Ronda is home to several excellent bookshops, offering everything from comics and novels to guidebooks and stationary. Read on for our pick of the best independent bookstores in this dramatically appointed Andalusian town.
Located about a 15-minute walk north of Ronda’s historical centre, the Cervantes libreria (bookshop) is a cheerful little store selling the latest Spanish novels – including those by Ronda’s leading authors – as well as guidebooks to the town and the nearby Grazalema natural park, kids’ books, Ronda’s local newspapers and colourful notebooks and diaries. The staff are helpful and friendly.
Located on one of the main streets in the newer part of town, Magik Books is more than just a libreria: according to its website, the store’s wider project is to encourage customers to ‘move and think through reading and creativity’. It has a good selection of children’s books, as well as fiction and non-fiction for adults, all attractively arranged in a space where you can ‘think, imagine… meditate and relax’.
Customers at the Herfer bookshop benefit from the owners’ 30-plus years in the bookselling business. On offer in its small but well-arranged interior is a good selection of fiction and non-fiction books and stationery. Particularly impressive, though, is Herfer’s range of newspapers and magazines, which span topics from cooking to computing. The staff are super-helpful and the shop also has a photocopying facility.
Ronda’s leading comic store enjoys a premium location on the town’s main shopping thoroughfare. Although it looks small upon entering, Comic Stores Ronda is in fact a freaky’s heaven (freaky being a humorous Spanish word for a geek or comic book aficionado): three levels of comics, books, games and merchandise relating to the comic-book world, and, even better, a friendly owner for whom nothing is too much trouble.
Located just a two-minute stroll from Ronda’s elegant 18th-century bullring, the Dumas bookshop entices you in with colourful racks of magazines, newspapers and postcards. The offering inside won’t disappoint, either, consisting as it does of a decent selection of novels, non-fiction books, maps and guides for the local area (including the Grazalema and Nieves natural parks), as well as leading Spanish publications.