaza de Toros
The bullring houses a museum about the history of bullfighting, where visitors can also learn about two of Spain’s most famous torero dynasties - the Romero and Ordóñez families, both from Ronda.
Scenic viewpoints near the bullring
Immediately next to the bullring complex, you’ll find a couple of small parks with miradores (viewpoints or viewing platforms) that look out towards the mountains.
The Alameda del Tajo is a tree-lined promenade that culminates in a long walkway with railings, while the Paseo de Blas Infante leads to the Mirador of Ronda (also known as La Sevillana), where there’s a bandstand with stunning views over the valley.
The view from the Mirador de Ronda
The bandstand itself is also very photogenic from a distance - stroll along the clifftop path that leads to the Parador Hotel of Ronda to see the view that appears in the photo below.
The Mirador de Ronda, as photographed from near the Parador Hotel terrace
Plaza del Socorro
Finally, head to this plaza in the newer part of Ronda for a mix of pretty architecture many tapas bars and restaurants that are popular with locals and tourists alike.
There’s also an underground car park, which makes it a good place to start if you’re only spending a few hours in Ronda - although, if you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll agree that it’s worth at least a weekend! Check out this article for more reasons, including practical tips for planning your visit.
Map of locations in this article:
About the author:
Hola! I’m Amy, a writer and videographer who has spent 5+ years living in Spain. As well as running the Senses of Spain website, I make videos on Instagram and TikTok and write a monthly-ish newsletter.
Thirty years on, the untold story behind the bullfighting-themed music video for Madonna’s Take a Bow.