Most beautiful villages in Andalusia
Andalusia is far more than its coastline and big cities. Scattered across its mountain ranges, fertile plains and deserts are villages that have spent centuries gazing out over the landscape from hilltops or perched above ravines, their streets still bearing the mark of Iberians, Romans, the people of al-Andalus and Castilians. Many of them were founded or grew up as frontier strongholds, and you can still see it in their walls, their castles and the way they cling to the rock.
The most beautiful villages in Andalusia offer strikingly different scenes. In the Cádiz sierra, the white villages reign supreme: Olvera, surrounded by olive groves; Setenil de las Bodegas, with its houses tucked beneath the rock in the gorge of the Guadalporcún; or Vejer, perched on a hill beside the River Barbate. Ronda is breathtaking with its 100-metre gorge and its bridges, while Almodóvar del Río looks out over the Guadalquivir Valley from a hill that has been inhabited since prehistoric times.
The contrast comes at the region's far edges. To the north, Cazorla opens onto the Jaén mountains that bear its name and onto a history that runs from Roman mines to the lordship of the Archbishops of Toledo. To the east, Níjar offers the dry light of Almería and the nearby Cabo de Gata. Mountains, farmland, river and sea: each tells a different part of the story of the same land.
Monument guide
Monuments of Andalusia
Castles, cathedrals and monasteries in the region, in our guide.
10 monuments
Map of the villages
The 7 villages
VillageAlmodóvar del Río
A village in the Middle Guadalquivir Valley set on a hill inhabited since prehistoric times, which was an Iberian oppidum and a thriving olive oil centre in the Roman era.
VillageCazorla
Capital de la sierra jiennense que le da nombre, Cazorla guarda bajo sus montes milenios de historia: de poblados del Bronce y minas romanas a señorío fronterizo de los arzobispos de Toledo.
VillageNíjar
A village with a beautiful historic centre in Almería's largest municipality, gateway to the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park and to ten millennia of history.
VillageOlvera
Pueblo blanco de raíces árabes en la frontera de la sierra gaditana, rodeado de olivares, con casco histórico protegido y la célebre Vía Verde de la Sierra a sus pies.
VillageRonda
Asomada a un tajo de cien metros excavado por el Guadalevín, Ronda une puentes vertiginosos, huella andalusí y una de las plazas de toros más antiguas de España.
VillageSetenil de las Bodegas
Pueblo blanco gaditano encajado en el tajo del Guadalporcún, con casas bajo la roca, cuevas habitadas desde hace 5000 años y una historia de asedios que explica su nombre.
VillageVejer
A whitewashed village perched on a hill beside the River Barbate, with town walls, a castle of Andalusi origin and a historic quarter that holds centuries of frontier history.
