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During the reconquest of Andalucía, CAZORLA acted as an outpost for Christian troops, and the two castles which still dominate the town testify to its turbulent past - both were originally Moorish but later altered and restored by their Christian conquerors. Today it’s the main base for visits to the Parque Natural de las Sierras de Segura y Cazorla , a vast protected area of magnificent river gorges and forests. Cazorla also hosts the fiesta de Cristo del Consuelo , with fairgrounds, fireworks and religious processions on September 16-21. 

Cazorla itself is constructed around three main squares. Buses arrive in the busy, commercial Plaza de la Constitución , where there’s a privately run tourist office , Quercus (Mon-Fri 9am-2pm, Sat & Sun 9am-2pm & 6-9pm; tel 953 720 115), offering Land Rover and horse-riding day trips into the park. The main c/de Muñoz connects with the second square, the Plaza de la Corredera (or del Huevo , “of the Egg”, because of its shape). The seat of the administration, the ayuntamiento , is here, a fine Moorish-style palace at the far end of the plaza. Beyond, a labyrinth of narrow, twisting streets leads to Cazorla’s liveliest square, the Plaza Santa María . This takes its name from the old cathedral which, damaged by floods in the seventeenth century, was later torched by Napoleonic troops. Its ruins, now preserved, and the fine open square form a natural amphitheatre for concerts and local events as well as being a popular meeting place. The square is dominated by La Yedra , an austere, reconstructed castle tower, which houses the Museo de Artes y Costumbres (Mon-Sat 9.30am-2.30pm; free), an interesting folklore museum displaying domestic utensils and furniture.

Another regional sierra “capital”, CAZALLA DE LA SIERRA seems quite a metropolis with its comparative abundance of facilities, and in fact the town dates back to the times of the Romans - its original name of Callentum was later changed to Kazalla (”fortified city”) by the Moors. 

The main sight is the church of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación at the southern end of town, an outstanding example of andaluz “mix and match” architecture - begun in the fourteenth century, continued with some nice Renaissance touches and finally completed in the eighteenth century.

There are also some fine spots within easy wandering distance of the town: a walk of just 5km will take you east to the Ermita del Monte , a little eighteenth-century church on a wooded hill above the Rivera de Huesna.

A rather sleepy tourist office at Paseo del Moro 2 (Mon-Fri 9.30am-2pm & 5-7pm; tel 954 883 562) has information on the region but not a town map; this is available from the ayuntamiento (same hours) a five-minute walk away at Plaza Dr. Narcea 1. Among a number of hostales in Cazalla the best is perhaps La Milagrosa , c/Llana 29, on the main street (tel 954 884 260; ¬18-27). There are also several upmarket hotels, including the charming Posada del Moro , c/Paseo del Moro s/n (tel 954 884 326, fax 954 884 858; ¬36-48), with its own good restaurant and delightful rooms overlooking a garden and pool. There are numerous bars around the centre of town and plenty of places to eat - Bar Gonzalo , c/Caridad 3, in the centre, serves a good-value menú , and the casino on the central La Plazuela serves simple and hearty meals. The casino is essentially a place to drink and relax - quieter and more comfortable than most of the bars - and serves as a kind of club, with locals paying a nominal monthly membership charge. Most towns of Cazalla’s size have one, and tourists and visitors are always welcome to use the facilities free of charge - worth doing since the membership rule means everybody drinks at reduced prices.

Cazalla is well served by public transport, with daily buses connecting it with Sevilla. Buses also run at 7am and 11.45am to the Estación de Cazalla y Constantina, twenty minutes to the east, from where there are three or four trains a day northwest to Zafra and Extremadura, and a similar number that follow the river down towards El Pedroso and ultimately Sevilla. If you’re making for El Pedroso, though, you might consider walking from the station - a lovely route, with great river swimming and a fabulous variety of valley flora and fauna; it takes about five hours. A kilometre south of the station there’s also an excellent place to stay, the Molino del Corcho with rooms and food (tel 955 954 249; ¬18-27).

The first White Town on the route proper is CASTELLAR DE LA FRONTERA , 27km north from Algeciras, a bizarre village within a thirteenth-century castle, whose population, in accord with some grandiose scheme, was moved downriver in 1971 to the “new” town of Nuevo Castellar, whose modern square frames an image of their former castle home on the hill behind. The relocation was subsequently dropped and a few villagers moved back to their old houses, but most of them were taken over by retired hippies (mainly German, mainly affluent). The result didn’t entirely work, with suspicion from the locals and hostile exclusivity from some of the new arrivals fuelling tensions which remain today. Recent plans to rebuild the castle as a tourist centre - complete with parador - appear to have ground to a halt. The only places to stay inside the castle walls are Casas Rurales Castillo (tel 956 236 620, www.cadiz.org/tugasa ; ¬48-60) which consists of a number of restored village houses, or the Posada Antigua (tel 956 236 101; ¬18-27), with two en-suite rooms; Hostal El Pilar c/León Esquivel 4 (tel 956 693 022; ¬18-27), lies below in the dull new town. There’s a bar near the entrance to the castle and within the walls El Aljibe is a decent traditional restaurant attached to the Casas Rurales accommodation (above); an average venta at the start of the climb to the village on the main A369 is the only other food option, otherwise there’s not a lot more to detain you.

Set on a low hill overlooking a fertile plain, CARMONA is a small, picturesque town made recognizable by the fifteenth-century tower of the Iglesia de San Pedro, built in imitation of the Giralda. The tower is the first thing you catch sight of and it sets a tone for the place - an appropriate one, since the town shares a similar history to Sevilla, less than 30km distant. It was an important Roman city (from which era it preserves a fascinating subterranean necropolis) and under the Moors was often governed by a brother of the Sevillan ruler. Later, Pedro the Cruel built a palace within its castle, which he used as a “provincial” royal residence. 

The Iglesia de San Pedro (Tues-Sat 9.30am-2.30pm; ¬1.20) is a good place to start exploring the town; it dominates Carmona’s main thoroughfare, c/San Pedro and has a splendid Baroque sagrario (sacristy) within. Buses stop just short of the church in the Paseo del Estatuto, from where, looking east, you get a view of the magnificent Moorish Puerta de Sevilla , a grand and fortified Roman gateway to the old town which now houses the turismo. The old town is circled by 4km of ancient walls, inside which narrow streets wind up past Mudéjar churches and Renaissance mansions. Follow c/Prim uphill to the Plaza San Fernando (or Plaza Mayor), modest in size but dominated by splendid Moorish-style buildings. Behind it there’s a bustling fruit and vegetable market most mornings.

Close by to the east is Santa María la Mayor (Tues-Sat 9.30am-2.30pm, Sun & Mon service times; ¬1.20), a fine Gothic church built over the former main mosque, whose elegant patio it retains; like many of Carmona’s churches it is capped by a Mudéjar tower, possibly utilizing part of the old minaret. Dominating the ridge of the town are the massive ruins of Pedro’s Alcázar , destroyed by an earthquake in 1504 and now taken over by a remarkably tasteful but very expensive parador . To the left, beyond and below, the town comes to an abrupt and romantic halt at the Roman Puerta de Córdoba , from where the ancient Córdoba road (once the mighty Via Augusta heading north to Zaragoza and Gaul, now a dirt track) drops down to a vast plain.

The extraordinary Roman necropolis (guided tours: June-Sept Tues-Sat 9am-2pm; Oct-May Tues-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 10am-2pm; ¬1.50, free to EU citizens) lies on a low hill at the opposite end of Carmona; walking out of town from San Pedro take c/Enmedio, the middle street (parallel to the main Sevilla road) of three that leave the western end of the Paseo del Estatuto; follow this for about 450m. Here, amid the cypress trees, more than nine hundred family tombs dating from the second century BC to the fourth century AD can be found. Enclosed in subterranean chambers hewn from the rock, the tombs are often frescoed and contain a series of niches in which many of the funeral urns remain intact. Some of the larger tombs have vestibules with stone benches for funeral banquets, and several retain carved family emblems (one is of an elephant, perhaps symbolic of long life). Most spectacular is the Tumba de Servilia - a huge colonnaded temple with vaulted side chambers. Opposite is a partly excavated amphitheatre , though as yet it isn’t included in the tour.

South of Mojácar beach lie a succession of small, isolated coves, the most accessible of them reached down a rough coastal track that turns off towards the sea just under 4km down the road to Carboneras. The scenic Mojácar-Carboneras road itself winds perilously through the hills some way inland, and offers only occasional access to some tempting beaches. There’s no bus on this stretch either, and you’d need to be very intent on escaping the crowds to want to drive this way. 

CARBONERAS has an average beach and a few hostales but is scarred by the shadow of a massive cement factory, which dominates its bay. Beyond, a small road extends to the isolated fishing hamlet of AGUA AMARGA , an infinitely more attractive spot with a fine beach backed by a tasteful crop of villas. There are limited places to stay , of which the best is easily the French-run Pensión Family (tel 950 138 014, fax 950 138 208; ¬36-48), which has a good restaurant with a great value menú ; you’ll need to book well ahead in high season. Both Carboneras and Agua Amarga are served by bus from Almería.

North from Mojácar there’s easier access, with occasional buses and reasonably easy hitching, to LA GARRUCHA , a lively, if unattractive, town and fishing harbour. This is in the process of development, with villas now thick on the ground and many more in the offing, but it does have a life of its own besides tourism. There are several expensive hostales and a summer-only youth hostel , but you’re more likely to visit its reasonable beach as a good afternoon’s break from Mojácar. There are also some fine fish restaurants around the fishing harbour; El Almejero , with its terrace actually fronting the quayside, is one of the best - if the fish landed don’t meet their high standards, they don’t open - and they have an equally excellent tapas bar, too.

CAPILEIRA is the highest of the three villages in the Poqueira Gorge and the terminus of the road - Europe’s highest, but now closed to traffic - across the heart of the Sierra Nevada from Granada. In addition to the direct daily afternoon bus from Granada, continuing to Murtas and Bérchules, anything going to Ugíjar and Berja will come very close to Capileira; the bus out to Granada currently passes by at 6.20am, 3.50pm and 6.20pm. 

The kiosco at the centre of the village near where the bus drops you hands out a village map , sells newspapers and large-scale walking maps, and acts as an information office. Just downhill from here lies the village’s museum , containing displays of regional dress and handicrafts, as well as various bits and pieces belonging to, or produced by, Pedro Alarcón, the nineteenth-century Spanish writer who made a trip through the Alpujarras and wrote a (not very good) book about it. There are numerous places to stay and eat . One of the quietest places in town, well away from the main road, is the Fonda Restaurante El Tilo , Plaza Calvario (tel 958 763 181; ¬12-18), which also does a menú . Further uphill the pleasant Finca Los Llanos (tel 958 763 071, fax 958 763 206; ¬36-48) has apartment-style rooms with kitchenette and terrace together with its own pool and a good restaurant, while the Mesón-Hostal Poqueira (tel & fax 958 763 048; ¬18-27) near the bus stop has en-suite heated rooms, and also offers a substantial menú for around ¬6 in its terrace restaurant at the rear. Near the church, the Casa Ibero (aka the Mesón Alpujarreón ) serves excellent food and has vegetarian options.

Capileira is a handy base for easy day walks in the Poqueira Gorge. For a not-too-strenuous example, take the northernmost of three paths below the village, each with bridges across the river. This sets off from alongside the Pueblo Alpujarreño villa complex. The path winds through the huts and terraced fields of the river valley above Capileira, ending after about an hour and a half at a dirt track within sight of a power plant at the head of the valley. You can either retrace your steps or cross the stream over a bridge to follow a dirt track back to the village. In May and June, the fields are tended - laboriously and by hand - as the steep slopes dictate. Reasonably clear paths or tracks also lead to Pampaneira (2-3hr, follow lower path to the bridge below Capileira), continuing to Carataunas (1hr, mostly road) and Órgiva (45min, easy path) from where you can get a bus back. In the other direction, taking the Sierra Nevada road and then the first major path to the right, by a ruined stone house, you can reach Pitres (2hr), Pórtugos (30min more) and Busquistar (45min). Going in the same direction but taking the second decent-sized path (by a sign encouraging you to “conserve and respect nature”), Trevélez is some five hours away - you can also get to Pórtugos this way. More fine walking routes in this zone are detailed in Landscapes of Andalucía by John and Christine Oldfield and the Discovery Walking Guide .

The village of CANDELEDA , on the Arenas-Jarandilla road, is nothing special but it’s amazingly popular with Spanish summer holiday-makers, who book its hostales weeks in advance. The turismo is in the Casa Cultura, close to the Plaza Mayor (daily 10am-1.30pm & 5-8pm; tel 920 380 396), and can provide helpful information on walking and hiking in the area. If you’re planning ahead, the best-value place to stay is Hostal La Pastora (tel 920 382 127; ¬27-36) and the fanciest the Hostal Pedrós (tel 920 380 951; ¬27-36). Campers sometimes set up their tents alongside the river, west of town. 

At MADRIGAL DE LA VERA , a more attractive village 12km to the west of Candeleda, there’s an official campsite, Alardos (tel 927 565 066; March-Sept), and yet another route across the Gredos, this time leading to Bohoyo , a hamlet 4km southwest of El Barco de Ávila.

BAEZA is tiny, compact and provincial, with a perpetual Sunday air about it. At its heart are the Plaza Mayor - in fact comprised of two linked plazas, the Plaza de la Constitucíon at the southern end with a garden, and the smaller Plaza de España to the north - and paseo , flanked by cafés and very much the hub of the town’s limited animation. 

The Plaza de Leones , an appealing cobbled square enclosed by Renaissance buildings, stands slightly back at the far end. Here, on a rounded balcony, the first Mass of the Reconquest is reputed to have been celebrated; the mansion beneath it houses the turismo (Mon-Fri 9am-2.30pm, Sat 10am-1pm; tel 953 740 444), where you can pick up a map (which conveniently incorporates an Úbeda town map as well) and English-language walking-tour brochure of the town. There are no charges to enter any of Baeza’s monuments but you may offer the guardian a small propina (tip).

Finest of Baeza’s mansions is the Palacio de Jabalquinto (patio open Tues-Sun 10am-1pm & 4-6pm), now a seminary, with an elaborate “Isabelline” front (showing marked Moorish influence in its stalactite decoration). Close by, the sixteenth-century Catedral (daily 10am-1pm & 5.15-7pm), like many of Baeza and Úbeda’s churches, has brilliant painted rejas (iron screens) created in the sixteenth century by Maestro Bartolomé, the Spanish master of this craft. In the cloister, part of the old mosque has been uncovered, but the cathedral’s real novelty is a huge silver custodia - cunningly hidden behind a painting of St Peter which whirls aside for a 100ptas coin (which they may eventually get around to converting to take euros).

There are some good walks around town: wandering up through the Puerta de Jaén on the Plaza de los Leones and along the Paseo Murallas/Paseo de Don Antonio Machado takes you round the edge of Baeza with good views over the surrounding plains. You can cut back to the Plaza Mayor via the network of narrow stone-walled alleys - with the occasional arch - that lie behind the cathedral.

Accommodation is adequate but mostly upmarket: for budget options try the Hostal El Patio , c/Conde Ramones 13, near the Plaza de Leones (tel 953 740 200; ¬12-27), an old Renaissance mansion set around an enclosed courtyard with a wood-beamed dining hall; or the Hostal Comercio (tel 953 740 100; ¬18-27) on c/San Pablo, a main road at the end of the central square, at no. 21 - both have some rooms with bath. Best of the central pricier places is Hotel Baeza , c/Concepción 3, near the Plaza de España (tel 953 748130, fax 953 742519; ¬60-90), partly set inside a former Renaissance palace. Good bets for food and drink include the ancient Cafetería Mercantil , on the Plaza de España, which besides being the best place for a lazy terrace breakfast offers decent tapas and raciones later in the day. Nearby, Casa Lucas , Plaza España 13, is a local favourite for more tapas and economical platos combinados . For a bit more style try the pleasant terrace of the mid-priced Restaurante Sali around the corner at c/Benavides 9 with a view of Baeza’s magnificent sixteenth-century ayuntamiento . Casa Pedro at no. 3 on the same street is another possibility, with a menú for around ¬12.

The nearest train station is Linares-Baeza 14km from Baeza and served by frequent trains from Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada (there is a connecting bus for most trains, except on Sun; ¬12 taxi ride). Most bus connections are via Úbeda.