White Towns & Rugged Mountains

This was a beautiful walking holiday with amazing walks and spectacular scenery. The background research was extensive down to every last detail. The people we met were very helpful and with sunny weather it was one of our best holidays ever and worth every penny. Thankyou Inntravel.

We greatly enjoyed our walking holiday with Inntravel - the route descriptions were very detailed and always accurate. The carefully selected accommodations met all expectations and we especially loved the heartfelt welcome we received at La Mejorana in Grazalema. Both Hotel Al Lago and Molino del Santo served excellent food - in Grazalema, we also happened upon a great little place called Casa Martin 1920 that had great drinks (Vermouth and Sherry from the tap!) and excellent tapas. Of all the walks we did, the one from Grazalema to Benaojan was probably our favourite for the incredible landscapes and views, with the Pinsapar trail being a close second (we really suggest not turning around halfway and going all the way to the end of the forest).

The whole holiday was a wonderful experience. Every days walk was different, interesting and some - dramatic. The weather from the 7th to the 14th October was hot and continuously sunny. We loved seeing the soaring Griffon Vultures and a Golden Eagle too. The 1st little Autumn crocus were appearing amongst the rocks.

The choice of hotels couldn't have been bettered. The hosts were welcoming and helpful and where we ate in the hotel, the food was simple and delicious.We  reluctantly came home thinking we could do those walks all over again. The finale of the walk up to Ronda was the icing on the cake! The San Gabriel Hotel created the perfect atmosphere for our last evening.

The scenery throughout the walk was sensational. Seeing so many griffon vultures soaring above us near Zahara was thrilling as was watching a large stag making its way up a nearby hillside. Hotel Molino del Santo was exceptional in every way.

We have done many Inntravel holidays and this was up there as one of the best.  Lovely walks in a beautiful and peaceful area.  The walks were at times long but not difficult.  Our favourites were the Montejaque Circuit and the Pinsapo Reserve.  Accommodation was of a very high standard.

The two back-to-back walking holidays in Spain that I took with Inntravel were fantastic. They chose beautiful routes, fantastic accommodations (with great food!), and provided all the maps and notes needed to make the walks successful. I had a wonderful time!

INNTRAVEL NOTE: This customer followed The Aracena Sierra singe centre holiday with the White Towns & Rugged Mountains walking itinerary.

Once again, we had an unforgettable walking holiday with Inntravel's help. Everything was perfect. We enjoyed the spectacular nature and the tranquillity and local charm of Zahara and Grazalema as well as the magnificence of Ronda. All accommodations were well-picked, and we felt very welcome everywhere. Inntravel's route notes were flawless and helped us to relax and not worry about getting lost in the mountains. In Ronda, we had the most delicious tapas at Tragatá, and we highly recommend that you go there and soak up the local atmosphere while trying some of the many tapas-dishes. We will surely be back to discover more of Andalucia's beauty one day.

An outstanding walking holiday in superb countryside with welcoming hotels. Extremely well organised. A delight.

One of our favourite holidays ever. Andalucia in spring is stunning - scenery, wildflowers and brilliant for birdwatching. The walking routes and hotels were excellent.

The Garganta Verde walk was superb - we sat for hours at the overlook, watching vultures warm up in the morning and then take off for the day. The walk from Grazalema to Benaojan was 20km, and we literally didn't see a single person all day. So quiet you think you've gone deaf!

This was a fabulous holiday - our second with Inntravel. The walks were absolutely magnificent - varied, interesting and fun. The Grazalema area is stunning. The hotels are excellent and the logistics (from the walking guidance notes through to bag transfers and getting to and from Spain) were faultless. We are very happy customers!

Generally excellent choice of location and walks. I can see why you have included it, but it felt a bit of shame ending the holiday in Ronda. After spending the week in some tranquil villages (which I'm assuming is what most walkers are after) it was a bit disappointing to be met with thousands of tourists all jostling for views of the gorge. It is an absolutely amazing view, but Ronda felt out of kilter with the other places we stayed and felt more like a city break destination.

It was a very enjoyable holiday with good walking in wonderful scenery.

Delighted to find railway station at Benaojan whereby we could venture along to another town with castle for the day. Ronda was of course delightful to approach and explore. The views fron Zahara (Arco de la Villa) hotel were breathtaking over the reservoir.

We really enjoyed our walking holiday in Andalucia. The countryside was beautiful and we stayed in some lovely places. The food at both Hotel Al Lago and Molino del Santo was superb. We didn’t necessarily want to do long walks every day, so we booked additional nights in both Grazalema and Ronda so we could have ‘chill out, let’s just mooch around’ days. Molino del Santo was our favourite hotel with a superb pool area and we could easily have stayed there longer. Be aware that not all the walks are possible if you’re there between June and October (we didn’t fully consider this) – the alternatives suited us fine though. Overall a great trip and we’d love to return in future.

A superb tour with some great walks and lovely accommodation. We especially loved Molino del Santo where we had an extra night to visit the caves. The hotel arranged our booking and a taxi up for us, and we walked back down to have lunch there, with plenty of short walk opportunities for the afternoon. Malaga is well worth a couple of extra nights - lots to see and do and most of the old town is pedestrianised with plenty of eating places; it has a really vibrant atmosphere.

Another Inntravel well-organised holiday with excellent walking notes. Late April was particularly good for flowers in the mountains and a spectacular wildflower meadow on the approach to Ronda the likes of which I have never seen before.  We must have spent at least half an hour taking photos, the majority of which I have never seen before. Loved El Molino del Santo - on my list to go back! Found the Hotel San Gabriel in Ronda a bit quirky.  In Ronda, Faustino's in Calle Santa Cecilla tapas bar is now permanently closed. We went to the Tragatapas for lunch, just as well we did not go for dinner, tapas there are different but the portions are small even for a tapas. The tapas bar, Toro at Carrera Espinel, has low-key ambience, good tapas, price and service. We did try to go to some of the others recommended but they were either closed on the day we were there or opened very late. Worth adding an extra night at Ronda for time to explore. Have no hesitation in recommending this holiday for experienced walkers. As we were not travelling directly back to Malaga, Inntravel were very helpful in giving us advice on how to get to Marbella from Ronda.

Highlights for us were the scenery and wildlife: Green Gorge (griffon vultures), the walk up Simancon (ibex and yellow bee orchids), the Montejaque circuit (half a dozen wild boar) plus the welcome and hospitality found everywhere - most especially from Andres at La Mejorana in Grazalema. Great food at the Molino del Santo (Benaojan) and in Ronda at the restaurant Carmen la de Ronda. Ask the hotel to book a table for you - it gets very busy.

In spite of having some freakishly dreadful weather (the wettest and coldest it has been in living memory!) we had a wonderful time on this holiday. The hotels and food were uniformly excellent and the sadly truncated walking we were able to do was captivating. We will certainly book this holiday again so that we can do it in more typical weather. 

The unique views of the hill towns from the heights of the mountains were a highlight.  The Pileta Caves transported me in time and challenged me to imagine life so many thousands of years ago.

White Towns and Rugged Mountains was a wonderful walk/hike through Andalusia. We loved the routes selected which brought us through a constantaly changing landscape--walking on cobbled medieval roads, along terraced olive groves, over a mountain pass and through small hamlets. The walking notes were extremely detailed and accurate which made us feel secure even when we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. The day hikes also offered a variety of experiences and we wanted to do them all. We especially enjoyed the Garganta Verde with the multicolored steep cliff walls and magestic Griffon vultures diving and circling above. We stayed an extra night in Grazalema to be able to do both Mt. Simancon and the Pinsapo Reserve but instead of the latter, we did a hike suggested by Andres at La Mejorana. We had wanted to see the Spanish ibex and he said we would almost surely see them in this area. As we ate lunch we were rewarded by a herd of about twenty passing through--it was magical. The Pileta Caves were also a highlight. It was great to be able to walk right from Molino del Santo to see these magnificent caves. All of the accomodations were great and the staff was really welcoming. The onsite restaurants at Al Lago and Molino del Santo were fabulous. We did this walk in late March/early April and although we had one drizzly day and cooler temperatures (not swimming pool weather), I thought it a perfect time for this hike as it can be very hot and dry in the summer/early fall.  The pastures were green, flowers were blooming and the newborn lambs and calves were a delight to watch. We also did an extra night in Ronda to give us time to explore this old small city. Unfortunately we were there on a weekend and the tour buses rolled in making it very crowded during the mid day. In retrospect I would plan to end in Ronda on a weekday.

The side trip to Pileta Caves was very special; up close & personal with 30,000 year old cave drawings.

The approach to Ronda on foot was an amazing and memorable experience! The tour of the Pileta Caves was excellent and was given by a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic tour guide. A tip/recommendation for future customers: we enjoyed the Day 5 Montejaque circuit hike very much, however, since some of the trails were not obvious - even with your detailed directions - and the descent starting from the point where the directions state "However, if you find yourself in low cloud or bad weather up here, it is advisable to return to the main track and follow it in the opposite direction to the way you were going all the way back to Montejaque," was over very rocky trails that required very careful attention to our footing, it would be good to warn less experienced hikers that this may not be an appropriate hike for them. We are experienced hikers and found that this was a challenging hike.

This is an excellent walking holiday in beautiful scenery, with excellent hotels, food and service. It was very well organized. For us, the weather was rather hot (and also after an extended drought) so unfortunately we weren't able to do all the hikes we had hoped (e.g. those requiring permits, such as the Green Gorge, were closed due to fire risk). Nevertheless, we still enjoyed it greatly.  

Definitely room for improvement on the mapping / route finding, but otherwise we are v satisfied with the entire trip. At the end of trip I commented to the group that I thought Inntravel did a great job and we should look to see what other trips they offer.  This suggestion was heartily seconded by the rest of the group. 

It was another excellent holiday. All the hotels were good but Hotel La Mejorana was outstanding. It was very calm with a cool air and Ana and Andres are welcoming. The walking was wonderful with a good mix of routes through olive groves and plains and then rugged and rocky mountain passes. The two highlights were the climb to Mount Simancon which was exhilarating and the walk from Zahara to Grazalema which involved crossing a lot of different terrain. It was exciting to be up in the mountains and see Griffon Vultures circling over head. Overall, it was one of the best Inntravel holidays. 

Lovely walking, done many walking hols now with Inntravel and this one is up at the top, alongside Sicily, for us. Good walking, hotels, and Seville glorious, and the weather was beautiful, as I sit here in rainy England.

We loved the wildlife and flowers especially seeing vultures and ibex. We loved the gorge walk and the walk up the Simancon. The caves were really interesting and gave us chance to relax in the beautiful Molino del Santo hotel. The only downside was some long hot tedious stretches on the walks between hotels.

The trip was very well organised and the accompanying notes were excellent in pointing out how to plan some for the walks, for example, asking as soon as we arrived at Hotel Al Lago for the passes to the national park.

All the hotels were very good and it was a pleasure to find such small and well equipped hotels at the end of the day's walk. It is worth mentioning the excellent welcome and service we received from Andres and Ana at La Mejorana in Grazalema as well

The staff at the hotel Molino del Santo also kindly arranged a booking for my wife and I to visit the Pileta caves

We were lucky to have a week of dry and sunny weather and the views were magnificent. We were also amazed by the abundance of birds. 

This is a really beautiful quiet part of Andalucia, very green in the Spring. The walking is spectacular at times, eating a picnic watching the Gryphon Vultures thermaling in the Green Gorge was wonderful. The Hotel Molino is a really nice place to stay. On a hot day take a taxi from the bar in the square in Montejaque to the Molino - the walk is nearly all road and suburban.

This is a very beautiful part of rural Spain and the route provided had been well researched. We saw an amazing array of flowers despite locals telling us that we were quite early in the year. Gryffon Vultures were a highlight and the sighting of a hoopoe made our holiday.