Ronda is a popular day trip destination from bigger Andalucían cities like Málaga and Seville, but it easily merits an overnight stay or longer.

*The magical sight of the floodlit Puente Nuevo at “blue hour”*

Ronda, la ciudad soñada (the city of dreams). Its spectacular location on a high plateau ringed by mountains, the deep ravine that splits it in two and the picturesque bridge that spans it are all reasons why it’s one of the most popular destinations in southern Spain.

Ronda is often relegated to a stop of two to three hours on a road trip through Andalucia, or a packaged day trip from larger cities such as Málaga or Seville. This is understandable - the historic centre is compact, and its main attractions are all within walking distance of each other.

However, should you have the time, you won’t regret taking more of a slow travel approach and spending the night here. In this article, I’ll outline the reasons why and give you some tried-and-tested tips for planning your visit.

If you’re looking for the best things to see in Ronda, check out my top Ronda recommendations here.

Benefits of staying overnight in Ronda

Beating the crowds

By mid-morning on a weekend, Ronda gets pretty packed, as the tour buses arrive and deposit their hordes of day-trippers. On my last visit, I arrived early on a Saturday afternoon and the Puente Nuevo - the city’s famous bridge - was absolutely heaving.

By dinner time the historic centre was a lot quieter, but the real magic happened the following morning when I had the streets almost to myself.

*An almost-deserted Puente Nuevo, around 9am*

*The Jardines de Cuenca in the morning light*

After exploring some of Ronda’s pretty plazas and gardens, I arrived at the Casa del Rey Moro, one of the city’s most popular attractions, when it opened (10am). I was the only person exploring the gardens and medieval water mine for the first half hour or so, and contemplating this historic spot in total peace and quiet was a special experience.

The best photo opportunities

Another reason to stay overnight is that you’ll get to experience different light conditions throughout the day and evening, giving you the chance to get plenty of photos of the city looking its best.

*Ronda’s Puente Nuevo in the lead-up to golden hour*

Golden hour (the hour leading up to sunset) is a great time to photograph the Puente Nuevo from the valley below El Tajo. The sun sets more or less opposite the bridge, bathing the area in a beautiful golden light.

Later, head to the viewpoint known as the Mirador de Aldehuela for epic “blue hour” shots of the floodlit bridge against the twilight sky and still-glowing horizon, as pictured at the top of this page.

The soft light of early morning (and the crowd-free streets) also means you can get some nice photos throughout the rest of the historic centre if you’re out and about then.

Leaving a gentler footprint

With overtourism becoming an increasingly hot topic in Spain, there’s an argument to be made that staying overnight means you’re not contributing quite so much to the congestion caused by masses of day trippers all visiting within the same short timeframe.

Extending your stay gives you more opportunities to enjoy local cuisine, explore lesser-known corners, and support small businesses. It’s less hit-and-run, more mindful travel (and with more economic benefits for the community).

Of course, not everyone has the time or budget for a longer stay. I’ve taken plenty of day trips throughout Spain myself when circumstances didn’t allow for more.

That said, there’s something about Ronda that I think makes it particularly susceptible to overcrowding.

While it's often mistaken for one of Andalusia’s pueblos blancos (white villages), thanks to its picturesque old town, it's actually a small city of around 30,000 residents. A better example of a pueblo blanco would be nearby Setenil de las Bodegas, which has just 3,000.

True pueblos blancos are, in many ways, self-limiting: their small size, narrow streets, and limited transport connections naturally cap the number of visitors.

Ronda, however, with its much larger commercial zone beyond the Puente Nuevo, has the infrastructure to receive large volumes of tourists - who then make a beeline for the old town.

The result? A large number of people squeezed into a small area, often all at once.

It’s perhaps no surprise that Ronda’s local government has been working to increase the proportion of overnight stays - an effort that seems to be showing results.

Itinerary for a weekend visit

If you’ve decided to spend a night or more in Ronda, you’re going to want to get the most out of your visit without having to rush from A to B.

Here’s my suggested plan for two days in the city. It’s pretty much the exact itinerary I did myself on my last visit, and all the places mentioned are covered in more detail in my article on what to see in Ronda.

Saturday

Arrive mid-morning, check in to your accommodation, and take a walk through the old town to get your bearings before stopping for a relaxed lunch.

After lunch, swerve the Puente Nuevo and its various viewpoints (this is peak time for those), and head to the Mondragón Palace instead (afternoon opening times 3pm-6pm) and the Casa Museo Don Bosco (open until 8.30pm), where you can also take in a flamenco guitar performance during the spring and autumn months.

About an hour before sunset, head to Plaza de Maria Auxiliadora and follow the path down the valley to the viewpoint that’s listed in Google Maps as the Arab Arch. Spend some time enjoying the view of the Puente Nuevo, before heading back up the hill (warning: it’s pretty steep).

After dinner, stop by the Mirador de Aldehuela to admire the floodlit Puente Nuevo and all the lights of the bars and restaurants along the cliffside terraces.

Sunday

Head to the Jardines de Cuenca and enjoy the morning light hitting the north side of the Puente Nuevo from the Mirador de Cuenca. Take a stroll through the old town while the streets are still quiet, then aim to get to the Casa del Rey Moro for its 10am opening. After that, it’s a short walk downhill to the Arab Baths.

Stop for lunch, then spend any remaining time visiting the Plaza de Toros and/or the gardens and viewing platforms over the valley that are located in that area.

Where to eat

Ronda’s most famous restaurant is Bardal, the two-Michelin-starred flagship of chef Benito Gómez. Bardal has won plaudits (and seen visits by Hollywood stars) for fusing creative and innovative cooking with the highest quality local ingredients.

If the tasting menus here (upwards of €180 per head) are a bit outside your budget, you can still get a taste of Gómez’s cuisine at his much more affordable second restaurant Tragatá just over the road. Signature dishes include the “bomba crujiente” - crispy shells that explode into a mouthful of spicy salmorejo when you bite into them.

*A selection of small bites at Tragatá: a sandwich of confit pork belly, kimchi salmon and the “bombas” of salmorejo with tuna belly*

Another of my tried-and-tested recommendations is Taberna El Almacén, tucked away in a quiet side street with a nice neighbourhood vibe and tasty, good-value tapas. Finally, although I’ve not been there myself, the tapas bar El Lechuguita has been recommended to me by multiple people (be prepared to queue though, I hear it’s very popular).

Getting to Ronda

By car

Located in inland Málaga province, Ronda is about an hour and 20 minutes’ drive from Málaga via the fastest route, and about an hour and 40 minutes from Seville. Should you be driving from Marbella, a heads-up that the main road between Marbella and Ronda (the A-397) is currently closed after a rockfall caused significant damage, and is likely to be affected until August 2025.

By public transport from Málaga

While it’s possible to travel by train from Málaga to Ronda, the journey requires a change of train in Antequera-Santa Ana, and depending on connection times can take at least 2.5 hours each way.

If travelling by public transport, I prefer to take the bus, as it’s both faster (around two hours) and less hassle overall. On my last trip, I travelled from Málaga to Ronda with Autocares Sierra de las Nieves (€14, 2h15 - a longer, scenic route that passed through some pretty villages) and did the return trip the next day with Damas (€16, 1h45 - a more direct route). I booked them both via Omio.com.

By public transport from Seville

Again, there is no direct train - you’d need to change at Córdoba with a total journey time of around 3.5 hours. The journey takes around two hours by bus.

Why it's worth spending the night in Ronda