EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

If you're waiting for a morning ferry, or want to stay awhile, Algeciras has plenty of budget hostales and pensiones in the grid of streets to the north of the railway line between the port and the train station. There are several in c/Duque de Almodóvar, c/José Santacana and c/Rafael de Muro. Try the basic but clean Levante , c/Duque de Almodóvar 21 (tel 956 651 505; ¬12-18), or the more comfortable González , c/José Santacana 7 (tel 956 652 843; ¬18-27), which has some rooms with bath. On Plaza Palma, the market square slightly in from the port, the surprisingly spruce Hostal Nuestra Señora de la Palma (tel 956 632 481; ¬18-27) is another good option with en-suite rooms. Algeciras's luxurious new youth hostel , Ctra. Nacional 340 (tel 956 679 060; under ¬12), has a pool, tennis courts and double rooms with bath, but lies 8km west of town on the Tarifa road; buses heading for Tarifa will drop you there if you ask. Should you have trouble finding a place to stay, pick up a town plan and check out the full accommodation list in the turismo , c/Juan de la Cierva (official hours Mon-Fri 9am-2pm, but frequently fails to open; tel 956 572 636; English spoken), on the south side of the train track near the port. Prices tend to go up dramatically in midseason, but lots of simple casas de huéspedes are clustered round the market.

The port area also has plenty of places to eat . Across the train line from the turismo and invariably crowded is the good-value Casa Gil at c/Sigismundo Moret 2. Fifty metres further along the same street, Casa Sánchez , at the corner of c/Río, is another good place with a menú , and they also have a few rooms (¬12-18). The bustling and colourful daily market n the nearby Plaza Palma is a useful place to buy food for travelling or picnics. Good tapas are on offer at Bar Castro , c/Castillo 14, just north of the market and en route uphill to the elegant main square, Plaza Alta , where there are more bars, cafés and heladerías .