DK Travel : Andalucía and Costa del Sol : Places of interest

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ALHAMBRA

Not the most original suggestion but it really took my breath away. We went late in the day after seeing it from a distance as we cycled down from the mountains into Granada and although there were lots of people around it is beautiful and easy to imagine how calm it would be without the crowds. The Moorish architecture, tiles and plasterwork are beautiful and really set the scene for romance and contemplation.
Amazing Beaches

There are amazing beaches all along the Costa de la Luz.
Arcos de la Frontera

This is one of the most stunning of the peublos blancas, perched right on the edge of the hilltop.
Bodegas

You must visit some of the bodegas in and around Jerez.
Cadiz Catedral

The 'new' cathedral is impressive viewed from the waterfront.
Canos de Meca

Going south from Cadiz city, when you reach Vejer get away from the main road and head for the beach. Canos de Meca is a very small town, barely a street on top of the beach. A famous spot for hipsters in the 70's, it still keeps some of that feeling. Young people hang around at the beaches (one of them nudist) untill the sunset, when you should go to one of the cafes on the cliffside and enjoy the view with a cold beer.
Gibraltar

Lovely little piece of Britain in the Mediterranean worth a visit.

Website for help and advice

http://www.gibraltarnewsonline.com/forums/
guadalest

a Lovely village to get to it you walk through a tunnel in a cliff, lovely small shops and museums and a castle.
Mijas

A lovely hill side village, 15 minutes drive from the centre of Fuengirola. The town has a number of restaurants and beautiful squares with plenty of shops for gifts for family and friends.
The Costa De La Luz

Tight clusters of old, square- edged white houses and churches, from a distance looking like a child’s building blocks, cling to the tops of lonely hills and crags across southern Andalucia, their whiteness and their red- tiled roofs picked out sharply in the fierce heat against a brilliant blue sky. These are the pueblos blancos, the “white villages”, all uniformly whitewashed in line with old Moorish tradition. The words de la Frontera in many place names refer back to the times when this was indeed the frontier between Christian and Muslim Spain, and these villages were built -by one side or the other- as semi- fortresses, huddled together for safety in locations that seem to defy all logic. Each village is a maze of narrow lanes that wind, climb and fall, their whiteness offset by vibrant red flowers. And, far below, is what is now called the Costa de la Luz, in recognition of its exquisitely clear light- a line of great, broad beaches facing the windy Atlantic and washed by crashing surf.

Much less well known than Spain’s Mediterranean coasts, this area nevertheless offers one of the most distinctive mixes of character and landscape anywhere in Andalucia. Its two main towns offer a complete contrast- Jerez de la Frontera, once a Moorish fortress, but long the capital of sherry and now filled with elegant bodegas that give it a special air of gracious living; and Cadiz, the oldest city in western Europe, a salty sea port with streets full of echoes of voyages of discovery. Just to the north across the River Guadalquivir is the Coto Donana, a vast expanse of wetland that is home to some of Europe’s rarest wildlife, including lynxes and flamingoes. Southwards, the long beaches run down to the old Moorish citadel of Tarifa. The meeting of the Atlantic and Mediterranean in the straits is also a prime feeding-ground for whales and dolphins, and a trip from Tarifa out to see them, with the mountains of Morocco as a backdrop, is an unforgettable experience.

Beyond all these attractions, the Costa de la Luz is also an ideal place just to relax. Beach towns like Zahara de los Atunes, “Of the Tuna”, are still fishing villages, and as you sample the local delicacies you can find an easygoing friendliness that often seems lost elsewhere.