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Take a holiday in real Spain.
Enjoy the Culture and Heritage
as well as beautiful beaches.
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SHOPPING
Chiclana
There is a large indoor market where local fruit, vegetables, fresh fish, meat, snails, shrimps, bread and cakes are all on sale from Monday to Saturday 8 am until approx 2 pm, shut on Sunday as it is a religious day.
There is another outdoor market held every Tuesday morning where you can snap up bargains galore including clothes, local spices, leather goods (including soft leather hand-made shoes) and typically Spanish food including olives, this is situated by the blue bridge.
In the town centre you will find typical Spanish local bodejas (wine shops) where you can sample the local wines, sherries and locally made products. There are many supermarkets within the town itself or, on the outskirts, you can find Eroski a large hypermarket.
San Fernando
Only a short distance from Chiclana lies the town of San Fernando which has a large shopping complex and multiplex cinema with ten screens. This is at Bahia Sur, many restaurants and Bars (from cheap to expensive), designer shops, a play complex, electrical goods and a large Carrefour hypermarket set under cover and air conditioned. All can be found here. The local outdoor market is open on a Tuesday from 9.30 am to 2 pm. Shoes, clothes, vegetables and fruit, sweets and local goods.
La Barrosa
This popular tourist attraction popular during the summer season. Here you will find restuarants, bars, beach shops and kiosks. During the night the area is alive with street entertainers and small markets that offer a selection of goods from Morocco.
Cadiz
The local market for Cadiz is open on a Monday. The indoor market at Cadiz with its fabulous range of fish (much caught locally) is open Monday to Saturday approx 8 am until 2 pm..
Conil
Conil’s market is held on a Friday alongside the beach car park from 9.30 am to 2 pm. It has many bargains with locally produced items, fruit and vegetables (much of which is locally grown), shoes, clothes and local products of the season. It is worth visiting Conil and exploring the old part and back streets for little family run independent shops and souvenirs and knick-knacks can be found here. Conil in the evenings has much to offer, street theatre, fish restaurants, ice cream parlours, beers from round the world, tapas, and a wonderful seaside feel about the place.
Jerez
Jerez boasts all the shopping facilities you would expect from a sizeable city. It is pleasant to walk around the city, much of which is pedestrianised. A shopping experience in Jerez is an opportunity to enjoy the city itself, stopping occasionally to people watch or enjoy a tapa. The main shopping streets are located between Plaza Romero Martinez and Plaza del Arenal. The open air shopping centre, Jerez Centro Comercial Abierto and Area Sur shopping mall and cinema complex are also worth a visit.
Jerez has always been an important trading city in which the most traditional products and ancient crafts can be found (barrel-making, wicker work, items related to wine or flamenco, saddling, etc.), with the many boutiques and companies where you can find the most exclusive of these products.
A street market is held between 10 am and 2 pm at Calle Lanceria 7.
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A Central Location
My self catering holiday villa is centrally located
for visiting the Costa de la Luz part of Andalucia in Spain.
Booking a self-catering holiday rental villa, here in the Costa de la Luz, through www.ExploreChiclana.com , means you can please yourself and have
your holiday just the way you want it, by the pool, beach side,
city or countryside. Some guests like to spend much of their holiday
on the beach. It doesn't get better than the Barrosa beach with
all its facilities, especially for children. It is a sandy beach,
not pebbles or shingle and has easy gentle sloping access to the
sea. The sea is warm and clean. It is much much warmer than the
Portuguese Algarve and a whole lot cleaner than the Mediterranean
sea. There are several other beaches, Barbate, Cape Trafalgar,
El Palmar, Conil, Roche some of which have secluded coves.
Beaches are not for everyone. This area abounds
with Culture, History, Walking, Hiking, Riding, Water sports and
Golf. The rental villa is centrally located for many daily trips
out. The town of Jerez is 30 minutes drive. Take a tour of one
of the famous Bodegas of Jerez and see how Sherry and Brandy are
made. The town is rich with historic and artistic sites, one day
is not enough!! Visit the Moorish Alcazar and gardens, the Clock
museum, 15th century churches, the Flamenco museum etc.The performing
horses of Jerez are a wonder to behold. For motor sports enthusiasts visit the famous race track.
Formula 1 test their cars here and the Moto GP is normally the first one of the season.
Check out their web site Jerez Circuit
The wonderful City of Cadiz, a short drive away, is a must
to visit on your holiday in Andalucia, Costa de la Luz. The ancient city is approximately
3,000 years old. Cadiz is a very relaxed and easy-going city. People sit outside at the cafes all day
long enjoying the cool sea breeze and warm sunshine, gazing up at the Moorish architecture.
The old quarter is probably the most beautiful with the mansions of yesteryear merchants, towers,
picturesque squares are awe inspiring. Visit a Roman Amphitheatre, admire the Moorish influences.
Visit the grand Cathedral or the enormous Ficus trees in the parks and gardens with wild
parrots. Shop in the main plaza/square, enjoy an ice cream or tapas in this beautiful area.
Cadiz is so close to my holiday villa that many guests choose to spend more than one day visiting Cadiz.
Seville is known as the cultural city of Spain.
It is about an hours drive. Or you can park (for free) at the local
train station and for a moderate price let the train take you
to the centre of Seville. Places to visit in Seville are the Cathedral
and Giralda, the Tapas bars of Barrio Santa Cruz, the Alcazar,
the Roman ruins of Italica at Santiponce, see the spectacular
Plaza de Espana, take a river boat or horse and carriage trip.
Take the children to Isla Magica Theme Park (Seville's Alton Towers) or visit one of the city's tablaos
and experience a Flamenco Show.
There are some very good, cheap golf courses within
easy reach of my Andalucian rental villa. Golfing is a very popular
sport and many people have a golfing holiday here in the costa
de la Luz Andalucia rather than the more expensive Costa del sol. Click on Useful Tourist Guide/ Golf to get more information.
For people who love nature- it is all here. The famous Donana
Nature park with its pink flamingos is close by. The easiest way
to explore this nature reserve from the Explorechiclana rental
villas is to drive to Sanlucar de la Barrameda and catch a small
foot-passenger ferry across the Guadalquivir river to the nature
reserve.
Off road trails for walkers are abundant. They are the old Canadas
(drover ways) which, in the past, the cattle drovers would bring
their livestock to the port of Puerto de Santa Maria to provision
the ships in the days of the Conquistadors. Bird watchers will
see griffin vultures, storks, kestrels, buzzard, pink flamingos
and many other species.
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