Car hire and car tours of Andalusia

Excursions from the Costa del Sol Southern Spain offers plenty of scope for car tours and car hire can be pre-booked and picked up at Granada or Malaga Airport. Inland from the Costa del Sol the great excursion is a journey round the White Towns. One route is inland north from San Roque outside Gibraltar, and north through Gaucin and Benadalid to Ronda and Olvera.

An alternative is from Malaga, north to Antequera, and then on minor roads via the gorge or garganta del Chorro to Alora, Bobastro and back to the coast via Cartama; a magnificent tour through wild mountain scenery.
East of Malaga, the mountains of the Sierra Nevada are the great touring attraction. One way to explore them is simply to head into the hills above Granada and roam at will. Sol y Nieve is a ski resort with garish buildings and an expanding network of lifts, which is not too attractive in summer. Just above it, however, lies the peak of the Veleta (3 419m; 11 217ft) the second highest peak of the range, and part of a ridge that runs off to the summit of the Sierra at Mulhacen (3 482m; 11 424ft), about 5km (3 miles) away. The views from this road are quite wonderful, with Africa and the Moroccan coast in sight on a clear day. From here, a good tour would take in the two towns of Lanjaron and Orgiva, not so much for themselves as for the pleasure of getting there.Further north lies the province of Jaen.

The city of Jaen Andalusia

The city of Jaen is unremarkable, but the countryside around it is off the tourist track and very beautiful. Two places which should be visited here are the towns of Ubeda and Baeza. Just to be different, Ubeda is a Christian, Renaissance town, largely dating from after the Reconquest, with some fine churches. Baeza goes one better and has a cathedral, and, like Ubeda, largely dates from the post­Reconquest, though the Moors built some of the fortifications. Both of these charming towns can easily be explored on foot or by hire car from Malaga Airport.

Almeria information

Almeria, which tends to be more barren than the rest and will appeal to those who like wild country has become one of the more popular Andalusian provinces, and now offers visitors plenty of attractions and things to do. Inland from the city of Almeria lie two mountain ranges, the Sierra de Gador and the Sierra de Alhamilla; the road to the hinterland runs between them to Tabernas. Places to visit up here include Guadix which has a Moorish castle and some troglodyte caves, and the splendid castle at La Calahorra on the road to Granada.

The Costa de la Luz

The Costa de la Luz lies on the Atlantic Ocean, running from the Portuguese frontier at Ayamonte to the Mediterranean at Tarifa and Algeciras. The Costa de la Luz is less developed than the Costa del Sol and those looking for a beach holiday may well find it more attractive. The beaches are better, being long and sandy and swept clean daily by the strong Atlantic tides.

Tourism has not yet spoiled the Costa de la Luz, though new developments are springing up as the former major sources of provincial wealth, the sherry trade and vineyards, have gone into decline. The Rio Tinto mines, which brought wealth to the region for many centuries, are not what they were either. The two main cities, Huelva and Cadiz, are both ports.
The town of Jerez de la Frontera is the largest town in the province of Cadiz and the principal attraction for tourists, who go there to visit the sherry cellars (bodegas). The major attraction for naturalists is the wilderness of the Doñana National Park. This lies at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, the great river that flows into the sea here. Sanlucar de Barrameda is the port which launched Magellan on his circumnavigation of the world. Sleepy Sanlucar is also the home of the exquisite manzanilla sherry.

Chipiona is a seaside resort, while Rota is larger and noisier with a magnificent beach. Coni!, to the south of Cadiz, is a pleasant family resort, close to the classic White Town of Vejer de la Frontera and historic Cape Trafalgar.

Beaches on the Costa de la Luz

Along the Costa de la Luz, the beach-lover is spoiled for choice, though since this is the tidal Atlantic coast, attention should be paid to warning flags and offshore currents. Cadiz has several good beaches, including Playas de la Barrosa, de la Victoria and Cortadura. North of Rota there are long sandy beaches at Regia, near Chipiona, and also near Sanlucar. The coast between the Coto Doiiana and Huelva is one long beach, backed by a handy coast road. The coast between Punta Umbria and Ayamonte is a tourist area, with good sandy beaches, which are, in effect, an extension of the Portuguese Algarve.

The Costa de la Luz does not have many of those modern resorts so common along the Costa del Sol. Cadiz, with a claim to be the oldest city in western Europe, has a charm all its own. It is well worth visiting, but the two main resorts lie across the bay, at Puerto de Santa Maria and the apartment and marina complex with the unfortunate name of Puerto Sherry. There is also a water park nearby called 'Aguasherry', so at least the children will have a good time. Tarifa, on the very tip of Spain, can also be counted as part of the Atlantic coast and has both a beautiful beach and reliable winds for the windsurfers.

HueIva's attractions multiply with the approach of Portugal. The principal resort close to Huelva is Punta Umbria. Matalascaiias is another small resort set on a 32-km (20-mile) long beach east of Huelva, chiefly noted for its easy access to the wildlife of the Doñana National Park. Further west, close to Portugal, pleasant places to stay include Ayamonte and Isla Cristina, both of which lie close to excellent beaches and are handy for excursions to Seville and across the Guadiana into the Portuguese Algarve.