Almería

Almería is the capital city of a privileged Spanish province, located in the easternmost part of the province. The Levante area opens to the Mediterranean and it is part of the Andalusia region. It is a gift to the senses, with sun, mountains and beaches to be enjoyed throughout the year; it offers the visitor many activities and fabulous landscapes and surroundings.

Almería is an area of outstanding natural beauty with an extraordinary sunny climate all year round. Fortunately time has stood still, as its villages have barely changed over the years and with its incredible variety of landscapes, this makes the region one of the most beautiful areas in Andalusia.

Located in the north of Almería is the town of Mojácar-Vera with its sandy beaches stretching for miles. Mojácar -Vera has many excellent facilities, such as top class golf courses, water sports amenities and a fantastic infrastructure and communications…

The Costa Almeria is as varied as any of the Spanish Coasts. The coast is completely unspoilt. To the east of Almeria we find the rugged and desolate coast of the Cabo de Gata - Nijar natural park. This is an arid desert landscape and the annual rainfall here is less than 200mm. It is sparsely populated, few villages and a very low population density. Visitors feel a sense of exploration here as many of the coves can only be reached on foot. This area is particularly popular with nature lovers and back-packers. The most popular coastal village is San José.

West of Almeria is the highly developed tourist resorts of Roquetas de Mar and Aguadulce. These have all the facilities of any modern resort to support the package holiday market. At the north of the Costa de Almeria is the naturist beaches of Vera, a number of new complexes are being constructed here. A little further south is Mojacar which successfully combines the popular beach holiday with the hillside white village that tourist love to explore. Almeria city is worth a visit with the Alcazaba castle overlooking the metropolis.

The old fishing port town of Adra lies further west. In spite of the interesting castle and assorted archeological remains, it is often missed by tourists travelling along the coastal motorway to or from the Costa Tropical.

Almeria´s skies are also the clearest in Europe, meaning that Europe´s most powerful telescope has been installed here, near Gergal. With an annual average of 3,000 hours of sunshine, it is also home to Europe´s largest solar energy plant, the Solar Platform of Almeria (PSA), an EU solar energy research centre. Even if you´re not allowed in, you can peer over the wire fence and marvel at the rows of futuristic heliostats reflecting the sun´s rays into the towering solar oven and many other devices for turning the sun´s energy into electricity.

The coastline varies enormously in the degree and type of development along it. The stretch of shore between Granada province and Almeria city is the most blighted by plastic greenhouses, although it has the occasional wildlife oasis, such as the lakes in the Albuferas de Adra Natural Reserve, which attract numerous aquatic birds undeterred by the sea of plastic that surrounds them. Another protected enclave south of the resort of Roquetas de Mar is the Punta Entinas-Sabinar Natural Area, covering a beach and marshlands between two headlands in the municipality of El Ejido, the epicentre of the plastic greenhouse agriculture.

East of Almeria there is a remarkable change as you draw nearer to the Cabo de Gata. The park has a long, rugged coastline with secluded bays and remote beaches, some linked only by a footpath. Much of the park is comprised of volcanic rocky mountains that plunge directly to the shore, creating one of Andalucia´s most dramatic coastlines. San Miguel del Cabo de Gata is the first village you come to in the park from Almeria, close to a saltwater lagoon with exceptional birdlife, the Salinas del Cabo de Gata. The next coastal village is the largest one in the park, San José, with the small resorts of Las Negras, La Isleta del Moro and Agua Amarga to the north.