Costa de la Luz (Coast of Light) is noted for its clear and unpolluted skies and is located in the south western part of Andalucia. For years it has been a popular tourist destination for the Spanish but in more recent times it has gained popularity with the European set. It is also referred to as the Spanish Algarve because of its close proximity to Portugal. To get a better idea of where and what the Costa de la Luz is, first understand it is made up of two provinces, Heulva Province and the Cadiz Province. Heulva Province starts at the Portuguese border and runs over to the Guadalquivir River. The Cadiz Province begins at the Guadalquivir River and extends to Tarifa.
The Costa de la luz is largely underdeveloped as a result it still has areas of endless fine sandy beaches to explore. Let's just hope that the developers don't get their hands on it and overdevelop it like its nearby neighbour, of Costa del Sol which is to the north.
If you are into extreme water sports, the Costa de la Luz is the place with its strong winds coming off of the Atlantic Ocean. It is nothing short of great for windsurfers and kite-flying along with many more sports for the true enthusiasts. Be sure to bring your wet suit as the weather tends to be somewhat cooler.
A quick out line of the history of the Costa de la Luz finds that the first settlers were the Phoneticians, Greeks and Iberians. I hope you're not lost yet as next in line is the Carthaginian's. An interesting note is that Hannibal used Cadiz as his base from which to conquer southern Iberia. The Carthaginian's were followed by Romans who were eventually thrown out by the Visigoths. Now comes the reason for all of the festivals, the Moors have arrived in the 8th century and took power. The area of Cadiz was finally cleared of the Moors in 1262 by Alphonso X of Castille.
To put it all in a nut shell, if you are going to visit the area there are a lot of things to do and see. There are many towns and villages that are important to visit. Let's start with Huelva, Ayamonte, Isla Cristina, Cadiz, Chiclana, Isla Canela and Tarifa. If you don't have time to see all of them, do some research to find out which ones are most interesting to you. Now to get out into the countryside and back with nature, a must see is the Natural Parks. First we have the Parque Nacional de Donana in Huelva Province which is an important wetland area with a wide variety of flora and fauna. Second there is the Estrecho Natural Park and the Bahia de Cadiz Natural Park. They have packed loads into this 10,000 hectare site including sandy beaches, salt-pans, marshes, and freshwater lakes. As you would expect there is a wide variety of wildlife species.
After all of this I am sure that you would like to book a holiday here. There are two main airports at which you can book your flight to, the Jerez airport and the Seville airport, but if you plan on travelling to the southern region then you may opp for Faro airport. No matter where you decide to spend your holiday there will always be a good choice of holiday accommodations, villas, apartments or town houses, to please all of your requirements. |
