The town used to be called Barbate de Franco, as, during the dictatorship, General Franco used to spend his summers fishing there. Barbate is situated in one of the most unspoilt parts of the Costa de la Luz, surrounded by virgin beaches and the clean tidal waters of the Atlantic.

There are the wind-swept beaches of Zahara and Cape Trafalgar for windsurfers, the wave spot of El Palmar for surfers or the sheltered beaches of Caños de Meca or the calm waters of La Playa de los Alemanes where families can sunbathe and relax.

If you are willing to walk, even in the height of summer, you can find a beach without a soul on it, at Punta Camarinal.

Barbate is an unpretentious town, it is not spoilt like many on the coast.

There is no mass tourism, no buildings over three stories high and hardly any foreigners apart from a few hippies.

What brings visitors to Barbate is its surroundings. Immediately to the west is a large national park of Umbrella Pines, 'El parque natural de las Marismas y Breñas'.