Help Me Ronda! 

-With some tips on how to get to El Caminito del Rey for a day trip. 

Written By Clara The Exploraodora

Ronda owns my heart, not only because it is probably one of the most whimsical places on the planet, but because that’s where Patrick proposed to me. Sort of. However, Ronda was not our first choice; El Chorro was. It was pouring rain when we left MALAGA. We went to the train station to buy tickets to El Chorro and were told all trains to El Chorro were cancelled. The rain had flooded the tracks, and the train had derailed. Luckily we are quick adapters and did some problem solving to find a solution. Instead we bought bus tickets to Ronda and quickly booked a three night stay in an AirBnB there. Though El Chorro was super cool, I am very glad that we got to stay in this little slice of European paradise.

We arrived in Ronda late in the evening after a long bus ride. We walked to our AirBnB with nothing but a map, met our host, bought the Spanish version of Cup-o-Noodles, put on a movie, and got comfortable. At this point we had been traveling for a month and were tired and getting colds, so it was a relief to stay in a place located in a nice, quiet area. We were able to get a full night’s rest that prepared us for a full day of exploring the area.

Ronda is awesome. It is a city built around a gorge and on the side of a huge cliff… It kind of reminds me of the home of the Amazons; Wonder Woman’s island; Themiscyra. Minus the pristine ocean water and warrior women. Other than that, it has the same feel.

Our first day in Ronda, we gave ourselves a wonderful little foot tour. The main attraction of Ronda is this big old bridge called the Puente Nuevo. It spans the gorge and connects the two parts of the city, what they call ‘New Town’ and ‘Old Town’. This massive cliff side bridge goes all the way to the base of the gorge and has an epic waterfall going right through one of it’s archways. Standing on Puente Nuevo you get a grand view of the surrounding geography. Again, it is EPIC. There are estates, farm lands, curvy roads, rolling hills, and mountains. I could stand up there all day and stare out at the landscape, so I took a picture instead and we walked on.

There are a few ways down from the top of the cliff, and we found one of them. We walked down these sketchy old stairs and trails and let ourselves get lost in the sporadic tangents off the trail down. The area below the bridge is full of old ruins, waterfalls, and plants. I like to think they were secret tunnels leading to different parts of the city. Or maybe where the bridge engineers would hang out to plan how to best utilize the land. But I really have no clue. I didn’t look into it.

A few more turns later, we finally found ourselves at the base of the cliff, looking up at the Puente Nuevo from below. We made this trek to see a hostal/cafe. If you want a cool place to stay I would stay in this hostal. The only reason we did not stay there is because we were arriving super late and didn’t want to hike to the base of the cliff with our packs in the dark. But as you can see, it is a very neat view. Once inside the hostal we asked the worker what the best way to get to El Caminito del Rey was and of course, no one really knew. We got some solid ideas on the matter but no solid facts. So, let me tell you the best way to get to El Caminito del Rey and how that worked out for us, because I know we would have loved to have this information when we went. But then I will continue with Ronda and make a separate post for El Caminito del Rey.

To get to El Caminito del Rey we had to take an early morning train to Bombadilla. Once in Bombadilla we should have been able to take another train straight to El Chorro but it still hadn’t been fixed from being derailed so the train people organized a Taxi for us (no extra cost) to take us to El Chorro. The taxi driver, however, was awesome and had done this drive several times. He dropped us off at the trail head to El Caminito del Rey. Our way back was similar, except the train people forgot to send us another taxi to get us back to the train station. So I had to go ham on them over the service phone till they sent us and a few other tourists taxis. It was much of the same process to get back to Ronda. Definitely doable in one day.

Back in Ronda we continued our exploration of the area. We found some cool places to look at and appreciate the sunset and overall beautiful architecture. Spain does not lack in architectural beauty in the slightest. We indulged in eating tapas, talking to other English speaking tourists, and hot chocolate. Ronda is another one of those magical Spanish towns that not too many people notice because it is off the beaten path, but it is a site to behold! Let me know what you think about it!

Something cool in town.

Happy Travels!