Los Caños de Meca

Zahora is an unspoilt coastal town with prestine beaches, located next to Los Caños de Meca. It has a rich variety of self-catering accommodation including apartments, bungalows and villas, providing ideal places to stay while you are on holiday on the Costa de la Luz.

For some people, the best way to enjoy the unspoilt beaches of Los Caños de Meca is to rent an apartment or villa in the local area and venture out from there. Self-catering accommodation here can provide you with ultimate exclusivity, away from the busy and packed hotels and resorts.

Hotels in Caños de Meca are in abundance and not hard to find. Luckily, this small, unspoilt part of the Costa de la Luz has managed to avoid high-rise resort buildings and the hotels here are small and very well-kept.

The Tómbola de Trafalgar is a site of geological interest, with a small island joined to the mainland by a sandy tombolo, or bank of sand. The island is called the Cabo de Trafalgar, and its name became a household word after the famous 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.

Sendero de los Acantilados is a linear route of around 6km along the coastal footpath that links Barbate to Caños de Meca, with wonderful views along the coast and out to sea. Don't go too the near the cliff edge, since there are sheer drops of up to 100m down to the sea.

Torre de Meca, a 15th-century watchtower, was built as part of a coastal defensive system to warn of a Berber pirate invasion. Watchkeepers would either light a fire or send smoke signals to neighbouring towers to communicate danger. Just outside of Caños de Meca, there is footpath that leads to it; see our section on walks.

From Barbate take the CA2143 to Caños de Meca. This is the principal road through the park and it passes through the Pinar de la Breña. You can stop off this route and go for a walk in the pine forest; at Km 3.5 is a forestry track, the Sendero del Torre de Tajo.

The Breña pine forest is made up mainly of umbrella pines (pinus pinea) planted in the late 19th century. There is a significant population of the endangered prickly juniper (juniperus oxycedrus subsp. macrocarpa), the second largest area of this juniper in Andalucia after the Doñana National Park.

Located on the approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar, the park is an important stopping place for migrating birds, as well as providing an important nesting site for various species of birds on its cliffs, such as cattle egrets, little egrets and yellow-legged gulls.

There are many hotels to choose from in and around Caños de Meca. Villages close to the park include Conil de la Frontera, further west along the coast, and the delightful inland village of Vejer de la Frontera.

Created in 1989, the Breña y Marismas de Barbate park is Andalucia's second largest coastal reserve and has one of the most spectacular stretches of rocky cliffs along the Andalucian Atlantic coastline, with stunning views over the sea and to the rocky headland of Cape Trafalgar and its lighthouse.

The municipality of Barbate boasts some of the most beautiful beaches on the Costa de la Luz inlcuding los Caños de Meca and Zahara de los Atunes. The golden sand of Playa de Zahora stretches from Playa del Palmar to the Trafalgar lighthouse at the Cabo Trafalgar. The beach is flat and rocky but protected from the strong winds in this area making it popular with those who enjoy swimming in the sea.

This wonderful circular walk gives you the chance to sample the twin natural habitats that make the Parque Natural de la Breña such a special treat, introducing you to its vast forest of stone pines as well as to the spectacular cliffs which rise 100m above one of the best beaches in Andalucía.

Caños de Meca is a small, unspoiled community on the windswept but stunning Costa de la Luz. Deep in the Parque Natural del Acantilado, Caños de Meca has beautiful beaches, backed by cliffs and pine trees. Perched on the cliff-tops straddling the coast road, this little village is fast waking up to a reputation as a trendy place for beatnik travellers and wave-jumpers to spend the summer.