Cadiz (Spain)

Cádiz. The place where I was born, and the place where I’ve always live (and still do). The are two Cádiz, the province and the town. The province is a small one, if you compare it to others provinces from Spain, like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia or here, in the south of Spain, Seville. Cádiz, the town, is the capital of the province, and its also a very small one, with 150,000 inhabitants population. That makes Cádiz ...
...everyone. My home town is always busy at summer, although is not a typical Spanish town for holidays. That’s because as I said is a small town, and because Cádiz is one of those places Spanish people from other parts of the country spend their holidays at, and not only foreign people (but also). I think Cádiz is a good place to spend a few days, or weeks, of your holidays, because is cheap, very cheap (I’d say is one of the cheaper places of Spain), ... more

Cádiz. The place where I was born, and the place where I’ve always live (and still do). The are two Cádiz, the province and the town. The province is a small one, if you compare it to others provinces from Spain, like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia or here, in the south of Spain, Seville. Cádiz, the town, is the capital of the province, and its also a very small one, with 150,000 inhabitants population. That makes Cádiz a ´familiar’ place, a place in which everyone knows almost everyone. My home town is always busy at summer, although is not a typical Spanish town for holidays. That’s because as I said is a small town, and because Cádiz is one of those places Spanish people from other parts of the country spend their holidays at, and not only foreign people (but also). I think Cádiz is a good place to spend a few days, or weeks, of your holidays, because is cheap, very cheap (I’d say is one of the cheaper places of Spain), and because the weather is perfect, a weather consisting in good shiny sun, and almost during all the year (you know, we are north Africa neighbours, we got this heat in common). Maybe, I recognise, it’s a bit too hot some days at summer, reaching 32-34 ºC, but in those days, there are plenty of beaches to spend the days at, just lying and enjoying. In Cádiz it rains very little (and that’s a pity for someone like me, who loves rainy and windy days…probably because I’m not used to it). You can come to Cádiz alone, with your girlfriend or boyfriend, with your parents, with your family, with your friends… I’m sure whoever you come with, you’ll find something interesting to do (of course, I always recommend, for holidays, your boyfriend or girlfriend, or your friends). If you want to know the places you could visit here, the things you could do at day, the things you could do at night, the places you could eat and drink good and cheap, etc., keep on reading.

*Places to stay at:

First of all, lets start talking about the places you can spend the nights (or days, if you like going out at night, and sleeping during the day). There are different kinds of lodges, from really cheap shelters or youth hostels, to expensive five stars hotels. Lets start from the cheap to the expensive:

-Youth Hostels:

·’Hostal Quo Cádiz’: Well, this one is a weird place, very cheap, like 10 euro per night, including breakfast. This Hostel is in the old part of the city, and very close to my own house. It’s in ‘Diego Arias’ street (I know this place because its at five minutes from my house, and because this is the place where my girlfriend, who’s Irish, stayed her first nights here, while looking for an apartment to hire). This hostel is usually busy, and usually with young people, friends who wants to spend a few days here without spending too much money. The prices are different, depending on the kind of bedroom you look for (I mean, the number of people sharing the room). You can also hire a bed at the roof (seriously), the cheapest beds. There’s a big room where all the people met each other for breakfasts and probably nights parties. A good place to stay if you want to meet different people (usually foreign people, so that’s good for you if you don’t speak Spanish, ‘cause Cádiz people is not very good at English…).

-Apartments: The apartments or flats are good for family holidays, but if you hire one at summer, its going to be very expensive. At the cost of the beach, the long beach (in fact, Cádiz is king of an Island, so its completely surrounded by beaches, from ‘La Caleta’, in the old town, to ‘Cortadura’, on the frontier with ‘San Fernando’, our neighbour town. This makes eight or nine kilometres of beaches, with different kinds of flats to hire, specially through the new part of the city. This flats are usually hired to outside students, for cheap prices, like three or four hundred euro per month. The same flats, are hired to foreign people for 1500 to 2000 euro for a month, specially august… (no comments).

-Camping: If you want to go camping, you must leave the town, and get to some forest place outside the town of Cádiz, but inside the province. One of the best places to go camping is ‘Conil’ (with nude beaches, if you like them), not far away from the town, just at forty or fifty kilometres. You can go camping there at:

·La Rosaleda II: This is the best one (first category). The price is six euro per tent, five euro per night for adults, and three for kids. You can also hire a piece of ground for 15 euro per night, and a bungalow for 76 euro per night (this one might be a bit too expensive, because its only for two people). This place is close to the beach, just one kilometre, but to reach it you should have a car, because there are 25 kilometres from this place to the train station (but only two to the bus station). Room enough for more than 600 hundred people. For any further information, you can visit the site: www.campinglarosaleda.com.
·Cala del Aceite: From 3 euro per kid to 3’60 per adult and per night. 3’32 per tent, and 16’51 per piece of ground. You can also go camping with your pet, for 1’22 per animal. The closest beach is at only 250 metres, and, if you like it, there are a few little nude beaches around this place. Visit their web site and get more information at: www.caladelaceite.com.
·El Faro: Similar prices to the last one (so I’m not writing it again), and with a beach at 500 metres. Again, nude beaches around, and 55 bungalows with room enough for five people each (this place have room enough for almost 600 hundred people). www.campings.net/elfaro.
·Fuente del Gallo: This one is 4 euro per adult and 3’50 per kid (3’50 per tent, and 18’70 per piece of ground for your own). Walking three hundred metres, you’ll get to the closest beach (in this part, not nude ones). There are also bungalows, 68 euros per night and person, if you are four or five people, and a couple of euro more if you are just three. This place is one of the bests if you are going with the family and there are kids with you because in this place you have beaches, sport grounds to play football (or, as you call it there, soccer), nautical sports, etc. www.campingfuentedelgallo.com.
·Los eucaliptos: Similar prices to the rest, but in this one you can not hire a piece of ground, only bungalows, from 44 to 50 euros, depending on the number of people. Seven hundred metres to the closest beach, and for more information… no, no web site for this place, sorry.
·Pinar Tula: Similar prices, not bungalows (14 euros per piece of ground). This one is not the best, I guess, with the closest beach at 3 kilometres, and no web site at all to ask for some more information. Room enough for 400 people.
·Roche: The prices per night are 4’20€, 3’60€ and 4€ per adult, kid and tent, and 54€ per bungalow. The best thing about this one, is that the closest beach (and it’s close) is one of the best nude beaches from this part. Visit their site and get more information when you need it at: www.campings.net/roche.

This are the places where you can go camping from Conil, one of the best places to go camping in Cádiz. Of course, there are plenty of places in other parts of the province, but I guess this would take a opinion a bit too long… I’ll just name a few places, without explanation, like ‘Aguadulce’ and ‘Punta candor’, both from Rota (where they speak English, because this part is one of the USA military places), and both first category, ‘Las Dunas’, at El Puerto de Santa Maria (one of my favourites places from the province of Cádiz, and very close to my town, just like 25 kilometres), ‘La rana Verde’ (first category), ‘La Barrosa’(second category), in Chiclana, etc.

-Rural Houses: Again, there are not rural houses in Cádiz, but, again, you can spend the nights at rural houses at Conil. This is good for healthy people, who like to walk, to climb, and of course, relax and enjoy the countryside. There are not too much rural houses, but there are at leas a few, like this ones from Conil:

·El Olivar de Roche Viejo: Just four rural houses, two of them with room for 4 people (in two bedrooms) and the other two with room for two people, in one bedroom. The prices are 57€ per day for the single bedroom houses, and 75€ for the other houses. The beach is at five hundred metres, and in the houses you’ll have your own bathrooms, kitchen with fridge, etc. Information at: www.conilweb.com/elolivar.
·La Tacita: Just one house in the countryside, with room enough for three people. You can hire it paying days or whole weeks, changing a bit the price: 48€ per day, 313€ per week (getting just 23€ off the price by hiring the house for a whole week instead of seven days). Funny but true, you can hire a television for 1’20€ per day…. No web sire to ask for more information.

There are more rural houses at Algeciras, Arcos de la Frontera (plenty of this houses), Barbate, Benaocaz, Chiclana, El Bosque, Grazalema (more than 20 places here in Grazalema to hire rural houses), Jimena de la Frontera, Los Barrios, etc.

-Hostels: Yes, there are hostels in Cádiz, you don’t have to leave the town in this case. The problem with hostels in Cádiz is that are usually busy if you come in some specific time of the year (specially in February, time for our town fest, Carnival, the best Carnival in the world).

·Hospedería del Mar: Located in the old town, and with room for 42 people in 26 bedrooms.
·Hostal Bahía: In the old town also, with prices from 33 to 42 € (depending on the time of the year) for single bedrooms, and 42 to 53 for double bedrooms.
·Hostal Centro Sol: A good hostel located in the old town, with prices from 32 to 40 euro for single bedrooms, and from 40 to 49 euro for double bedrooms. From this hostel to the beach there are just 15 minutes.
·Hostal Fantoni: A cheap and good one, the hostel my friends from Madrid stay at when they come to Cádiz for Carnival. 12 euros per night at single bedrooms, 24 for double bedrooms, and 36 for triple bedrooms.
·Hostal San Francisco: 16 euro for single, and 37 for double bedrooms. In the street called San Francisco (old town), a street with a nice square, with pubs (including an Irish pub), terraces, a good hotel, etc. and very close to a street full of night pubs (street ‘Manuel Rancés’).
·Hostal Comercio: Located in the street Flamenco (same street than Hostal Fantoni, both in the old town of the city, the best part of Cádiz), counting with double and triple bedrooms (not singles) with prices of 12 and 24 € each.
·Hostal Cádiz: This one is located in the new part of the city, so I would not recommend this one (but not because this hostel is a bad one, but I like the old part of the city…. although during the summer it might better to stay in the new part, because in this new Cádiz there more and better beaches). 24 euro for a double bedroom.

This seven hostels, and nine more with similar prices and conditions, are waiting for you.

-Hotels: The best one, and most expensive, is located in the old town, in front of the sea, with a lovely view. There are a few more, in the new part of the town, also with lovely views to the beach.

·Parador Hotel Atlántico: This one is the best one, with gardens, a big pool, and a lovely view to the sea. A big bar, rooms for parties, excellent service,… and expensive prices. The single bedroom would cost you 77 euro per night, the double one 97€, the triple 131€, there’s another kind called junior for 142 € and of course, the suite, for 244 euro per night. Its expensive, but if you can afford it, it will worth it. Others services here for you: jacuzzi, shops, café-bar, big garden with a pool, you can check your mail on the Internet rooms, saloon with television, restaurant (a very good one, and with a guy playing piano during the weekends), parking, terrace, phones at every bedroom, sauna, and a lot of things. A very good place.

·Hotel La Caleta Tryp: Another good hotel, located in the new part of the city, in front of one the best beaches you’ll find in Cádiz, ‘La Victoria’. I’m not sure about the prices, but you can ask for information at www.tryplacaleta.solmelia.com. This hotel offers lots of services to their guests, like good restaurant, garage, 24 hours services, bedroom telephones, terraces, and more.

·Hotel Playa Victoria: From 144 € for the double bedroom, to 402 € for the suite, this four stars hotel offers a great service for a bit too expensive price, but again, is worth it. It’s located in the new part of the city, in front of the beach ‘La Victoria’ (is, in fact, beside the last hotel I talked about). A very nice hotel, and very big, in which some special conferences and some other events take usually place (like the music collectors fair). This hotel offers the same services than the first one, with it’s big pool and garden, and lots of things.

This three hotels are the best ones I’d say, all of them four stars hotels. There’s another one with that same ‘rate’, ‘Hotel Puertatierra’, then there are two three stars hotels, ‘Hospedería Las Cortes de Cádiz’, and ‘Hotel Francia Paris’ (located at San Francisco Square, in the old part of the town, in a very good part of Cádiz), and thwn there’s only two more hotels to talk about, both of them with two stars, ‘Hotel Regio’ and ‘Hotel Regio 2’.

And that’s it, with this information you should have no problem to find the perfect place for you to stay at if you visit my home town, I’m sure there’ll be one that suits for you.

*Culture:

I don’t want to talk about every single museum, monument, theatres, etc. , I’ll only name the most important ones and give the location. Lets start with the museums:

-Museums:

·Museo de Cádiz: Being from Cádiz, you usually don’t pay attention to this kind of places, it’s very common to visit a museum from some town or country you don’t live at, but never visit the one beside your house. This happened to me, and after being living in this town for all my life (that means 26 years), I’ve just visit this museum for the first time recently, and after my girlfriend decided to do it. This museum is located at ‘Plaza Mina’, in the old part of the city, a very nice and small square (everything is small in Cádiz, I believe…). I have to say that I enjoy, thou I’m not really into the arts (not that kind of arts). You can go by your own, or with a group, with the advantage that in this case you’ll have a guide to explain all the stuff. You can get it for free if you are part of the European Union, and only 1’80 € if you are not. Open from every day but Mondays. Inside, lots of pictures at the second floor, and old architecture at the first one. Interesting place, not too big.

·Baluarte de la Candelaria: Free access to a big place that offers different kinds of expositions, changing from week to week or month to month. The place is nice, and it’s located in the ‘Alameda’, a big avenue close to the sea, with great views where ever you look.

·Torre Tavira: This building, the higher in Cádiz, was build in 1778, to watch over the town (Antonio Tavira was the first vigilant). Located in the old part of the city, this tower is one of those places you can’t missed to go, with a couple of exposition rooms, and the best thing, a dark room (‘cuarto oscuro’), a room from which you can see almost the whole town perfectly, not only because of the height of the building, but the special mirrors, and lenses and the fact of being a completely dark room. Just great. This place is open every day, but December, 25, and January, 1. The prices, 3’50€ per person, or 2’80€ per person if it’s a organised group.

-Castles:

·Castillo de San Sebastián.
·Castillo de Santa Catalina.

Both of them located very close each from each other, in the old part of the town, at the sides of the same little beach, ‘Playa La Caleta’. Very old castles, almost going down but kept like they’ve always been, without any changes (I’ve heard one of them is going to become a thematic park or something like that, It would be a pitty…). Not sure about the prices, but I’d say the access is for free (at least, as far as I remember, I’ve never pay to get in those castles).

·Castillo o fuente San Lorenzo: This castle or fort was build in 1596, a very old building, very nice, and located in the middle of the town, in fact, this fort is considered the line that separates the old town from the new one.

-Cathedral:

·Catedral Vieja: The old cathedral was build in 1838, and it’s very little and simple. Free access to it.

·Catedral Nueva de Cádiz: The new cathedral, located in the old part of the city, its a bigger one, very big and nice, and located in front of one little beach, ‘Playa Santa Maria’. Mass Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, of course, for free, but the visit to the whole cathedral, have a price of 3€ per people, 2€ per kid (this cathedral’s got its own museum). A nice place to visit, in a nice square in front of the beach, at ‘Plaza de la catedral’ (‘Cathedral Square’).

And there are more places to visit, but you better get a map and decide the places you’d like to have a look at….

*Beaches:

-La Caleta: This is a very little beach located in the old part of the Cádiz. It’s a very familiar beach, where you could easily find old women playing bingo or carts or what ever, with the whole family spending the days at. This beach used to be a dirty one years ago, but now is perfectly clean, sand and water, and is surrounded by two castles you could visit. In this beach, it was recorded a bit of a movie, James Bond, with Pierce Brosnan and Hale Berry (I’m not sure about the tittle of the movie, but was this one in which Bond had to go to Cuba… the part of Cuba was recorded in Cádiz, because Cádiz and Cuba very similar places). In front of this beach, there are two big trees very famous here, trees with more than a hundred years (and, in front of those trees, my college, ‘Business college’, all this at five minutes from where I live).

-Santa María: This is the smallest beach, very little, but again, familiar type. I like this beach because is surrounded by big stones, and that gives a bit of intimacy.

-La Victoria: A long beach, probably the most crowded, with all kind of people, from friends, couples, to families. This was the beach I used to go to with my family when I was a kid, but now I like going to Cortadura, the biggest I’d say.

-Cortadura: The biggest beach, long and wide, that stars in Cádiz and ends in San Fernando. This is the beach I like the most, because is very big, and for that reason is not as crowded as La Victoria, so I find it more comfortable. This beach have a big part with dunes, where people like to get tan nude, so I’d say it’s becoming a nude beach (at least, the part of the dunes, hide from the rest).

But getting tan is not the only thing to do on a beach. This beaches are ‘alive’ even during the night. There are lots of ‘chiringuitos’ (sorry, don’t know a word in English for this things, but I guess you can imagine what I’m talking about, are like big wood bars, with palms, and sunshades, you know…). This ‘chiringuitos’ are open during all the day, and a good part of the night. You can eat our typical food (very good fish to eat here in Cádiz, thou I don’t really like fish much), and when the moon starts to shine, you can have a few drinks lying on the fresh sand below a nice palm with your girlfriend or boyfriend…. Relaxing, that’s the best word to describe the kind of holydays you could find in Cádiz.

Anyway, this four beaches makes around nine kilometres of beaches, the whole coast of Cádiz.

*Cádiz at night:

As I said, you can have a few drinks at any of the beaches, in those ‘Chiringuitos’ I talked about. If you don’t feel like getting your shoes full of sand, or you are just looking for a bit more, and not that too much relax, you can go to the street of the pubs (that’s how we call it here, because almost all the pubs are in the same street). This street is not always the same, that depends on the time of the year you visit Cádiz.

If you came to Cádiz some time between October and May/June, the place to hang out is the old town. There, people have their firsts drinks in a big square, ‘Plaza Mina’… yes, just there, in the middle of the square, lots of people drinking and chatting and having fun. Then, there’s a street call ‘Manuel Rances’ full of pubs. I’m not going to name them all, because they are similar, just walk through that street and get in where ever you feel like. If you like it stay there, if you don’t look for another one. I’m always at ‘El Hoyo’, my favourite pub, because I like the music (music from the 60’s to the 80’s), and because I know the guys working there (and that means good music to my ears, and my drinks at a special friendly price …. I also kissed my girlfriend there for the first time, almost four years ago).

Then, during the months of the summer, from May/June (yes, summers in Cádiz come too soon) to September (that makes like four or five months of the year), the place to hang out is the other part of Cádiz, the new town. People do the same, they drink at some square (in this case, the square located just in front of ‘Hotel Playa Victoria’) and then get into some pub. Again, there’s a street full of pubs, so I wont talk about each one. The name of that street is ‘Muñoz Arenillas’, and my favourite pub in this zone is ‘El Crivi’, that belongs to the same guys that own ‘El Hoyo’, so the reasons for being my favourite place are the same.

There is another part, in the old town, in a place called ‘La punta de San Felipe’, at the end of Cádiz, beside the sea, with another kind of pubs, but are this kind of big places (big if you compare them to the pubs I’ve just talked about) that close at six or seven in the morning, for people that like dancing and dancing. There’s a nice pub called ‘El Malecón’, it’s a salsa place I’ve a couple of times dancing salsa with my girlfriend, and thou I like the place, I hate going because I hate dancing…. In this ‘Punta de San Felipe’ you can also eat something, remember we are talking about been out till 6 or 7 in the morning, so you might get hungry. But I mean pizzas, hamburgers, and things like that.

If you like to eat good food, there’s plenty of places to go in Cádiz. You should try some good fish, but there are lots typical food here. My favourite restaurant is ‘El Balandro’, located in ‘La Alameda’, a place with great food and not too expensive. I also like ‘Restaurante San Antonio’, in which you can eat Chinese food, typical Spanish food, or typical Cádiz food (I love their Chinese food, but for someone not from Cádiz, I would recommend Cádiz or Spanish food, just to try something new). But this are ‘serious’ restaurants, there are hundred (probable thousands) of places to eat at in Cádiz (I’m serious, there’s at least one restaurant or pub or bar or café in every street). One of the most popular restaurant is ‘El Faro’, but its also one of the most expensive in Cádiz (probably, the most expensive, this restaurant even serve their food to our king). If you eat there, I recommend you to sit at the bar, and not at a table, and that’ll make you save some money.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter where you have breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you’ll enjoy our food, that’s for sure (well, if you don’t, there are a couple of McDonalds and Burger Kings….). And, don’t forget, try our wine with our lunches and dinners, the country of the good wines (now I’ve heard California got a special price for having the best wines of the last year… weird). Our wine is good and cheap, I always get a couple of bottles as presents when I visit Ireland.

Just visit Cádiz, you wont regret. I know people that, after coming to Cádiz just for a few days, have decided to spend the rest of their lives here…and I’m grateful for that, been my girlfriend one of those….

Ciao!

BLUESY

PS: Excuse my English…

 

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