Travel9 oct 2026 4 min readBy Site AdministratorCosta del Sol

Day trips: Ronda, the Caminito del Rey, the white villages and Gibraltar

The six day trips worth making from the coast, with 2026 ticket prices, train and driving times, and what changed at the Gibraltar border in July 2026.

Ronda

Ronda sits on a plateau split by the 100-meter-deep El Tajo gorge, crossed by the Puente Nuevo, the 18th-century bridge that appears on every postcard. The old town on the far side has Moorish baths, palaces and the Mondragón museum; the newer side has the 1785 bullring, one of the oldest in Spain. From Marbella the drive up the A-397 takes about an hour and a quarter and is one of the great mountain roads of Andalusia; from Málaga, Renfe trains run several times a day with a change at Antequera-Santa Ana or Bobadilla, taking around two hours. Go midweek, arrive by 10 am, and leave the viewpoints to the tour buses after lunch.

Caminito del Rey

The Caminito del Rey is a walkway pinned to the walls of the Gaitanes gorge, 100 meters above the Guadalhorce river, originally built for hydroelectric workers and reopened in 2015 after a complete rebuild. The route is about 7.7 kilometers including the access paths, walked one way from north to south in around three hours, and is not difficult, though people who dislike heights should think carefully. General admission is €10 and the official guided visit €18; tickets are sold only online in blocks covering several months, and popular dates sell out weeks ahead. The walkway closes on Mondays and on 24-25 and 31 December and 1 January; it opens from 8:30 am to 5 pm in summer and 9 am to 4 pm from late October. Park at the Ardales visitor center (€2 a day) and use the €2.50 shuttle bus between the ends, or take the train from Málaga to El Chorro, about 50 minutes, which arrives near the southern exit. Wear closed shoes; helmets are provided.

The white villages

The pueblos blancos are scattered through the hills behind the coast, and four make easy day trips. Frigiliana, above Nerja, is the showpiece of the east: a Moorish quarter of stepped lanes, lime-washed houses and ceramic plaques telling the story of the 1569 Morisco rebellion. Mijas Pueblo, about 400 meters above Fuengirola, is the closest to the central coast and the most visited, with gardens on the old walls and views to the sea. Casares, 20 minutes inland from Estepona, is a dramatic pile of white houses on a crag below a ruined castle, with griffon vultures overhead. Gaucín, further into the Serranía de Ronda, is quieter, about an hour from the coast, with an artists' community and a view across to Gibraltar and Africa on clear days. Combine Casares and Gaucín with lunch and the road on to Ronda for a full day.

Antequera and El Torcal

Forty minutes north of Málaga, Antequera has three prehistoric dolmens inscribed by UNESCO in 2016, a hilltop fortress and more churches than it knows what to do with. Above the town, El Torcal is a limestone plateau eroded into towers and corridors of rock, with marked trails of 45 minutes and two hours from the upper visitor center. Access is by the A-7075 mountain road from Antequera or from the Casabermeja exit of the A-45, and the car park fills on weekends.

Sierra de las Nieves

Spain's sixteenth national park, declared in July 2021, lies directly behind Marbella and covers about 23,000 hectares of limestone peaks and the largest forest of Spanish fir, the pinsapo, a relic of the ice ages. Trails start from Yunquera, Tolox and the Los Quejigales recreation area above Ronda; the summit of La Torrecilla, at 1,919 meters, is a long but non-technical day. In winter there is often snow on the tops.

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is 45 minutes from Marbella and 15 from Sotogrande, and 2026 changed how you get in. Under the EU-UK treaty that took effect on 15 July 2026, the border fence with La Línea came down and routine passport checks moved to Gibraltar's airport and port, where British and Spanish officers work side by side. Walking or driving in from Spain is now straightforward, but carry your passport, and check current guidance on how time in Gibraltar counts against the Schengen 90-day limit, since the territory now sits inside the Schengen travel arrangements. Leave the car in La Línea and walk across; the Upper Rock nature reserve, the cable car, the Barbary macaques and St Michael's Cave fill a day, and prices are in pounds.

Planning notes

All of these work from Marbella or Málaga with a car; Ronda and the Caminito also work by train from Málaga. Inland temperatures run several degrees hotter than the coast in summer and colder in winter, and the Caminito is best in spring and autumn. Spanish lunch hours, 2 pm to 4 pm, dictate the rhythm of every village visit.