THE only desert in Europe is found in Spain – and Wild West fans are likely to recognise it.
Tabernas looks more like something from Arizona but is actually found in Almeria in .
And it claims to be Europe‘s only desert in Europe with less than 250mm of rain every year.
Within the 280kmsq desert are three mountain ranges – Filabres, Alhamilla and Sierra.
While the average temperature is around 18C, it can hit the 40s in the peak of (although one of the highest temperatures hit 52C).
Further adding to its claim of being a desert, it also has desert badlands which is an extremely dry terrain with soft rocks and clay soils.
The best way to see the Tabernas is on a guided tour, as driving directly through them unaccompanied is banned.
This ranges from 4×4 tours, or horse riding tours.
And since the 1950s, a number of Wild West movies have been filmed there, with three main studios designed to look like cowboy towns.
Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood, Mini Hollywood Oasys and Western Leone are the ones still in operation, with many others no abandoned.
Non-western TV series including , Games of Thrones and Black Mirror have all filmed there as well.
This led to it being called the Hollywood of Europe (not to be confused with ).
Oasys MiniHollywood has since become a theme park that has a splash park and live shows, with plans to add a hotel as well.
However, the era of western movies is starting to die off.
Cowgirl guide Sara González told National Geographic: “Tourists used to come for the western movie sets, but these days, I have to explain the concept of spaghetti western movies to most of our customers.”;;
Despite this, they still lean into their western history, with a festival every October dedicated to Westerns.
But it is easy to get to, with flights from London to Almeria.
The UK even has its own ‘desert’ although falls slightly short of being an official one due to the volume of rainfall.
Yet with one million tourists visiting a year.
Some people have said it feels like a “forgotten film set”;;.
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