Ryanair (0871 246 0000;offers flights to Almeria from £40. Economy Car Hire (0845 450 0877;offers seven days’ hire in a Ford Ka from £67. PACKAGES Inntravel (01653 61700;offers a six-night self-catering rental of a two-bedroom apartment, sleeping up to four, in Las Negras, from £996, including car hire and walking notes.
Spanish playwright Federico García Lorca set his famous play Blood Wedding at the ruined farm, Cortijo del Fraile, between La Isleta del Moro and Rodalquilar. It was based on real events, and today there’s a nice walk from Rodalquilar to the deserted chapel. Gold was discovered in Rodalquilar at the end of the 19th-century, and mined until the end of the Sixties. You’ll find abandoned miners’ houses in the village, overlooked by the towers of the old mine. A suitably fascinating and spooky place to explore, especially with children.
The Hollywood film sets (Ctra Nacional 340, km 468, Tabernas; 0034 950 066014; €17, adult; €9, children) are 15 miles west of Almería on the N340. There’s a daily mock bank hold-up at midday and 5pm at Mini Hollywood (open daily 10am-9pm, closes earlier in winter; closed Mondays except holidays), though Texas Hollywood is more fun, with its stockade fort, Mexican pueblo and Indian tepees.