The beaches of Tarifa
Summary
Tarifa’s beaches are some of Spain’s finest. Stretching all the way from Tarifa town, the most southern point of Continental Europe, westwards to Cadiz are long, wide, fine-sand beaches that are enhanced with the dramatic backdrops of mountains behind. Whilst they can get crowded in the weekends, the sheer number and size of the beaches means that there will always be room to find a spot away from the crowds
Three top tips:
- Top beach to visit is Playa de Bolonia. The beach itself is super pretty, with its huge Bolonia Sand Dune to the west and various water inlets all along the beach that give that exotic feel. But it also has the added benefit of having the dramatic views of the mountains nearby, and, for those ancient history fans, the has the former Roman town of Baelo Claudia right on the beach, complete with its surprisingly well maintained old forum and amphitheater, plus a visitor centre that does a good job of setting the context. Extra tip – if eating in Playa de Bolonia, there are some great restaurants right on the beach, but be sure to book ahead at the weekends
- Visit Zahara de los Atunes beach for the drive through the wind farm. I know it sounds a bit dull, but the huge wind farms in this part of Andalucia have been designed to fit in superbly well to the local geography and offer a really dramatic drive as you make your way from the highway to Zahara. Zahara also offers a lot more food options than some of the other beaches and, of course, has the huge beach
- Tarifa town itself is worth a visit. It’s nowhere near as pretty or dramatic as the likes of Vejer de la Fontera or the various towns dotted throughout Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema, but it does have a nice narrow-street old town centre to walk through, with the castle to explore and surprisingly close views of Morocco across the Straight. It also has its own long beach stretching from the town to around 5km / 3miles to the west, which is a good option is you don’t have your own car to make it to the other beaches
highlights
#1 The long, wide, fine-sand beaches stretched all the way from Tarifa to Cadiz
#2 The former Roman town of Baelo Claudia, complete with its surprisingly well maintained old forum and amphitheater, plus a visitor centre that does a good job of setting the context
#3 The narrow-street old town centre of Tarifa itself
#4 The dramatic setting of where the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia meet the beach of Bolonia
#5 The dramatic drive through some of the vast wind farms that have been superbly designed to fit in with the surrounding landscape
#6 The Old Fort to the south of Tarifa, representing the southernmost point of Continental Europe and with views across the Straight of Gibraltar to Morocco
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Beautiful Beach Experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone