 The Costa de la Luz (Coast of light) is the western part of the Andalucía coastline that faces out to the Atlantic. This page describes the eastern section which is the coastline of the province of Cádiz. The western section is the coastline of the province of huelva.
This is an interesting and beautiful section of Spanish coastline. Starting in the north on the boarders of Huelva at Sanlucar de Barrameda with its golden sands overlooking the River Guadalquivir and Donaña National Park. Further to the south, around the small villages of Chipiona and Rota you will find fine, often desserted beaches with miles of white sand. The town El Puerto de Santa Maria is famous for its restaurants serving succulent king prawns washed down with chilled Manzanilla wine.
The historic walled city of Cadiz is built in a Peninsular jutting into the bay of Cadiz. The isthmus joining the mainland exhibits miles of beaches and the Bay of Cadiz is a natural park.
 South of the golf at Sancti Petri the ragged coastline is dominated by coves and cliffs and is often backed by pine forests. The best are located just to the north of the fishing town of Barbate and where you will find the Pinewood of Barbate Natural Park. The coastal villages to be found along this coastline are popular with tourists in the summer, all of them are full of atmosphere and offer a good selection of trendy restaurants and bars. The Costa de la Luz is also popular with surfers, with the Atlantic providing good surfing conditions for most of the year.
Sanlucar de Barrameda
Situated at the northern tip of the sherry triangle, 8 km from Chipiona, the delightful small town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda is flanked by the Guadalquivir estuary. The speciality tipple here is the distinctive manzanilla wine, which acquires its dry, slightly salty tang from the seaside environment and the moist poniente wind. The town is equally famed for its excellent seafood, for which manzanilla is the ideal accompaniment.
 Chipiona
Sitting on the coast in the far west of the province of Cádiz, the pretty town of Chipiona lies at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river, only 52km from the city of Cádiz itself, Chipiona dates back to Roman times and currently has around 17,000 inhabitants. In the 19th century, the town was a remote seafaring spa and today it has become a popular resort for Spanish tourists.
Conil de la Frontera
This small town is fast becoming popular with summer tourists. However, it is still a typical Andalucian town with narrow cobbled streets, tapas bars and an open air market at weekends and pavement cafes around the main plazas.
 Los Caños de Meca
Caños de Meca is a small but unspoiled community on
the windswept but stunning Costa de la Luz on the Atlantic coast. Deep
in the Parque Natural del Acantilado, Caños de Meca has beautiful
beaches, backed by cliffs and pine trees. Perched on the cliff-tops
straddling the coast road, this sleepy little village is fast waking up
to a reputation as a trendy place for beatnik travellers and
wave-jumpers to spend the summer.
Caños
de Meca is well off the beaten track and has to be reached by taking
one of the small side roads off the CN340 coast road near Vejer de la
Frontera or by taking the minor road through the pine forest from
Barbate.
City of Cadiz
Virtually an island, Cádiz is surrounded by the sea on all sides, connected to the mainland by a thin strip of land 8km long. This peninsula separates the Bay of Cádiz, a large natural harbour, from the sea. Today, Cádiz is an evocative and enchanting city. It is still surrounded by fortified walls, which were built in the 19th century to protect the city from foreign  attacks by sea. Old men can be seen casting their rods over the sides of this wall into the sea 30 feet below, where huge fish nibble at hunks of bread floating on the surface of the water. Elegant, tall houses line the long and narrow streets opening out onto leafy squares in which bands play on summer evenings. Despite being such a fascinating and beautiful city, Cádiz has managed to escape relatively unscathed by tourism. Click here for more information about the City of Cadiz
Parque Natural de los Alcornocales
At the southern most tip of the Costa de la Luz you will find the Parque Natural de los Alcornocales. This breath of fresh air in the province of Cádiz, extends
through half a dozen municipalities such as Los Barrios, Tarifa,
Castellar de la Frontera, Algeciras and other inland zones. More than 170,000 acres of acorn trees and beech trees as
well as a rich variety of fauna can be found here. It also homes a diverse number of
migrating birds, and posseses a spectacular beauty.
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