Day trip to Tarifa

<p>Standing on the beach at Tarifa on a clear day, you can see Morocco. Not as a vague smudge on the horizon, but as an actual landmass with hills and texture. That view alone is worth the 45-minute drive from Gibraltar, but Tarifa has plenty more going for it.</p> <p>The old town is a proper Moorish medina, narrow whitewashed streets, blue doors, cats on window ledges. It feels more like Morocco than Spain in the best possible way. Walk through the Puerta de Jerez, wander past the Castillo de Guzmán el Bueno, and get yourself down to the port for fresh seafood. The tuna here is serious business; Tarifa sits on the migration route between the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and the local almadraba fishermen have been catching bluefin tuna the same way for centuries.</p> <p>The beaches are long and wild. Playa de los Lances stretches north from the town for several kilometres, backed by Atlantic dunes. The wind is constant: Tarifa is the kite-surfing and windsurfing capital of Europe, so the beach scene has a lot of energy even in winter. If you just want to sit somewhere beautiful without watersports gear flying around your head, Punta Paloma is quieter and just as good.</p> <p>If you have the budget and the curiosity, this is also your jumping-off point for Tangier. The ferry crossing to Morocco takes around 35 to 45 minutes and turns a Tarifa day trip into something else entirely. See the Tangier entry for that.</p> <p>From Gibraltar it is an easy trip. Jump in the car, head north on the A-7 through Algeciras, then south again on the CA-9. You will be parking in Tarifa before any mood has had time to sour. The Avanza bus connects La Linea to Tarifa via Algeciras if you would rather not drive. Come back via the sunset if you can; the light over the Strait in the late afternoon is something.</p>