Where to eat in El Cabo de Gata

Cabo de Gata · fish, migas and rice dishes beside the salt flats

El Cabo de Gata is fish, migas and rice dishes beside the salt flats. Here are the village's best-rated restaurants, with a link to each listing and its phone number to book. It's a practical guide: the places are ordered by customer rating.

Between salt flats and lighthouse

It helps to be clear that "El Cabo de Gata" is really two different places. On one side, the village and its promenade, with streets where you park on the road itself, fine but with little room, so in summer and some weekends you'll be driving around looking for a spot. On the other, heading down beside the salt flats towards the lighthouse and the Arrecife de las Sirenas, is La Fabriquilla, far enough apart that you won't want to walk from one area to the other in full sun. If your plan is the long beach or the lighthouse, park near La Fabriquilla; if you're coming to eat in the village, expect to hunt for a spot on the street.

The village of El Cabo de Gata eats looking out at the sea or the salt flats, and its thing is fresh fish and rice dishes. In season it's worth booking, and out of season call before you go, because here winter really shows and most places close or wind down to weekends only. Watch out for parking by the beach: you park on the shoulder of the road, which is where you can, and the sand gets deeper the further you get from the road. If you push the car in too far and it isn't a 4x4, you may not be able to get out afterwards: every year the tow truck has to come out many times to pull out cars stuck with their wheels spinning. Always leave it in line with the ones already there, in the least sandy spots you can find, and don't chance it.

Ramona. the handmade empanadas at the Municipal Market, around 3.20 euros a piece, with a thin pastry and fillings you won't forget. It's takeaway, ideal before heading down to the beach, and it's the stop everyone in the village talks about.

Chiringuito El Charco. on the promenade, next to the sand, the sort with grilled fish and your feet on the beach. It doesn't publish prices or fixed hours: in summer it stretches until very late and in winter it closes, as a beach bar should.