PLAYA DE LOS GENOVESES
Cabo de Gata
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Playa de los Genoveses is one of the most famous beaches in Cabo de Gata. The super calm and shallow water is perfect for bathing and make it a great beach for families with children. Although the beach is very popular, it is very long (more than 1km) and usually it doesn’t feel very crowded. The landscapes are virgin (no buildings or facilities) so that means you need to come well prepared. Nudism is also common but not practiced by everyone.
Genoveses Beach is located within a bay with the same name – Bahía de los Genoveses – in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park. Although the bay is usually very calm, there are at times strong winds and caution should be taken as the currents can become dangerous. On windy days Genoveses can be a great spot to wind or kite surf.
At the southern end of the bay is the Morrón de los Genoveses, a hill that offers great views spanning the length of this beautiful beach and continuing all the way to the town of San José. From the Morrón de los Genoveses it’s possible to hike to a few different small coves: Cala de los Amarillos, Cala Grande, Cala del Príncipe, etc.
Playa de los Genoveses is located 3 km south of San Jose’s center following a dirt road (about 10 min drive or 40 min walk). However, from the most southern area of San Jose, it is possible to get to the beach following a path by the oceanfront in about 10 minutes. The path starts at the end of Calle Cerro Gordo.
From the Playa de los Genoveses parking, it’s a 5-min walk to the beach. During high season (mid June til mid September) parking costs 5€/day. It is free the rest of the year.
During high season, access to the beach by car is limited. As soon as the parking is full (which has space for about 220 vehicles), the road is closed. After that, the only way to get to the beach is by foot, bike or public bus.
During high season, it is possible to get to Playa de Los Genoveses from San Jose by bus. There is one bus every 30 minutes from 9am til 9pm and one ticket costs 1.5€. The bus has 3 stops in San Jose: Calle Entrada (next to the parking), Calle de Correos (in front of the supermarket) and Calle Ronda (at the beginning of the dirt road to the beaches). It stops at the following beaches: Playa de los Genoveses, Playa de Barronal, Playa de Monsul and Cala Carbon.
In 1147, a fleet of 200 Genovese ships anchored in the bay waiting to join the Catholic troops in order to expel the Moors from the city of Almeria. They waited here for over 2 months until the battle finally took place. Since then, the flag of Almeria city is the same as the flag of Genoa.
Then in 1571, the Spanish military forces (over 300 ships and 30,000 men) gathered in this bay before setting off to fight in the Battle of Lepanto.
Playa de los Genoveses and the surrounded sand dunes have also appeared in several TV programs and movies such as Lawrence of Arabia.
