LINKS

Whenever you come to an area you are not familiar with, local knowledge is invaluable. In this respect we offer our local knowledge and are pleased to give links below. Please note that we are not responsible for the services of third parties that we have listed on this page.

Getting here

Flights to Almería airport from the UK often change according to season but generally can be booked through the following:
EasyJet (from Stansted and Gatwick)
Monarch (from Luton, Manchester and Birmingham)
MyTravel Lite (from Birmingham)
Ryan Air (from Stansted, Dublin)

Sometimes it's possible to get better deals flying with Iberia travelling via Madrid airport. Please see Iberia.com for further details.

Car hire

For competitive car hire, we suggest that you try any of the following:
AutoEurope
Car Hire Spain
Goldcar Rental
Rhino Car Hire

We recommend avoiding the agents DoYouSpain.Com because we have had a bad experience with them - the "on-screen" hire prices always looks attractive but by the time you've actually paid and all the extras have been added, you'll wish you went elsewhere. On querying these "extra" charges and trying to settle the matter, our emails have simply been ignored. BE WARNED!

Accommodation - please note that some hotels, hostals & campsites are seasonal.

We are based in San José and would encourage clients to stay close for logistical reasons. There is a very good standard of accommodation available in San José, here is a selection of the best.

Self-catering:
Home Management Services
San José Rentals
San José Spain

Hostals:
Caroline y Vanessa Aparthotel
Hostal Aloha
Hostal Las Dunas
Hostal Puerto Genoves

Hotels:
Hotel Cortijo el Sotillo
Hotel Don Ignacio
Hotel MC

Backpacking / Camping:
Albergue San José
Camping Tau

For staying elsewhere along the Costa Almería, i.e. not necessarily in the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata:

Self-catering:
Direct Rentals Spain

Cortijos / Casa Rurales:
Cortijo el Campillo
Cortijo del Sevillano

Food & Drink

There are numerous options for food around Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata including some amazing sea food restaurants. Please bear in mind that ownership does occasionally change hands and what might be good one day may not be good the next. San José has many great places to eat but some are very expensive and frankly not worth the money. Here is a list of the ones we currently favour, a tip though when you go for tapas, ask what is available as what you see written on the board might not necessarily be what they have!

Tapas (main meals available in most places but tapas recommended):
Arrecife - good traditional tapas, seasonal opening.
Bar Iruña - lovely revamped bar, open all year round. Now with great tapas!
Café Andrea - good but only cold tapas, open all year round.
El Duende - excellent and sometimes different, open all year round.
El Octopus - excellent, modern and open all year round. Good selection of wine.
La Raspa - excellent, traditional and open all year round.

Restaurants:
Aniceto - very good but expensive, seasonal opening.
Atalaya - good food, service sometimes a bit "iffy", seasonal opening.
Bla-Bla-Bla - excellent value burgers & pizzas, open all year round.
Casa Pepé - good value food, fantastic views, seasonal opening.
El Mich - nice modern food, good value menu del dia, seasonal opening.
El Otro Parque - nice, mostly Italian food, on the expensive side, seasonal opening.
Il Brigantino - very good value for money, seasonal and random opening.
Mesón el Pescador - a bit hit & miss, when it's good it's great, seasonal opening.
Rione Trastevere - great food, especially the pizzas, seasonal opening.
Tercera Edad - good food, especially the menu del dia, open all year round.
Yamina - nice "basic" pizza & pasta restaurant, good value, seasonal opening.

Restaurants (a little out of San José):
Alba, Los Albaricoques - a must for Spaghetti Western fans, good food, not sure of opening times.
El Refugio, Cala Higuera - fantastic food, even better views, seasonal opening.
Las Forcas (Casa Maria), Boca de los Frailes - best value food, open all year.
Rincón del Castillo, Retamar - good value food, rapid service - sometimes too fast, seasonal opening.

There is an almost unlimited number of fantastic traditional places to eat in the various villages around the Almería province and we have been to quite a few of these villages. If you are taking a photography experience with us and would like to sample a true taste of Spain, let us know and we will arrange a combined photography & culinary experience you will remember forever :-)

Bars:
Generally the quality of the bar is defined by the quality of the tapas and all the places listed under the Tapas heading above are also good bars. There are a number of nice bars however that don't sell tapas (or quality of tapas not as good as other places) that are worth mentioning.
Jo Bar - biker's bar sometimes live music @ weekends & BBQ, open all year round.
Maimono (El Pirata) - nice vibe & music, open all year round.

If anyone has had a good experience of any restaurant in San José that isn't mentioned above and feels it should be, please let us know, contact - martyn@cabodegataphotography.com.

There is no shortage of supermarkets in Cabo de Gata though some of the better ones are located in Almería. There is also an excellent Sunday market for fruit & veg in El Alquián, near Almería airport.

Excursions

We are very environmentally focused and do not promote activities such as quad biking, motor-cross, etc... There are a number of alternative activities to become involved with in the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata and a good source of knowledge is our very good friend Jesus Contreras. Please visit his Facebook page to see what he can offer. We are hoping to be working with Jesus more and more as time goes on.

Other companies / individuals offering good eco-friendly activities are:
Almería Touren
Cortijo el Campillo
Cortijo del Sevillano
Hotel Cortijo el Sotillo
geoGata
Pita Escuela
Rutas por Almería

Resources

There are a number of useful resources in Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata and San José, here are a few that I know:
Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park
Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata - Nijar
Unique Almería

Details of activities further afield:
Active Travel Guide to Andalucia - Things to do in sunny Southern Spain

Our Blog

As you can appreciate, it would be impossible to include a definitive list / diary of activities in the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata and the above is given simply as an alphabetical links guide. We do however keep our blog page fairly up-to-date and this is a good source of reference for cultural activities all over the province of Almería, all of course with a photography bias. Our blog can be found by clicking here.