Roquetas de Mar Holidays

With beaches that stretch out forever, nature reserves on your doorstep and some of the best tapas around these parts, Roquetas de Mar gives you a Spanish-flavoured holiday away from the usual crowds. You’ll find this fishing town on the super-sunny Costa de Almeria in Andalusia.

Handily, Roquetas is on a 15-kilometre stretch of sand. You’ve got a beach in town but there are other options, too. One of them is Playa de las Salinas – about 10 minutes’ drive to the east, this is a breezy patch of shoreline that’s great for watersports. Or you might enjoy Playa de Cerrillos, an isolated spot that’s popular with naturists.

Pretty much on the doorstep – about five minutes' drive away – you’ve got the dunes and salt lakes of the Punta Entinas Sabinar Natural Park. It’s real twitchers’ territory, with flamingos, herons and avocets. And in the mountains there’s more at the Sierra Nevada National Park – the home of golden eagles, badgers and wild cats.

After about half an hour’s drive you can be in Almeria, the capital of the province. The highlight here is the Alcazaba – perched above the city, this Moorish fort comes with ruins, towers and dungeons. There’s plenty of shopping to be done in the narrow streets of the old town, and plenty of tapas places around Las Ramblas.