7 Best Sights in Andalusia, Spain

Old Ronda—20 km (12 miles) north of Ronda—is the site of this old Roman settlement, a thriving town in the 1st century AD that was abandoned for reasons that still baffle historians. Today it's a windswept hillside with piles of stones, the foundations of a few Roman houses, and what remains of a theater. Views across the Ronda plains and to the surrounding mountains are spectacular. The site's opening hours vary depending on staff availability and excavations—check with the Ronda tourist office by phone before visiting.

Once one of Roman Iberia's most important cities in the 2nd century, with a population of more than 10,000, Itálica today is a monument of Roman ruins. Founded by Scipio Africanus in 205 BC as a home for veteran soldiers, Itálica gave the Roman world two great emperors: Trajan (AD 52–117) and Hadrian (AD 76–138). You can find traces of city streets, cisterns, and the floor plans of several villas, some with mosaic floors, though all the best mosaics and statues have been removed to Seville's Museo Arqueológico. Itálica was abandoned and plundered as a quarry by the Visigoths, who preferred Seville. It fell into decay around AD 700. The remains include the huge elliptical amphitheater, which held 40,000 spectators; a Roman theater; and Roman baths. The finale for season 7 of Game of Thrones was filmed here in 2018. The small visitor center offers information on daily life in the city.

Built in the foothills of the Sierra Morena by Abd al-Rahman III (891–961) for his favorite concubine, al-Zahra (the Flower), the construction of this once-splendid summer pleasure palace was begun in 936. Historians say it took 10,000 men, 2,600 mules, and 400 camels 25 years to erect this fantasy of 4,300 columns in dazzling pink, green, and white marble and jasper brought from Carthage. A palace, a mosque, luxurious baths, fragrant gardens, fish ponds, an aviary, and a zoo stood on three terraces here; for around 70 years the Madinat was the de facto capital of al-Andalus, until, in 1013, it was sacked and destroyed by Berber mercenaries. In 1944, the Royal Apartments were rediscovered, and the throne room carefully reconstructed. The outline of the mosque has also been excavated. The only covered part of the site is the Salon de Abd al-Rahman III (due to open in mid-2023 after a decade of restoration work); the rest is a sprawl of foundations and arches that hint at the splendor of the original city-palace. Begin at the visitor center, which provides background information and a 3D reconstruction of the city, and continue to the ruins, around 2 km (1 mile) away. You can walk, but it's uphill, so consider taking the shuttle bus (€3, or included in the €10 bus ticket from the Paseo de la Victoria in the city center). Both services run frequently. The tourist office can provide schedule details. Allow 2½ to 3 hours for your visit. You can visit the ruins at night Tuesday–Saturday between mid-June and mid-September.

The excavated remains of the Arab Baths date from Ronda's tenure as capital of a Moorish taifa (kingdom). The star-shape vents in the roof are an inferior imitation of the ceiling of the beautiful bathhouse in Granada's Alhambra. The baths are beneath the Puente Árabe (Arab Bridge) in a ravine below the Palacio del Marqués de Salvatierra.

The town of Alcalá la Real itself was gradually rebuilt, but the hilltop fortress, consisting of the alcazaba and the abbey church that Alfonso XI built, was more or less ignored. Up until the late 1990s, exposed skeletons were visible in some open tombs on the floor of the church. Today visitors can wander around the ruins and visit the small archaeological museum.

Next door to the Church of the Holy Cross are the remains of a 1st-century-BC Roman theater, one of the oldest and largest in Spain. The stage is unexcavated (it lies under nearby houses), but you can visit the entrance and large seating area as well as the visitor center.

Few Phoenician settlements have survived intact, but excavations underneath the Puppet Museum revealed some of the best-preserved ruins in Southern Europe. You can visit the 9th-century-BC remains and discover eight houses along two cobbled streets, complete with animal hoofprints encased in mud and clay. The site also has the remains of a Roman fish-preserving factory with saltwater pools.