Setenil de las Bodegas · Spain
Setenil de las Bodegas
A practical guide to Setenil de las Bodegas: the Cuevas del Sol and Cuevas de la Sombra streets, how much time to give it, what time to arrive ahead of the tour buses, where to park and which traps to avoid.
It is a one-trick town, but the trick is very good. Worth it before 10:30 or after 16:30; at midday the streets cannot cope.
Setenil de las Bodegas is a town of about 2,600 people in the province of Cádiz where the houses are not carved into the rock but built underneath it. The Trejo River slowly cut a gorge in the sandstone, and in its bends people put up a front wall and left the rock as the roof. The two famous streets, Cuevas del Sol and Cuevas de la Sombra, are about 200 meters long each.
Our experience
Setenil was the second stop on the day we drove from Seville to Granada, after Ronda. We left Ronda at 10:10, arrived at 10:30 and gave it 40 minutes: the two streets and the option of a coffee at one of the bars under the rock. By 11:10 we were on the A-92 toward Granada.
Our research for the drive flagged it as the white village most worth the detour, because it is unlike anything else, and warned that between 11:00 and 14:00 the buses swamp it. Arriving at 10:30 put us just ahead of that wave.
A bit of history
There are traces of people using the caves at least 5,000 years ago. The Almohads fortified the gorge in the 12th century and built the castle, of which the Torre del Homenaje remains.
The name has a story behind it. According to tradition, Christian armies failed in seven sieges starting in 1407, which would explain “septem nihil”, seven times nothing, which over time became Setenil. The eighth attempt worked: on September 21, 1484, Ferdinand the Catholic took the town after fifteen days of artillery fire, seven years before the fall of Granada.
Christian settlers planted vineyards, and the town came to be called “de las Bodegas” for the wine cellars dug into the same rock. Phylloxera finished off that wine in the 1860s, and in the late 20th century the town reinvented itself with tourism.
How it fits into your day
Setenil fits nicely between Ronda and Granada if you are driving. See our road trip day with the times for each leg.
What to see, in order
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Calle Cuevas de la Sombra
The street on the north side, narrower and cooler, with fewer people. Here you see the doors of homes people still live in under the rock.
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The bridge over the Trejo
Down between the two streets, the path along the river is the quietest corner of town. Most day-trip visitors never come down.
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Calle Cuevas del Sol
The famous photo: about 200 meters of bars and terraces under an enormous rock. In mid-morning the sun hits the stone from the side.
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Plaza de Andalucía and Iglesia de la Encarnación
The middle level of town, with cheaper cafés and locals. The church is from the 15th and 16th centuries, built over the old mosque.
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Mirador del Carmen
93 steps up from Plaza de Andalucía to the Setenil sign and a 360-degree view, with fewer people than the streets below.
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Torre del Homenaje
What is left of the 12th-century Almohad castle, with a small museum and a view of the town inside the gorge.
Tips we wish we’d known
Tips
- Park up top: on Calle San Sebastián, next to the Mirador Balcón de Setenil, if there is a free spot, or at the Los Caños garage. The lower streets have restrictions and they hand out fines.
- Do the route downhill along Cuevas de la Sombra, cross the river and come back up along Cuevas del Sol.
- Do not photograph residents at their front doors without asking. Many of those caves are homes.
- There are few public restrooms; use the one at a café where you order something.
Do
- Have your coffee on Cuevas de la Sombra or in Plaza de Andalucía, cheaper than the terraces on Cuevas del Sol.
- Say "buenos días" in shops and bars. In Andalusian towns people notice.
- Wear comfortable shoes: the hills are steep.
Don’t
- Do not have lunch under the rock on Cuevas del Sol: you pay for the setting, 30 to 50% more than in the upper part of town.
- Do not pay for "cave winery tours": the real wineries disappeared with phylloxera in the 19th century.
- Do not accept the second "sample" slice of ham in the souvenir shops if you did not ask for it.
Frequently asked questions
How much time do you need in Setenil?
In 40 minutes you can walk the two cave streets and have a coffee. With an hour you add the Mirador del Carmen.
Where do you park in Setenil de las Bodegas?
Up top, next to the Mirador Balcón de Setenil, on the street if there is room, or at the covered Los Caños garage, for €1.80 an hour.
Can you combine Setenil with Ronda?
Yes. They are 20 km apart. We did Ronda first thing in the morning and Setenil at 10:30, on the way to Granada.
What is the best time to go?
Before 10:30 or after 16:30. Between 11:00 and 14:00 the buses arrive, and the streets are very narrow.