Tabernas is a mythical place in relation with the audiovisual history around the world. This small territory with good access for filming teams, guaranteed sun hours during all the year and other advantages, became one of the core interest for foreign productions which came here to find the landscapes of the Middle East, Africa, the American Southwest: The perfect backdrop for great historical filmings such as Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra, Leone's Dollar Trilogy, whose movies prompted the construction of the first Western town set in Almería (MiniHollywood) and the others that followed for dozens of spaghetti Westerns. Characters as “Patton” “Indiana Jones and the last crusade”, “Never ending story”, also came here.
These landscapes have remained in perfect condition for decades, today the Tabernas Desert continues to be transformed into landscapes from other latitudes in dozens of projects every year, including feature films, short films, fashion photo shoots and documentaries, among others. Audiovisual activity has gradually become part of the local economy, evolving and modernising over time, giving rise to young professionals trained to enter the world of work.
Among the more international projects which have been developed in the recent years, we can include ‘Millennium”, ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Manitou’, “800 bullets”, ‘El Zorro,’ ‘Sea of Plastic,’ ‘Exodus” or “Risen”…
As all the deserts, the best definition of those areas is that they are an hostil zone for human…we will explain why its like that, how the life finds its way along the centuries, natural life but also human life. You will appreciate beautiful and cinematic landscapes steeped in history, protected today due to all those reasons and also its hight geological value.
Tabernas is a desert covering some 12,000 hectares, formed by natural processes and considered the only officially desert in Europe due to its characteristics. This wonderful landscape has been shaped by tectonic movements and natural climate changes.
The leitmotif of our activity is the contact withTabernas Desert, a peaceful drive to enjoy the nature of the desert. We use 4x4 vehicles because of the terrain, but this is not the focus of the activity. This is a recreational activity, not a sporting one. During the tour, we make numerous stops for explanations and photos, so that all participants can see the same things. You can swap seats in your assigned car along the route.
The activity starts at Tabernas village, in front of information office and finishes also there.
Important: Today it's a protected area with restrictions: private motorized vehicles are not allowed and any activity is supervised by andalusian environmental department and Seprona (official nature police in Spain). For people who prefer to discover the Desert of Tabernas walking or in another way, there are free tracks PR 269 and GR 140 and also bicycles are allowed. All those activities are a good complement to our tour.