In Hills Like White Elephants, the man and the girl are waiting for the train from Barcelona to Madrid at a small railway station in the Ebro Valley. Hemingway begins by saying that the hills across the valley are long and white, prefiguring the remark that gives the story its title. This side of the valley is described merely by the absence of shade and trees, important since the day is so hot. Later the country is described as brown and dry, contrasting with the whiteness of the hills.

When the girl walks to the end of the station, she sees fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. The river is visible through the trees.

The landscape, therefore, is one of a broad river valley, mostly dry and brown, with trees and grain along the river banks and long white ranges of hills in the distance. The plainness of the landscape complements the spare, unadorned description.