It occurred to me that I never blogged about San Jose, yet another fantastic beach fairly near us. To get there, you have to drive in the direction of Almeria and then come off the motorway and through the Cabo de Gata, the natural parkland which goes on forever. It is simply a stunning drive, I guess the equivalent of, say, Dartmoor and a long windy road goes right through it. Obviously, there are severe building restrictions here thank goodness, but dotted around are sugar cube houses, a few rather beautiful houses and miles upon miles of hills and mountains in the distance. Eventually you come upon the lovely little town of San Jose.
In July and August, it is of course incredibly busy with holiday makers, but for the rest of the summer months it is not crowded as really this is a little known corner of Spain. There are several beaches around here, but the main holiday one is San Jose itself and is absolutely gorgeous. A large, sandy beach, surrounded by great restaurants to eat and a few hotels sits at the back of the main street. There are no sunbeds or brollies to be hired and so everything must be brought to the beach. The water is sensational and like a bath to swim in.
During the Autumn, you can still enjoy a day out here as a lot of the restaurants stay open, and you can sit on the beach and while away an afternoon quite happily as the climate is so mild so well into October and early November expect to pick up a tan!
There is also a very good little tourist information shop here with good maps and books, and a small selection of very nice gifts from the local area, pottery, olive oil, sea salt for those foodies among you.
San Jose is definitely in our top ten of favourite beaches in the region, so if you are staying in Almeria, it is a must.
Yummy Almeria 