Together with Capileira (to the north) and Pampaneira (to the south) it has become a focus for the tourist trade in La Alpujarra, because of the spectacular location of the three villages on the gorge of the Río Poqueira and below the peaks of the Sierra Nevada.

The three villages, with their characteristic Moorish features - narrow, winding streets, flat roofs - have been designated as a Conjunto Histórico Artístico, a region of special artistic and historical importance.

In the second rebellion, which started in December 1568, Bubión was one of the first villages of the Alpujarra to fall to the Catholic forces, after a major battle in the Poqueira valley.

In the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, Bubión and the other two villages of the Poqueira valley remained under Nationalist control, although Republican forces held the surrounding heights.

In addition a network of walking trails link the three white villages and the Poqueira Gorge, ascending into the Sierra Nevada and providing an approach to Mulhacén, the highest peak in continental Spain.