Cabo de Gata

Cabo de Gata is a Natural Park at the south-east corner of Andalusia, to the east of the town of Almeria. It is a coastal park, very arid, almost semi-desert, and one of the Rough Guide’s “27 things not to miss” in Andalusia. I thought it would make an interesting change from the mountains and hoped to see some good wildlife there, especially reptiles. One difficulty I experienced was a lack of an easily obtainable guidebook or map, although it was clear from the maps I printed off the web that there was a coastal path that could be followed.

Costs. Flight £86. Car parking £19.49. Malaga hotel €40. Agua Amarga hotel (B&B) €55. Rodalquilar hotel €45. San José hotel (B&B) €30. Malaga–Almeria bus €17.83 each way. Almeria–Carboneras bus €5.25. San José–Almeria bus €2.80. Typical evening meal with drinks €19–€28. Travel insurance £5. Total cost of trip £395.

Places I stayed and was happy with. Hotel Goartin, Malaga (Day 1, Read my review); Hotel Las Calas, Agua Amarga (Day 2, Read my review); Hotel de Naturaleza, Rodalquilar (Day 3, Read my review).

Books. The Rough Guide to Andalucía (Rough Guides, 9th edition); Collins Butterfly Guide by Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington (Harper-Collins, Paperback edition).

Maps. I printed off various maps that I found on the web to take with me. Following a coastal walk is usually not very difficult.

Day 1: Travel to Malaga. Left work at 2.40 pm and drove to Prestwick. Flight took off at 4.40 pm, arriving 9 pm local time. Caught train into Malaga and found very good hotel near bus station (pre-booked). Went out and had beer and tapa (meatballs/albondigas) for €1.40.

Day 2: Travel to Cabo de Gata; walk from Carboneras to Agua Amarga. Caught 8 am bus to Almeria, via every single coastal town in Andalusia, arriving 12.45 pm. Caught 1.15 pm bus to Carboneras, arriving 2.10 pm. Expensive lunch (€10). Walked along quiet road over hill to Agua Amarga (3 h walking), found hotel (pre-booked), and had dinner.

Day 3: Walk from Agua Amarga to Rodalquilar. Had good breakfast and left hotel at 10.10 am. Walked south along beautiful coastline using good path through “interesting” alternative community in San Pedro, reaching Las Negras at 2.40 pm and having much needed beer and tapa. Carried on and reached excellent hotel (pre-booked) outside Rodalquilar at 4.55 pm (so 6 h 45 min walking). Had swim in pool, a shower, used free internet, and then had nice dinner in the hotel.

Day 4: Walk from Rodalquilar to San José. Had good breakfast and left hotel at 10.15 am. Drizzle and grey skies to start but day gradually brightened. Walked mainly along the road to La Isleta, arriving 11.30 am, and onto Los Escullos. Then south following bulldozed track along coast to San José, arriving 2.55 pm (so 4 h 40 min walking). Found hotel (pre-booked), wandered around town for a bit, and then had dinner.

Day 5: Walk around Almeria; travel home. Had planned to carry on walking around coast to Salinas and catch the 2 pm bus to Almeria and then the 3.30 pm bus to Malaga. However, I chickened out of the early start needed (almost certainly a mistake!); if I had missed the Salinas bus then I would have missed my flight. So I caught the 11 am bus from San José to Almeria and looked around the interesting Alcazaba (Moorish fortress) at the centre of the old town before catching the 3.30 pm express bus to Malaga, the train out to the airport, and then the 9.25 pm flight back to Prestwick, arriving back at my home at 1 am.

Wildlife seen. Spanish Gatekeeper, Spanish Marbled White, Lulworth Skipper, Long-tailed Blue, Swallowtail, Crested Lark.

Other useful links. Alsa buses

Bus services from Malaga

Reflections. Cabo de Gata is certainly a very attractive place to walk in good weather: coastlines are nice because the views constantly change. I did not appreciate the 4 h 45 min bus journey from Malaga to Almeria on Day 2, although the 3 h return journey on the express bus was fine. Let us hope the Spanish finish the motorway to Almeria or that direct flights to Almeria airport become available from Scotland soon. The Cabo de Gata Natural Park was very arid – I expected it to be much greener in April – and I did not see the wildlife I had hoped but then the weather was very unusual in the early part of 2013 all over Europe.

© 2014 The Untravelled World