La Barrosa Beach, 6 km of golden sand

The Costa de la Luz (lit. "Coast of the Light") is noted for its soft light and stretches from the British territory of Gibraltar in the south to the Portuguese border in the north. The main city is Cádiz which lies approximately halfway along the coast and is the capital of Cadiz province.

The coast is relatively undeveloped with tourist development in Huelva province near the Portuguese border and at Novo Sancti Petri, near Chiclana de la Frontera, just south of Cadiz. The coast lacks the high-rise development of the Costa del Sol and is a favourite holiday destination for the Spanish.

Cities

• 1 Cádiz
• 2 Jerez de la Frontera

Talk

As with most of the rest of Spain, Spanish is the main language. However, as the Costa de la Luz becomes better known among English and German tourists, you an increasing number of staff in the resorts speak some English or German. However, this is still predominantly a Spanish area and knowledge of Spanish is useful as it is rare to find any locals who speak foreign languages.

Get in

This coast is served by international airports at Jerez, Seville, Gibraltar and Faro (in Portugal).

Do

Several championship-standard golf courses provide challenges to the keen golfer.

To the south, Tarifa is well known as the windsurfing centre of Europe, and has ferry links to Tangier in Morocco.

The Costa de la Luz has sandy beaches: La Barrosa beach is 6 km long and enjoys Blue Flag status. Washed by the Atlantic, this coast benefits from a tide which helps to clean the beaches and is slightly cooler in summer than the Costa del Sol.