Activities
The East coast of Almeria offers a wide variety of sports activities. Sea enthusiasts can enjoy diving in the rich sea beds of the bays around the Cabo de Gata, water skiing, windsurfing or boat trips on the Mediterranean. For those who prefer mountains the area offers many routes for walking, cycling, horse riding and caves for underground exploration. Other local activities are too many and varied to list here but we have provided a few ideas below.
Beaches
The beaches are one of the major attractions of the area and there are almost 17km of them to explore. You'll find long, un-crowded sandy beaches along the stretch of coast between Mojacar and Vera. The beaches in the immediate vicinity consistently earn the European BlueFlag for cleanliness and offer an excellent range of activities in the peak season.
Garrucha has a harbour beach with calm waters due to a breakwater. There is a great children's play area with many restaurants and bars on the promenade.
Villaricos has an unspoilt golden sandy beach and an excellent beach bar.
Vera Playa has 6.8km of open clean beach and several beach bars. About 1.5km of the beach is not for the prudish as the area is one of Europe's top naturist resorts and includes a naturist hotel! On the coastal road south from Mojacar towards Carboneras, after about four kilometres there is a rough track which turns off towards the sea. Follow this to discover some charming, isolated coves which pepper this stretch of the coastline. A little further afield, Cabo de Gata boasts many attractive, quiet sandy coves and beaches.
Golf
Almeria is turning into a major holiday destination for golf enthusiasts thanks to the growing range of golf courses and resorts. More and more golfers are discovering the excellent courses in this region. It is fast becoming apparent to golfers that Almeria is less expensive and less crowded than the Costa Del Sol, La Manga and The Algarve.
With an average of 320 days of sunshine per year and the fact that this is the driest area in Spain, the region provides golfers with perfect conditions for playing the game over the winter and spring seasons - no miserable wet & cold weather to spoil your game!!
Our apartment provides an excellent base for golf enthusiasts with four of the best regional courses within 15-20 minutes drive. Although there are tailor made golf packages on offer for this region, it is often cheaper and more flexible to arrange your own. If you need any further advice or help with booking a golf trip, please drop us an email and we will try and organise it for you.
Here are a couple of the best local courses:
Desert Springs Golf Club
Inspired by the famous desert courses of Arizona and California, The Indiana course at Desert Springs Golf Club is the first desert course in Europe and has been built to full USGA specifications. It presents unforgettable views and golf of such a dramatic nature that it has taken not only desert golf, but golf in general in this part of Spain, to a new level of excellence. Its immaculate fairways are set amongst massive rocky outcrops, and dry rivers.
The contrast of the emerald green fairways with the arid landscape of cactus, rock and flowering desert, is stunning at all times of the year and framed within a panorama of mountain ranges. Over 600,000 cacti and other desert plants grow progressively more dense and troubling the further your shot is off the fairway, culminating in the dreaded "spiked lies". The course is both demanding and exhilarating and offers a variety of shot making challenges to test the skill level of every player. The quality of the course was confirmed by its selection by the English Golf Union and currently by the Welsh Ladies Golf Union, as their "Spanish Home" and also by the Royal Spanish Golf Federation, for whom Desert Springs hosted the 2004 Spanish Amateur Open and will be hosting the 2007 Open. Its Academy of Golf provides practice facilities, second to none, for National squad and County Union members. It is a fantastic but difficult course but nevertheless, an experience that you must indulge!
Valle del Este Golf Club, Vera
Valle del Este combines challenging with other less strenuous holes. The landscaping policy is part of what makes Valle del Este so unique - the course uses the natural terrain and incorporates indigenous species such as palms, olives and figs.
The 18 hole par 72 course extends to 5352 metres and has three lakes. The fairways have generous landing areas and a considerable amount of sand with large bunkers and spacious greens. Almost every hole has four tees, some having up to six, enabling play of both distances and angles. Tees are positioned on small raised platforms surrounded by volcanic rock.
All in all, it presents a real challenge for players of all abilities - probably why it's one of my favourites!
Karting in Garrucha
There are two circuits available at Karting Garrucha, one for adults and one for children, with six different categories of kart. The two seater Biplaza kart allows even the youngest of children to enjoy an accompanied ride with mum or dad. The F200 kart is available as standard kart or one specially adapted for disabled drivers with the acceleration and breaks controlled from the steering wheel. The main circuit, floodlit in the winter evenings, is 400m long and 6m wide, offering plenty of room for overtaking.
Local Markets
Each of the local villages host a colourful and typically Spanish local market on a different day of the week. Some are obviously bigger and better than others but all are worth a visit.
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Sports & Leisure
In the Puerto Rey area, within a 3 minute drive, there is Club Deportivo Sports & Leisure Centre which offers excellent facilities for adults and children. It has a state of the art gym, which can be used on a casual daily rate basis, a double height golf driving range, paddle tennis & crazy golf. All equipment can be hired at reasonable rates. Downstairs there is a Café/Bar with a terrace.
Skiing
Yes, it really is possible to ski in the Sierra Nevada in the morning and sunbath on the beaches of Mojacar Playa in the afternoon!! Spain may not conjure up an image of impressive snow covered mountain peaks but happens to have numerous ski resorts dotted throughout the country. The Sierra Nevada defies many concepts associated with skiing. Located about 250km from Mojacar, the popular ski resort of Pradollano can be reached within a 2.5 hour drive. It has practically guaranteed sunshine, the best spring snow conditions in Europe and is still reasonably priced compared to many of its European counterparts. As one of Europe's highest resorts it has a surprisingly long season and traditionally opens at the end of November running through to the end of April or even the first week of May.
Snorkelling & Diving
There is a whole world under the Mediterranean waves just waiting to be explored. Snorkelling is something that any swimmer can do and the relatively calm seas and gentle tides off the Almeria coast provide a perfect environment for face-down fun. For divers, the area doesn't attract the greatest variety of species but there is still much to see and explore, particularly close to the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Dive sites provide a mix of rocky underwater landscapes, reefs and wrecks. Marine life includes congers, groupers, seahorses, spider crabs, squid, lobster, trigger fish, sunfish and dolphins. There are several scuba diving clubs up and down the coast.
Tabernas / Oasys Parque (Mini Hollywood)
Located approximately 24 kilometres from Almeria on the N-340, Tabernas is a village of contrasts. It sits between the Sierra de Alhamilla and Sierra de Filabres mountains and is situated in the only desert in Europe. Summer temperatures can reach in excess of 45C.
Tabernas is best known for the production of spaghetti westerns and various film sets built into the desert have been transformed into theme parks, the best known of which is Oasys Parque, formerly Mini Hollywood. In it's heyday, more than 100 films were partially shot here including A Fistful of Dollars, The Magnificent Seven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
These days visitors can enjoy a daily mock bank hold-up and shootout staged at noon and 5pm daily. In addition to a swimming pool, cafe/restaurant and children's playground, there is also a small zoo with lions, elephants, brown bears, giraffes, kangaroos, monkeys and other animals. Just three kilometres away is Texas Hollywood, also used as a set and boasting a Western town, fort, Mexican pueblo and Indian tepees. If nothing else, stop off for a cold beer at the Western-style saloon, which is decorated with photos of some of the above screen classics starring Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson and Raquel Welch.
Water Park - Parque Acquatico Vera
Enjoy a fantastic day out splashing about with your family and friends. Have fun on great water attractions; Kamikaze, multi-slides, black holes, adventure river, tube slides, wave pool, lake pool and, for the little ones, the infant pool and attractions. There is also, mini-golf, super jumper, mini-park, green zones and an amusement arcade. Situated next to Consum supermarket between Garrucha and Villaricos, only a short drive (or 25 min walk) from our apartment.
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