Granada
We landed in Malaga and picked up our rental car (a Fiat!)—first stop, Granada! We wasted no time and stopped at a local place for lunch, Meson El Pipos, for our first round of tapas. Adam dove right into the mussels and octopus, and I had my favorite—bread, cheese, and flan.
Homemade flan
The Alhambra
Loja
After departing from Granada, we made our way to a small town, Loja, to find dinner and a hotel for the night. Hotel Rural Llano Piña was a quant mountainside family run hotel that boasted affordable prices and a cozy, bed and breakfast feel. The room came complete with a terrace overlooking an olive grove and chocolates…on the nightstand, for only $50.00.
We ate dinner at a local place, Restaurante Flati, with the highlight being the locally sourced olive oil from neighboring groves.
In the morning we departed from Loja (cafe con leche in hand) to journey towards El Chorro!
El Chorro-El Caminito del Rey
Once the “world’s most dangerous hiking path”, is now an amazing experience that brings a new meaning to a 5k. You start off by walking a little over a mile to the ticket booth to see if they even have tickets available (luckily they did—or it’s another 1.3 walk back to the tunnel entrance). They give you a helmet and a quick chat about safety, then you are off on your own to go explore.
The old path that people used to walk on!
Something to note if you are visiting Caminito del Rey, although the online website said the tickets were sold out, we figured we would still try and go, and they had plenty of availability when we went to the ticket booth. Also make sure you check their website to see if they are in fact even open as after we finished hiking, there was a sign that the path was closed due to wind conditions.
Cuevas Del Becerro
Super small town on the way from El Chorro to Rhonda. We stopped here for lunch…and flan.
We ate at Bar Pescaero, a small restaurant with 3 tables and an even bigger bar. The tab for 7 tapas, bread, 2 coffees, and wine, was about $15.
The dirt road out of Cuevas Del Becerro was filled with more olive groves, farm land, and a donkey!
Ronda
Ronda was a mountaintop city that had a beautiful stone bridge spanning the gorge below. We stopped at Bar La Lechera for a quick cafe latte and rice pudding—yum!
Estepona
Affordable beachside town that is filled with dogs, expats, and delicious local seafood. Surrounded by the water on one side and the mountains on the other, there seems to be something for everyone here.
We ate dinner at La Palma (a recommendation from the owner of our hotel). The restaurant had fresh, local seafood and homemade dessert. I had ordered (too much) dessert and the waiter asked if I had diabetes…
Malaga
Malaga was the biggest out of all the cities we visited. Home of the Picasso museum, moorish castles, and local tapas joints—there is a lot to soak in here.
Fried queso <3
Our final dinner was in Malaga at Restaurante los Marfiles. Adam had a whole octopus (and was VERY happy).
The trip wouldn’t be complete without a quick stop at the local butcher to get some Jamón ibérico for the plane!
Takeaways
This was the first time we truly just “played everything by ear” and booked dinners/accommodations in the moment
Restaurants do not get busy for dinner until about 9/10pm
Everyone has a dog
The scenery is absolutely stunning as you are driving through the country and mountainside
We were able to stretch our dollar by staying at budget hotels (that were actually fantastic) and dining at local places where wine and tapas were around a couple dollars
During siesta (usually 2-5ish) many shops are closed
Very friendly culture and we got to meet a lot of great people (even some expats from London)
Love TAP Portugal— free meals, blankets, TV’s, and great customer service