Car hire at Almería Airport.

Almería Airport is small, quiet and 9 km east of the city, and almost everyone who rents here is renting for one reason: Cabo de Gata. The Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park is a volcanic coastline of coves, salt flats and near-empty beaches with a public transport network that barely exists outside the summer months. Without a car you see San José and very little else. With one, the whole park opens up — and that asymmetry is sharper here than anywhere else in Andalusia.

Book earlier than you would for Málaga. This is a modest airport with a handful of suppliers and small fleets, and in August the available cars genuinely run out rather than merely getting expensive. The same applies at Easter and over long weekends. Collection is straightforward when you get here: a single terminal, desks in the arrivals area, cars parked alongside, and the N-344 and A-7 within a couple of minutes of the exit.

One detail matters more here than anywhere else on this coast, and it is worth reading your rental agreement for: unpaved roads. Several of the best beaches in the park — Playa de los Genoveses and Mónsul among them — are reached by dirt tracks from San José, and most rental contracts exclude damage sustained off asphalt. In peak summer the question often resolves itself, because access is closed to private cars and a shuttle bus runs from San José instead. Outside those weeks, drive the tracks slowly if at all, and know that a punctured tyre on a rutted surface is usually on you.

Beyond the park, the drives are unlike anywhere else in Spain. Inland, the Tabernas desert is the only true desert in Europe, dry enough that Sergio Leone filmed his westerns here and the sets still stand as visitable attractions. Mojácar, a white village spilling down a hillside above the sea, is about an hour north-east. Almería city itself has one of the largest Moorish fortresses in Spain, the Alcazaba, and repays a half day. Granada is an hour and three quarters north-west on the A-92; Málaga about two and a half hours west along the A-7.

Practical logistics inside the park are thinner than visitors expect. Fuel stations are sparse once you pass Retamar — fill up in the city or at the airport before you head in, especially if you are circling the whole cape via Las Negras and Agua Amarga. The same goes for cash and groceries: the villages are small and seasonal. Summer sun and wind are relentless on this coast, so a car with working air conditioning and a windscreen you can actually see through after a dusty track is not a luxury.

For the vehicle itself, small is right. The park's lanes are narrow, village parking in San José and Las Negras is tight and fills early on summer mornings, and nothing about this landscape rewards a large car — an economy hatch or a compact automatic handles all of it. If you are combining Cabo de Gata with the wider region, ask about a one-way drop at Málaga or Granada; it is a natural end to an east-to-west Andalusian route and usually available for a fee.