If I have to chose a favourite part in Spain, I can say that would be Andalusia. I just like the vibe in here, lovely villages dotted with cute white houses with tiled roofs and colourful pots of flowers, vibrant cities, barren landscapes, tapas and of course the warm weather. I had the opportunity to visit many times Andalucia so I explored almost all the villages and big cities in here, yes yes.. there’s always something more to discover, but my point is that I’ve seen so much here and I have a lot of information of Andalucian towns.
Andalucia is perfect for road tripping, is safe and very adapted to tourism (I’m not into touristy things, but a real explorer never closes herself). I will try to not make this blog post to long, so I will talk only about my recent visits from Andalucia. In this post I will share my thoughts about:
- Tarifa
- Estepona
TARIFA TOWN
Tarifa is not a big city, actually it’s a pretty small town, with many cool things you can see or do. The beaches are gorgeously perfect for surf, swim or just to relax. Yes you read right before, the beaches are good for surfing, which means there is a lot of strong wind blowing all the time. Close to any beach are plenty of cool beach bars, cozy cafés, restaurants with the ocean right in front of you and cute souvenir shops. Here in Tarifa you’ll experience a relaxed atmosphere.
Tarifa marks the edge of Spain with only a short ferry ride from Morocco on the other side of the Straight of Gibraltar, or better said, it’s super close to the continent of Africa. In a clear day you can see with the naked eye the other continent. Wow…how cool is that right?
BOLONIA BEACH
We had only one afternoon to explore the town and we decided to spend it at the beach. The beach is fabulous with white sand, crystal clear water, not very crowded, so you basically you can have the beach almost to yourself.
There is a parking lot right in front of the beach, where you’ll have to pay a small fee. Something that makes Tarifa stand out is that the beach is situated along both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, because here is the place where the Mediterranean separates from the Atlantic. I find pretty cool all the geographic “things” happening in Tarifa.
The beach itself it’s pretty awesome with dramatic sand dunes, burying all the vegetation. I recommend you a walk on the top of the dunes to enjoy spectacular views of the beach all the way down to Tarifa town across the straits to Morocco, if there is good visibility.
ESTEPONA
I had the opportunity to visit Estepona and I couldn’t wait to explore it and I was pleasantly surprised, so much that Estepona had become one of my favourite towns in Spain. The town is one of the Costa del Sol’s hidden gems. Costa del Sol in english means the Coast of Sun and as the name says it’s pretty sunny and warm here, just perfect for beach days, nice walks and stunning sunsets. Estepona is not very famous, which means the town is not full of tourists. Here you will experience the typical Spanish pueblo blanco (white village) with its own unique ambience and style.
One of the joys of visiting Estepona is to lose yourself in the pretty little streets so beautifully decorated with polka dotted flower pots, having some tapas at a typical Spanish bar. Something you should know about Andalusia is that here the portions of food are huge and pretty cheap. If you ask if the plate of food is big, they will say you ah no, it’s normal! I find it kind funny. Get ready to eat a lot here, anyway, the good news is that the food is super tasty.
A good starting point in exploring the town, maybe you should start with the town’s historic centre first, this place is so charming that all the people visiting pass a longer time here than other places in the town. The streets of Estepona are just a magical part of the town, they are so beautiful and special that we took a really long walk around to as many streets as we could, we even repeated the next day.
Another cute spot in the town, is Plaza de las Flores. A classic meeting point for locals or tourists. It’s a pretty spot to wait for someone to come, or to enjoy the vibe of Estepona having a delicious coffee or a tapa, as the place is surrounded by many bars and restaurant.
You don’t need to be too worried for the weather here in Estepona, it’s always warm and during summer is not too hot. Your only worry should be what swimsuit to wear today at the beach.
BEACHES
No trip to Estepona would be complete without at least a day at the beach. I am not the type of person who just lays down a whole day at the beach, well not even for 10 minutes, I’m more into exploring the place, although once in a while is good to slow down and relax. Estepona has many lovely beaches to chose from, they are well preserved, usually clean, very quiet, the only sound you hear is the sound made by the waves. Just perfect! Here you can expect the grey, fine sandy beach type, the waves are not too big and the water is warm. And very close to the beach are plenty of restaurants, coffee shops and souvenir shops. Sunset are amazing here so get ready to be impressed!
PROMENADE WALKS
We took nice walks along the coastal pathway, this is how to travel between the town centre and where the town ends. It was such a lovely way to see the dazzling shores of the Mediterranean Sea and all along the seaside paseo we walked in a perfect setting of a diverse array of plants and flowers. Estepona is like a big garden, such a dreamy, picture-perfect town. I just couldn’t stop taking photos of literally any spot I saw. We ended the day with a lovely perfect sunset.
EL ORQUIDARIO
There is no secret how much I like flowers so when I found out that Estepona has the largest Orchidarium in Europe I didn’t think twice before to visit the garden. You can find it in the middle of the town’s historic centre along the Calle Terraza.
There you can expect to see more than 4.000 different species of orchids that will amaze you with how beautiful, colourful and different they are. Your senses will be invaded by a mixture of colours and aromas. You’ll see orchids falling from the ceiling, another ones decorating the tree branches, I even have seen a few types of orchids looking like a shoe. How cute is that! The walk last around 1-2 hours, depends on how much time you want to stay and admire the beauty of the flowers and I have to admit that the time spent in the garden was very enjoyable and refreshing.
Madeleine 𓇼 