"Two Weeks on the Costa de la Luz" Top 5 Page for this destination Rota by Hopkid

Rota Travel Guide: 35 reviews and 80 photos

Now this is a business trip!

Work has sent me to many places, mostly within the U.S., but I have had the chance to travel to Guam and the Azores in the past on business. On both of those trips I took advantage and spent extra time in Hawaii and Lisbon (my first visit to mainland Europe), respectively. This year I was lucky enough to be asked to work on a project at a U.S. Naval Station in Rota, Spain. Rota is a small resort town on the other side of the Bahia de Cadiz from the bigger and more well-known city of Cadiz. Jerez de la Frontera is the closest large city, only 30 km or so north and is where one flies into when traveling to Rota. My wife and I had spent the week prior traveling around Andalucia, visiting Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba.

I was in Rota for 2 weeks with two collegues from the States. During our time on the base we worked tirelessly in the high temperatures but managed to return to our hotel and go out and experience life in Rota at least through dinner someplace. Towards the end of our visit we managed to spend more time walking around and checking out some of the historic sites on offer. Rota definitey has a small town feel which was a nice change of pace after visting the much larger cities of Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada. One could pick a worse place to spend a couple of days on holiday soaking up the sun on the beaches and enjoying some nice seafood at one of the many restaurants. It also served as a home base from where we could take short trips to nearby Jerez, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Acros de la Frontera, and a day trip to Ronda.

The main beach near the port area on the Bahia de Cadiz

Women cleaning a beautifully decorated side chapel inside the wonderful Parroquia de Nuestra Senora de la 0

Pros and Cons

Pros:Small town life, beaches, food
Cons:Crowds, heat in summer
In a nutshell:Not a bad place to hang out and wind down

Last visit to Rota: Jun 2005
Intro Updated Jul 1, 2005
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Reviews (14)

"Terminado. La cuenta, por favor." - Rota

You Need to Ask for the Check Local Customs (2)

In Europe, dining is an experience that is meant to be enjoyed and not hurried through. This is reflected in the wait... more travel advice

Rota's Main Pedestrian Shopping Street Shopping (1)

This is the center for daily shopping by the locals in Rota. Along Mina you can find shops with shoes, clothes,... more travel advice

Another tapas bar Restaurants (6)

This place is not a bad choice for tapas and a drink or two if you can stand the sound of legions of motor scooters that... more travel advice

Torre de la Merced Things to Do (4)

This tower has a pretty blue and white tile dome and is the remnant of the Convento de la Merced which was established... more travel advice

Hotels (1)
Resort Hotel on the Beach

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Comments (4)

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iandsmith Jan 3, 2009 at 3:25 AM

Nice useful tips, thanks for sharing.
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bugalugs Apr 8, 2006 at 1:13 PM

Well you certainly like your restaurants :-))) Looks a really nice place
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frankcanfly Oct 25, 2005 at 4:55 AM

I passed through here often BVT (before VT). Great tips! I'd love to see it again.... check please!
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mtncorg Jul 20, 2005 at 7:30 PM

We should all be so lucky to 'have'to go to such a place for work :-] Some of my old friends in Germany with the univ of MD used to rave about their times down here!