Summer arrives with warm days, colours in the landscape and a great desire to continue travelling and discovering the world. This time we propose you Andalusia, the place where the summer is lived with more intensity and where it shines with the splendor of unforgettable experiences, incredible destinations and unique moments for the whole family.
This year, in Andalusia we can again summer intensely. It is the best place for your holidays and where you will live unique experiences that you will not forget. You have 800 kilometers of coast to relax in front of the Mediterranean or the Atlantic and to practice many activities.
But summer in Andalusia is also a thousand ways to have fun, leisure proposals for the whole family and privileged natural spaces that will surprise you: high peaks, extensive wetlands, thick Mediterranean forests or volcanic deserts and stretches of uninhabited coast.
To all this you can add an incomparable monumental and cultural offer in the eight Andalusian provinces, where you can discover the heritage of the civilizations that left their mark on this land.
Summer is also a taste. From seafood cuisine, with fried fish, sardines or seafood and rock fish, to essential dishes in these months as the most universal Andalusian, gazpacho, and its many variations, such as salmorejo, porra and ajoblanco.
And to continue enjoying it with the family, Andalusia has amusement parks for living a myriad of emotions as well as zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens. But if what you are looking for is to live the emotion of sport, in Andalusia you will have all the options to enjoy golf or water sports, or to vibrate with first class international competitions.
Inland tourism
Few destinations can offer better opportunities to enjoy inland tourism with more charm. Traditions, culture, history, landscapes, climate, gastronomy and a wide network of rural establishments are some of the attractions that Andalusia offers us for this summer’s holidays.
Old mines, mining villages, old railway lines converted into greenways, old farms and farmhouses that are converted into hotels, such as flour mills or old oil mills take us back to the past but without having to do without the needs and comforts of today’s families.
There are several routes and regions from the Natural Park of Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas, to the Sierra Nevada, with an offer of enormous quality in the villages of the Alpujarra of Granada and Almeria. The Sierra de Huelva, through Aracena, Cortegana, Hinojales, Fuente Heridos, Aroche and Alája, is unique, as is the Sierra Morena in Córdoba and the Sierra Norte in Seville.
And if in the arid lands of Almeria, by the region of Los Velez, Sierra Maria and Gador, with that of Alhamilla, there are places that are going to leave us with the mouth open, no less are the wettest mountains of Andalusia by land of Los Alcornocales, Grazalema, Castellar de la Frontera and Almoráima, in Cadiz.
We cannot let pass the white villages of the Cadiz mountain range from which we go up to the mountain range of Ronda in Malaga. Those of the upper Genal valley have a very attractive offer of accommodation where we can enjoy the ancestral culture of these lands and a very rich and peculiar gastronomy.
There are mountain ranges in Malaga and Granada with great weight in history, as happens with the Axarquia in Malaga or the Lecrin Valley in Granada. Its Moorish past with the traces of the Mudejar in the towers of its churches can be found in every corner of the whitewashed villages of the area where we will be able to recover our strength thanks to its forceful stews.
If we go up to the peak of La Maroma or look out over the Boquete de Zafarraya on the undulating lands of Alhama de Granada, we will discover the paths along which the Romans, Arabs, smugglers and bandits passed who had an inn at Venta de Alfarnate and at the Mesón del Vizco in El Borge.
A gastronomy with identity
The gastronomy of Andalusia is determined by its excellent climate, by its long hours of sunshine and its proximity to the sea. Dry farming, livestock, fishing and, above all, olive oil, make Andalusian cuisine a delight for the most demanding palates.
This cuisine is the result of the combination of Arabic cuisine, the traditional Mediterranean culture of the olive tree and the vine and the products and seasonings from America. It is an old but modern recipe book that combines products such as salted fish from the Phoenicians, olive oil and the variety of vegetables from the Romans and Arabs, the spices and nuts from the latter, the Jewish adafina now known as puchero or products from America.
Olive oil is the main ingredient of the cuisine and the most responsible for the Mediterranean diet. It forms part of the traditional Andalusian breakfast based on bread with oil and is also used for pastries, as well as in the most universal dish due to its nutritional value and its easy preparation, such as the gazpacho that both adults and children like.
Andalusia has been linked to wine since the beginning of history and there are currently four wine designations of origin, such as Jerez, Montilla-Moriles, Montes de Málaga and Huelva District.
We will also be able to taste a prestigious seafood cuisine characterized by the fact that its dishes have few spices, which allows to preserve the authentic taste of the fish. There are mythical places of the marine kitchen, like the casseroles in Almeria, the frying and sardine spits in Malaga, the seafood and rock fish in Cadiz, and the seafood and molluscs, with the coquina like product stars, in Huelva.
Of course we cannot stop talking about the Iberian ham or ‘pata negra’, which is produced especially in the province of Huelva and is distinguished with the Denomination of Origin. Similarly, the cheeses of Andalusia are of great value, among them the Serrania de Ronda mountains, the subbetic Cordoba, the mountains of Malaga and Almeria or the Sierra de Grazalema in Cadiz. Confectionery is another of the most important gastronomic contributions of Andalusia thanks to its Arab and Jewish influence.
The sun of Andalusia and its beaches
Andalusia has more than 800 kilometres of coastline where you can find beaches with varied landscapes, from the wide, fine sandy beaches of the provinces of Cadiz or Huelva perfect for children’s games, to the coves hidden between cliffs on the coast of Granada, Costa del Sol or Almeria if we are looking for a quieter atmosphere.
The beaches of Andalusia also have a great variety of services for the whole family. The marinas, golf courses, promenades, open air sports courts, boat docking areas and restaurants make Andalusia an ideal destination for sun and beach tourism and water sports.
Water parks: making the most of summer
What better way to cool down in summer than to spend a day in one of the water parks in Andalusia? Impossible slides, wave pools, kamikaze falls, solariums, etc. Fun is guaranteed between splashes, games and laughter.
The facilities of the water parks cover absolutely the needs of both leisure and security and attention. From large parking areas to all the necessary equipment inside the park; rafts, floats, hammocks and, of course, the appropriate professional staff to attend to any circumstance that may arise. We will only have to worry about having a good time.
All the members of the family will find what they are looking for, adults, teenagers and children: from sunbathing with tranquility or rocking in soft rides on board of floats to jumping fresh water waves or going down at full speed on any of the slides and platforms that we will find in the different attractions. In addition, we have at our disposal green areas, natural shadows, and of course all kinds of places to eat and discuss the day’s adventures.
An incredible nature: active tourism
The diversity, extension and environmental richness of the Andalusian territories is impressive. More than 18% of Andalusia’s territory is protected. There are more than twenty Nature Parks that offer a wide range of facilities for public use such as visitor centres, recreational areas, camping areas, viewpoints and shelters. In addition to these, there are other proposals such as outdoor activities and cultural routes. If you prefer to enjoy nature in a more daring way, Andalusia offers a multitude of adventure sports so that you can have a different kind of holiday. You can practice active sports in water, on land, in the air or on snow. In addition, there are companies dedicated to organizing activities suitable for children. There is no other place that offers so much to spend a good time doing sports thanks to its climate conditions: there is no region with more days of sunshine all year round.