El Palomar de la Breña

There wasn’t a restaurant, and if there had been one, we wouldn’t have left the site. Still, we had a lovely stay. The rooms were comfortable and very clean, and the staff were friendly and helpful. It’s a beautiful place, very quiet and relaxing, just right for switching off completely.

It’s a genuinely different place to stay, hidden in the Parque Natural among a vast evergreen Umbrella Pine forest. This lovely rural hotel occupies a fascinating 18th-century farmhouse, once home to what was then the world’s largest dovecot. The old dovecot, at the rear of the hotel, is now home to a Lesser Kestrel colony. You can visit it or climb onto the flat roof to gaze at the clear night sky. The hotel is clean and comfortable, and its conversion uses old wooden beams, windows, and doors, many rescued from demolitions in nearby Cadiz. Cadiz, or Gades, is considered by some to be Europe’s oldest city, founded in 1100 BC. The area toward the Barbate cliffs is made up of huge calcified sand dunes, five million years old. There are plenty of shaded walks nearby, and you can reach the white village of Vejer de la Frontera or the famous tuna port of Barbate in under an hour on foot. It can be hard to find a peaceful hotel even in rural Spain, but here there are no buzzing scooters at night or late partygoers coming back through the streets.

Traditional and perched on top of a hill, this is a wonderful hotel and restaurant. The unique Roman "dove's house" is a standout, and the views all around are breathtaking.

The staff were friendly and helpful at this lovely hotel. It also has an interesting historic pigeon building.