Sierra travels

Drive for an hour into the sierra and you’ll find half a dozen enchanting towns and villages. The closest is Lubrín, with a pretty church, a plaza and a highly recommended tapas bar – Los Molinos. Cantoria, a little further north in the Almanzora Valley, is a beauty spot. If you want to explore, pack a picnic, park up and strike out on foot.

Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Arabs have all lived in Mojácar, in the Sierra Cabrera, ten minutes’ drive from Mojácar beach resort. In the eighth century it was an important stronghold for Muhammad I of Córdoba, the sultan based in Granada’s mighty Alhambra Palace.

The Moorish imprint remains, including an original arched city gate, a watchtower, domes and decorated tiles. There’s also a natural spring used in Roman times and a 16th century church.

A large, paved balcony in the Plaza Nueva offers stunning views across the Valle de las Pirámides – dotted with pyramid-shaped hills – and there are restaurants where you can relax and take in the scenery. At the top of town there are hidden-away restaurants, bars and boutiques. Try the Loro Azul (Blue Parrot) jazz bar, which has live music at weekends.

Another town worth visiting is Níjar, famous for its ceramics and jarapas – squares of woven wool used as rugs, blankets or hangings. Just off the main street, down Calle las Eras, you’ll find the craft quarter where artisans make and sell their wares at knockdown prices.

Deep in the desert

While the clusters of sugar cube houses in the hills evoke Picasso’s cubist paintings, the rugged, desert-like terrain surrounding them has the dreamlike quality of a Salvador Dalí masterpiece: a drive inland can be a surreal experience.

Temperatures rarely dip below 20ºC here in Spain’s sunniest corner, where you'll find Europe’s only desert, at Tavernas. Add some fake candelabra-shaped cacti and it’s the tobacco-spitting image of a south-western US state. That’s what Italian movie directors did in the 1960s when they made spaghetti westerns such as the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastward classic, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The old film sets are now theme parks where you can watch cowboys riding down dusty streets and unloading six-shooters at each other. At Mini Hollywood, the largest attraction, the bank is robbed twice a day in a show which includes stunt riding and falling – falling over breaking balconies! Swagger into the Yellow Rose saloon and watch the cancan girls dance while you swig a beer. Somewhat bizarrely, there’s also a zoo with more than 150 species.

Almería has Andalucia’s largest coastal natural park, the Cabo de Gata – a 150-square-mile spread of volcanic peaks, coves and gorgeous beaches. Flamingos flock in their thousands to the park’s saltwater lagoon, separated from the sea by a 1,300ft sand bar. It’s a pit stop for birds, including herons, storks and cranes, which migrate between Europe and Africa. There are bird hides from which to peek. Palm trees like it here, too, and plants unique to the park include the pink snapdragon.

Many beaches are accessible only by footpaths, especially between the Cabo de Gata headland and San José – the principal resort – and further north between Las Negras and Agua Amarga, where you’ll find calm, clear water that’s ideal for snorkelling. After a swim we had a drink at the beachfront bar, and watched fisherman head out in their boats. A kayak centre in San José and half a dozen diving centres in the park’s towns provide the kit needed for exploring tiny offshore islands and the extensive coral reefs teeming with marine life.

We loved Restaurante San José. Extremely smart but reasonably priced, it overlooks the town’s beach. Vast, arched windows give guests a view to feast on, and the food ain’t bad either – we ate delicious fried hake with white garlic and salmon in a Cava sauce for £20. A fine viewpoint in the early evening list was along the coast road at Mesa Roldán. From the cliff-top tower, 730ft above Agua Amarga, the silhouetted headlands can be seen reaching serenely into a silver sea.