Tabernas Desert
Tabernas Desert; Mini Hollywood
27-01-2023 © Doris Leone
In the province of Almería, besides the lovely seaside resorts and rugged mountains, you will also find the Tabernas Desert. This is the largest desert in Europe and, with its rough and dry environment, it is perfect for shooting western films. Numerous of great films have been shot here, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly directed by Sergio Leone, the well-known series Game of Thrones and the popular Netflix series Vis a Vis. Have a look at my travel blog!
Theme parks, film sets and shows
Due to its unique location, Tabernas has several theme parks where films have been shot, the most fun park to visit is Oasys MiniHollywood, but apart from this one you have two other parks called, Fort Bravo and Western Leone.
Oasys Mini Hollywood
This park has a fun western town that hosts several shows. It gave me a little Disneyland feeling, because of the good actors who put on splashy shows. You can have a great lunch here, but you can also bring your own food and drinks without any problems. Besides the western set-up, you can also visit a gigantic zoo, since in recent years mainly African animals live here. This is because these animals can best withstand the desert climate in Tabernas. In my eyes, there were still many animals that were not supposed to be there, but the staff indicated that these animals are still there, as they were brought to this zoo years ago and unfortunately cannot be placed just anywhere else.
In my opinion, the Loro show is the most fun show, the Loros (parrots), cosily fly over you and show off their cutest tricks.
Fort Bravo & Western Leone
The two other theme parks are slightly smaller, but are also visitable, here you will find mainly a cool western film set. Fort Bravo, which is also called Texas Hollywood, is bigger. You can visit all the parks for cool western shows. Would you like to experience the real ‘Hollywood feeling’, but a little closer to home? Then drive past Fort Bravo for the awesome Hollywood letters in the mountain.
Hiking through the desert
Apart from the many film sets and theme parks, Tabernas is a beautiful area. You can make extremely beautiful hikes here. Just find an awesome trail on Google Maps and start your trail through the desert. Some different hiking routes are:
- Las Salinas, a great area where you start at the petrol station next to the A-92 and N-340a exit (Tabernas Exit)
- Colas de Dragon, this is a unique sandstone formation, you also start here at the petrol station and continue towards Coto las Lomillas
- Escalera ruta el Cautivo, where you take a cool walk up the stairs, it starts opposite Mini Hollywood
What should you keep in mind?
- The Tabernas Desert is extremely hot, especially during the high season months I would not recommend hiking, the better months for hiking are: October to May
- Bring plenty of water, at least 1.5 litres p.p.
- Grease up well, there are few shaded areas
- Bring some sunglasses, a cap or a hat
