What's on this page?

Introduction
Aquapark
Golf
Horse riding
Surfing
Cycling
Quad biking
Go Karting
Fishing
Whale watching  & Dolphin Safaris
Birdwatching & National Parks and river excursions

Novo Sancti Petri and Costa de la Luz is ideal for all sports.  Here you can enjoy first class venues in beautiful surroundings and top facilities without the crowds that are becoming a feature of the Costa del Sol.

This area boasts championship golf course, the finest surfing, wind surfing and kite surfing in Spain and southern Europe and is unparralleled for its horse riding and unspoilt natural environment.

Here is a sample of the things you can do:

• Golf
• Horse riding on the surrounding white sandy beaches/ trail riding
• Dolphin & Whale watching in the straits of Gibraltar
• Reef fishing
• Surfing
• Windsurfing
• Kitesurfing
• Snorkeling on the Canos reef
• Visit Donana National Park - a UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Shopping in Seville/Cadiz/San Fernando/Gibraltar 
• Bike/Scooter hire & area exploration
• Visit Jerez de la Frontera and the Bodegas

This page has links to other websites, which we think you will find useful.  As we do not maintain these sites we are not responsible for the content or the accuracy of their content.  Let us know if you find these sites useful or suggest other sites that you find useful and we will add them.  Click here to let us know your comments.

Take the family to an Aquapark. Aqualand is located just north of El Puerto de Santa María on the main road to Jeréz. Open daily from 11.00 June – September. The facilities include a pool with a wave machine, Río Bravo, 2 kamikazes, Black Hole, 6 water slides, children’s pool, and the newest attraction, the Black Hole.

There is also a restaurant, bar, children’s playground, first aid post and bus connection with El Puerto de Santa Maria and Jeréz.

In the wonderful Andalucian climate, golf can be enjoyed year round with four local courses in Novo Sancti Petri, all within 15 minutes of Casa Alhambra and a superb practice and training facility within 5 minutes drive.  Courses at Jerez, Puerta Santa Maria, Benalup and Montenmedio are only 30 minutes drive, whilst an hours drive takes you to San Roque and Sanlucar de Barrameda, completing this golfers paradise - Casa Alhambra is ideally situated to provide you with a real variety and wealth of Championship standard courses suitable for all abilities.

Whether you are an expert or beginner, you will find Andalusia the ideal place to play, thanks to its excellent climate and the quality and quantity of the courses. There is a broad range to suit all golfers. The variety of the courses, their facilities and their track record of many major championships held guarantee golfing quality in Andalusia.

There are classes available from top professionals, and elegant clubhouses offering all kinds of services. Let the unmatched surroundings captivate you and enjoy a perfect, fun-packed golf holiday.

You are sure to find just the right golf course for you among the many options available. For a brief description of the courses in the area see below.  Click on the Club Logo for a link to each website to obtain more information go our dedicted Golf webpage or click here and here for a comprehensive list of clubs.

If you are a keen horse rider or just fancy giving it a try there opportunities all riders whatever your age or skill all over this area. Many riding stables combine different riding activities such as riding lessons, hour or day trips and even safaris lasting a few days.

Hipica Novo Sancti Petri located less than a kilometre from Casa de Alhambra offers beach rides, riding lessons and many other activities.

Overlooked by many surfers, this stretch of Spain's Atlantic coastline is little surfed, which means few crowds!  Surfing can be enjoyed by all, particularly in the Autumn and Spring, and the Costa de la Luz, has the best and most consistent good waves for surfing and body boarding, particularly the beaches of El Palmar in Conil: an excellent place to start and perfect your technique.  This area is located just a few minutes drive down the coast from Casa de Alhambra.  Click the picture below for more information on surfing sites along the Costa de la Luz.

The beauty of this coast is its diversity ensuring that the majority of the time you will be able to find a clean wave. The sheer variety is amazing from mellow or powerful beach breaks to long walled up reef and point breaks, this area has it all! The majority of the swell received in this part of Spain is ground swell.
Most locals that surf this area come from Malaga, Cadiz and Seville making the weekends a bit crowded but the weekdays almost empty!

If water sports are your passion visit Novojet  for windsurfing, kitesurfing, sailing, scuba diving, parasailing, fishing, boat trips, activities for disabled.  Novojet is located at C.C.Novo Sancti Petri, local 7, Urb. Novo Sancti Petri, 11139 Chiclana.  Tel: (0034) 956-494-932.  Visit their website HERE (www.novojet.net) or e-mail: info@novojet.net alternatively try Nautimejet for canoes, jet skis and sailing boats hire.

Before you begin to surf you should be able to swim at least 100 metres without stopping. Once you have learnt to catch and ride small waves (say up to 1 metre high) then make sure you can swim 500 metres without stopping. If you want to ride two metre waves and bigger then be sure you can swim at least 1,000 metres without stopping, and be able to swim at least 25 metres underwater.

Remember surf safety and etiquette:

• If someone else is already riding the wave, don't try and catch it yourself - remember, one wave, one person.
• Surf with a friend. You will learn from the other surfer, and if things go wrong, there'll be someone who can help you!

Hire a bike & enjoy the Andalucian countryside. Camaleon Sports in Novo Sancti Petri operate one day group bike rides ranging from 28 – 50 kms. You can take the ‘Route of the Bulls’ to the Medina Sidonia area, cycle to the beautiful Alcornocales Natural Park with its ancient oak forests, visit the Breña Natural Park near Barbate and enjoy the stunning views from historic Cape Trafalgar, or choose an easy half-day tour of the pine woods and cliff tops around Conil de la Frontera. You can also hire bicycles and go off on your own.

This company also offers kayak, boat and fishing trips in the Bay of Cádiz and 3-5 hour hikes through the surrounding countryside.

Bike & Sport Center Barrosa Hotels - Urb. Novo Sancti Petri - 11139 Chiclana e-mail : info@bikesportcenter.com Tel: 956-492125 / 956-437323 / 639-431464 or click the picture to link to their website

Have you tried the fun of Quad Biking?  Visit the circuit at Hipica Novo Sancti Petri  only 1 Km from Casa de Alhambra to try out these All Terrain Vehicles.  For more information on ATV tours contact: (0034) 608-857-399/629-731-111 or e-mail: jvazquez@hipica-novo.com or click HERE.  Alternatively try Quad Adventures,click the link or the picture below.

For an alternative venue in unspoilt countryside visit Dehesa Montenmedio. Here you can hire Quad bikes suitable for adults and children. Beginners courses are offered and you can use your own quad or motorbike on the circuits. Montenmedio is located on the N-340/E5 at Km 41.2 Vejer de la Frontera-Barbate 11150 approximatley 35Km from Casa de Alhambra.  For more information tel: (0034) 956-451-216 or e-mail: diegolacave@yahoo.es and ninopl@hotmail.com 

Enjoy the thrill of Go Karting at the Circuito de Karts. 

The address is:

Circuito de Karts, Chiclana, Ctra. Nal. 340 KM 17, Tel. 606 20 80 97 (956
230772) - tgl. 16 - 23 h geöffnet, Sa + So 10 - 14 h und 16 - 23 h

This coast is ideal for fishing. From the marina at Sancti Petri you can hire everything required for a day of open sea fishing. Swordfish fishing is most spectacular. From July to September swordfish are found in the Bay of Cádiz. There is also tunny fishing in the open sea around Barbate, Zahara or Conil. In Cádiz, and Isla Cristina in Huelva; Mackerel, sea bass, big toothed pampano, blue fish, and spotted bass are common catches.

Fishing Charters may be hired from Novojet S.L. Chiclana Cadiz EspaÒa
Tel: 0034-956-492026

The sheer diversity between temperatures, salt contents, currents and natural environment of the straits of Gibraltar make this a fantastic place for Whale and Dolphin watching.

If you want to know more about Whales and other cetaceans or even better organise a trip to see them for yourself please visit FIMM, a Swiss foundation based in Tarifa that dedicates itself just to that.  For more informations on these wonderful mammals click HERE  or contact Pedro Cortez 4, 11380-Tarifa. Tel: (0034) 956-627-008/619-459-441 or e-mail: firmm98@aol.com. 

Alternatively meet to go on a Whale watching expedition at Café Continental, Paseo de la Alameda, 11380 Tarifa.  Tel: (0034) 639-476-544/956-627-013

Click HERE for more information on Whale Watching in Tarifa

Alternatively take a Dolphin safari either from Puerto de Poniente at La Línea next to Gibraltar or from Gibraltar itself. Fro more information on Gibraltar based safaris click HERE.

The Dolphin Safari at La Linea sails every hour and a half throughout the day, so there is never long to wait for your trip in the summer with a short timetable in winter.  Click HERE to check in more detail or tel: (0034) 956-173-537/650-060-579 or e-mail: dolphin_safari@yahoo.co.uk 

This Park extends over 170,025 between Tarifa and Malaga and is named after its most abundant plant – the Cork Oak.  The geography is characterised by narrow river valleys, known as the 'canutos', or tubes, concentrated in the Park's southern boundary.  'Los Alcornocales', (cork oaks), grow in great, leafy thickets over extensive areas of land making these Europe's most extensive Mediterranean woodlands. Gall oaks, wild olives, palmettos, rhododendrons, elmssarsaparillas and white poplars also flourish in the scrub together with turkey oaks and heather, strawberry trees and hardy myrtles.

The microclimate near the river valleys provides perfect conditions for forest which hasn’t changed for thousands of years, including rhododendron, alder, laurel, ash, hazel, holly, butcher's broom and variety of ferns, some of them of enormous botanical significance.

In contrast the mountains consist of scrubland devoid of trees.  It is this rich diversity that makes the park's fauna so rich and varied.

This is the ideal place to observe roe deer, fox, genet, mongoose, otter, polecat, weasel, wild-cat and badger.

For the birdwatchers amongst you there are many birds of prey: short-toed eagle, griffin vulture, booted eagle, Imperial eagle, golden eagle, eagle owl, peregrine falcon, Egyptian vulture, goshawk, sparrow hawk and the tawny vulture.  A well as robin, woodcock, wren, long-tailed and Great tit, as well as nightingales, bee-eaters, swallows and the swift.

The Park is a great place for you to enjoy a great variety of outdoor activities:

• Hiking/trekking,
• climbing,
• potholing
• water-sports in the various reservoirs and
• horse and mountain bike trails

If you prefer a more relaxed holiday you can simply enjoy the wonderful views offered by the Park's many vantage points, such as the natural balconies at Hoyo Don Pedro, the Sierra of Ojén or the Juncal Plains.

The river Guadalquivir flows through Córdoba, Sevilla and ends then in a marshy delta at the Atlantic coast, between Cádiz and Huelva.   The marshlands are protected as a National Park, where no entry is allowed. The park as a whole comprises three distinct kinds of ecosystem, the marismas, the matorral and the dunes.   This is why the area has been designated a biosphere reserve by UNESCO.

This park is a haven for migratory geese, spoonbills and many other migratory birds as well many birds of prey, most notably 15 pairs of Imperial Eagles as well as Black Kites, Griffon Vultures and Marsh harriers. From bird hides at the reserve centre, you can find Cetti's and Savi's warblers and watch egrets, herons and little bitterns.  Sometimes you may see a majestic imperial eagle (picture left) soar from the woods of Doñana over El Rocio to the Coto del Rey. In fact, 125 species of birds are known to breed in this fabulous wilderness, as well as 28 species of mammal, 17 reptiles, 9 amphibians and 8 varieties of fish.

Entrance to the park is strictly controlled  and it is at the western side that a large buffer zone is open for tourists. You can take half day trips with official guides or explore the environs of the visitors centres on foot. A typical safari trip will take in all three types of ecosystem, but only one thing is guaranteed - no two visits will be the same. To visit the park take the A483 past Almonte and El Rocio to El Acebuche (near Matalascañas) where you find the main visitors centre.  There are trips into the park at 08.30h and 17.00h every day except Sundays in the summer (1/06 - 15/09) and at 08.30h and 15.00h every day except Mondays in the winter.

Booking is recommended by phoning the visitors centre on +34 959 430432. Full day trips can also be organised for groups. The Visitors centre 'El Rocina' is nearer to El Rocio, it has an audio visual display and nature trail.

The park can also be reached ( but not entered) by taking the ferry boat across the Guadalquivir river from San Lucar de Barrameda where a new visitors centre is planned. This 3.5 hour excursion takes you for a leisurely trip up the Guadalquivir river. You stop off in two places to see the bird life and to visit an old traditional village. You may see a wonderful sunset when you return on the afternoon trip.

Book in advance to avoid disappointment. Tickets can be bought in the Old Ice Factory (Fábrica de Hielo) on the waterfront in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

Daily Excursions : Nov – March : 10.00 April, May and October : 10.00 and 16.00 June – September : 10.00 and 17.00

Book by telephone : 956 363 813 or e-mail : info@visitasdonana.com The Fábrica de Hielo has an interesting visitor centre.

© Copyright Casa De Alhambra Holidays 2004