Hotel Mar de Frente (Los Caños de Meca)

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My sister and I arrived at Hotel Mar de Frente (Los Caños De Meca, Costa de la Luz, Andalucía) almost by accident (or, to put it bluntly, by virtue of not being able to back our stick-shift rental coche out of a driveway). All in all, I must say it was a happy accident.

Having left the stubborn car in the care of a friendly parking lot attendant, we inquired about available rooms at the hotel and briefly surveyed the beach below. The results of both inquiries appeared to be satisfactory.... We checked in.

Unfortunately, on our first day, the only availability was an inexpensive but somewhat dingy 70€ den with two beds. Fine by us, but we've seen better. On our second day, however, we relocated into a 90€ a night room with sea views and a terrace. The decor was simple, but the terrace made all the difference. Personally, I could have stayed there for months.... Or weeks.... Anyway, we stayed two more nights.

The hotel only serves breakfast, but there are a few places to eat in the village. One of them is a very decent seafood restaurant right on the beach (where else?) - as you can see from the photo on the right, I enjoyed the food quite a bit. I think it was called El Caña, but to be perfectly honest, I am not sure now. It doesn't matter what it's called, though - you'll find it in about 5 minutes, it's right in the center of the village.

My overall impression was that the residents were mostly (Spanish) vacationers who owned or rented summer houses in Los Caños. A few homeless were also apparently semi-permanent residents - they slept on the beach after roaming about the village making drunk noises, but were otherwise not too much of a problem.

Don't be shocked if you see naked men on what otherwise seems to be a normal (i.e. traditional) beach. Speaking of the beach, if you're expecting Mediterranean water temperatures, I want to remind you that Los Caños de Meca is (still) on the Atlantic side, if only by a few miles. Therefore, the water is a couple of degrees cooler.

Driving to Los Caños De Meca may be a challenge, especially if you're not too comfortable with driving stick-shift (of course, everyone in Spain with the exception of dumb tourists drives a stick-shift). So, if you are as skilled as we were, don't even think of coming through Vejer de la Frontera! Why? Let's just say the moores did not have to worry about driving when they built it.

Hotel Mar de Frente
(Which may or may not have an address - just drive all the way east down the main street. It's at the end, on the beach side).
Los Caños de Meca, Andalusia, Spain