The territory of the municipality of Benarrabá, watered by the Rivers Genal and Guadiaro, presents to the visitor a landscape forested with cork oaks, evergreen oaks and pines on the one hand and on the other olive groves and grain fields, crops that give away along the riverbanks to citrus trees, vegetables and orchards.

These lands as a whole possess the diversity that is characteristic of a varied mountain terrain rich in contrasts. It is in the watershed of the River Genal, though, that the landscape reaches levels of outstanding beauty.
The urban district faces the valley of the River Genal. It sits on a knoll on which has been laid out a fascinating maze of streets and alleys in whose background, bends in the street permitting, can be seen the verdant nearby forest.
There is no reliable evidence of human settlement in these lands before the arrival of the Arabs to the Iberian Peninsular, so every indication is that the place was founded during the Muslim era, apparently by descendants of the Bann Rabbah (Sons of Rabbah) tribe of the Berbers, thus the name of the town.

These first settlers constructed a fortification on the slopes of Mount Porón that dominated a landscape that included the neighbouring towns of Jubrique, Gaucín, Algatocín and Genalguacil. This was responsible for the fortress becoming the best point for observing and defending a large part of the valley. There are those who say, perhaps letting their imaginations run wild, that that castle had an underground connection with those of Casares and Gaucín. After the Christian Conquest, these lands passed directly into the hands of the House of Medina Sidonia.
One of the most important and best-documented historic occurrences in this place is in fact connected to the House of Medina Sidonia. In 1636, the ninth duke of that illustrious name passed through Benarrabá on the way to Montilla where he was going to pick up his wife, Juana Fernández de Córdoba, whom he had married by proxy. The retinue passed through the place with such pomp and ostentation that it went down in local history as a notable event.

Outstandings Visits:

Since the Arab castle on Mount Porón no longer exists this town’s most outstanding monument is the parish church of San Sebastián. It was built in the first half of the eighteenth century and later underwent numerous alterations. Its interior is divided into three naves separated by semicircular arches resting on quadrangular pillars. In the square, main chapel, the decorated dome stands out for its multicoloured gesso works relating to the Assumption and the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian and other saints.
On its main façade the church has a curious lobed arch that ends in a triangle, while the tower is notable for its roof covered with blue glazed ceramic. The church, taken as a whole, is built to a very harmonious plan and shows great architectural simplicity.
The Cristo de la Vera Cruz hermitage dates from the seventeenth century and has also been the object of later alterations. Its floor plan is a single nave where a valuable polychromatic wooden altarpiece made in the eighteenth century is displayed. The sombreness of this small church’s exterior is relieved somewhat by a graceful belfry with a single bell window.

How to Get There:
If the traveller is in Ronda or its environs, the easiest way to get to this town is to take the A-369 (Ronda-Algeciras road), and once past Algatocín to take the MA-538 to Benarrabá. If he is starting from the Costa del Sol, it is advisable to go by way of the AP-7 (N-340) to Manilva and there to take the A-377 to Gaucín, where it connects with the A-369 and Benarrabá is then reached by the aforementioned MA-358.

Interesting Facts:
Surface Area: 26 square kilometres
Population: about 600
What the natives are called: Benarrabeños
Monuments: the parish church of San Sebastián, Santo Cristo de la Vera Cruz hermitage
Geographical Location: in the southern part of the Mountains of Ronda, 157 kilometres from the city of Málaga and 37 from Ronda. The urban district lies 520 meters above sea level. Average annual rainfall is 1,260 litres per square metre and the average annual temperature is 14.3º C
Tourist Information: Town Hall, Calle Pósito, 7 (29490). Telephone: 952 150 077; Fax: 952 150 208