Almería
Spain
The driest corner of Europe: a Moorish fortress over a working port, free tapas, and the volcanic coves of the Cabo de Gata forty minutes away
Photo by David Cerini on Unsplash
Photos by Victoriano Izquierdo, Dina Spencer and Dina Spencer on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of Spain
March to June, and September to November — high summer is hot, the coves are full and the beach roads are rationed
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 30mm in Nov
Where it is
36.84°N, 2.46°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Stay a night or two in San José or Las Negras, not only in the city
- Walk to Cala de San Pedro from Las Negras, the cove with no road
- Go round the Alcazaba early, while the walls still throw shade
- Order a drink in three different bars and let the tapas be dinner
- Look for flamingos on the salt flats at the Cabo de Gata village
Almería travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget Spain
Good valueCards in the city, and in most places in San José. The beach bars and the small villages of the Cabo de Gata are where cash is still useful. Refuse the conversion when a terminal offers to charge you in your own currency.
ATMs & cards
Cajamar, Unicaja and CaixaBank are the local banks and their machines are everywhere in the city. Take cash before you drive out: the villages in the park have one machine at most.
Avoid these
- Euronet
- stand-alone machines that offer to convert to your own currency
Use these instead
- Cajamar
- Unicaja
- CaixaBank
- BBVA
Take cash in the city before driving into the Cabo de Gata, where machines are few.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of Spain
SafeVery safe in the city and the park. The risks are the sun and the distances: the coves of the Cabo de Gata have no shade, no water and often no café, and the coast paths between them are bare rock in the heat. The Tabernas desert in high summer is exactly as hot as it looks.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (8 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the Cabo de Gata coves — no shade, no water and sometimes no café; carry all three
- the coast paths in the park — bare rock and full sun; walk them in the morning
- the beach car parks — leave nothing on show in a parked car
- the Tabernas desert in high summer — well over 35°C in the afternoon, and nowhere to shelter between sets
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa Spain visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of Spain
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date (MMR, tetanus, polio)
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
Very goodAlmería still gives you a free tapa with every drink, and in many bars you choose it from a list — which makes an evening of tapas here cheaper than anywhere in Andalucía. Gurullos, a small pasta stewed with rabbit or octopus, and the red prawns from the port are the local things. Lunch at two, dinner at ten.
Travel tipsGetting around
Limited- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- CabifyWorks here
- FREE NOWWorks here
- Against a taxi
- About level with a metered taxi, and where a city sets a flat airport fare the taxi usually wins.
Several cities cap private-hire licences hard, so at peak the app may simply have nothing to send.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Madrid — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for Spain, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
Spanish
- HelloHolaOH-la
- PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
- Thank youGraciasGRA-thyas
- Yes / NoSí / Nosee / no
4 more phrases
- Excuse mePerdónper-DON
- How much is it?¿Cuánto cuesta?KWAN-to KWES-ta
- The bill, pleaseLa cuenta, por favorla KWEN-ta
- Cheers!¡Salud!sa-LOOD
Religion
Catholic
Nominally Catholic and deeply secular in practice. Churches are working buildings as well as sights, and Semana Santa is taken seriously even by people who never attend Mass.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Eat late — lunch from 14:00, dinner rarely before 21:00
- Greet with two cheek kisses, right cheek first, between women or a man and a woman
- Stand at the bar to drink; it is cheaper than sitting and more sociable
- Say buenos días on entering a small shop, and adiós on leaving
Don't
- Do not expect anything to be open between 14:00 and 17:00 outside the big cities
- Do not order sangria in a serious restaurant — it is a tourist drink; ask for tinto de verano
- Do not tip heavily; rounding up or a euro or two is normal
- In Barcelona, do not assume Catalan and Spanish are interchangeable — the distinction matters to people
Where to stay in Almería
No Holistay rentals in Almería yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Almería on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Almería LEI
20 minfrom the airport· 8 km as the crow flies
About 15 min by taxi; the city bus takes about twice as long.
Also worth pricing: Málaga AGP — far more flights, and about two and a half hours by road.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
