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Far reaching vista from Acinipo
Rolling countryside atop the plateau
Entrance to Lara's Museum
RondaHow we drove to Ronda
Ronda is located in the mountainous interior of Andalusia, with no major highways presently providing access to it. As far as starting out from a divided highway goes, the best way to get there is on the A397 off the excellent E15 and A7 highways along the Mediterranean coast near Marbella (not far from my 'Estapona' balloon in the map, where we had booked a B&B). As with most roads in Spain, the A397 is smooth and well-maintained but, with all its twists and turns winding up from the coast, the average speed is only about 60 kph - as long as it is not snowing!
Our map also showed what appears to be a brand new divided highway (the A357) heading into the mountains from Malaga (beside my 'Torremolinos' balloon) - and it is pointed directly at Ronda! The map shows it as already built for about 1/3rd of the distance to Ronda.
There are also other secondary highways, similar to the one we used, approaching Ronda from the west, north and east but the drives from major tourist spots such as Granada, Sevilla or Cadiz are quite a bit longer. Under the best of conditions, Google shows the following one-way driving times and distances to Ronda:
Estepona ---(70 km & 1 hour)
Antequera --(90 km & 1.5 hours)
Seville -------(130 km & 2 hours)
Cadiz --------(150 km & 2 hours)
Granada ----(180 km & 2.5 hours)
With driving times like those, a round-trip day visit is not really practical unless you happen to be staying in either Antequera or along the Mediterranean coast in the Marbela area (between Malaga and Estepona). Of course it would be better in the longer daylight hours of Summer, but the temperature in Ronda sometimes exceeds 40 C at that time of the year!
