What you can see on the Tarifa webcam
The camera watches Los Lances, the long beach west of town where the boards and kites gather. From behind the dunes it faces the Strait and at times picks out Tarifa island and its lighthouse, with the mountains of Morocco behind. Count the kites on the water and you will have a fair idea of the wind before you leave the hotel. Valdevaqueros, the next bay along below the great dune at Punta Paloma, has its own live camera at a windsurf centre on the sand: it is on the Valdevaqueros webcam page.
Tarifa webcam: Los Lances beach and the Strait
From the garden of a hotel behind the dunes of Los Lances north, the long beach between Tarifa and Valdevaqueros, this camera looks out across the sand to the Strait of Gibraltar. Pampas grass and a beach flag frame the foreground, and beyond lie the sand, the shore break and wide open water.
The camera does not always hold the same framing: at times it turns to Tarifa island, the low island with a lighthouse that marks the southern tip of mainland Spain, with the mountains of Morocco rising behind it on a clear day. Whether that African coast is sharp or lost in haze tells you a good deal about the weather in the Strait. The pictures refresh through the day as a sequence rather than a live stream.
Levante and poniente
Tarifa's days are ruled by two winds. The levante blows from the east, squeezed through the Strait; it can be strong and gusty for days on end, sending sand streaming along the beaches. The poniente arrives from the Atlantic in the west, cooler and usually steadier. On the camera you can tell them apart by the way the kites lean and the flags fly, and by the sand blowing across the beach when the levante is up.
When to watch Tarifa
Mainland Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland all year. The beaches face south-west, so the afternoon light is the warmest, and in winter the sun goes down over the sea. The wind blows in every season, but summer brings the crowds and the busiest skies full of kites.
Around Tarifa
The old town keeps its walls and the castle of Guzmán el Bueno. Tarifa island, joined to the mainland by a causeway, holds the southernmost point of continental Europe. A few miles west, Bolonia has a long beach, a huge sand dune and the ruins of Baelo Claudia, a Roman town that lived on salting fish. Boat trips from Tarifa harbour go out to watch dolphins and whales in the Strait, and ferries cross to Tangier.
Visiting Tarifa
The N-340 road runs behind the beaches, with car parks for each one that fill early in summer. The same wind that makes Tarifa famous can make a sunny day feel cool, so pack a layer even in July. Swimmers should keep clear of the kite zones and follow the beach flags. Gibraltar and its airport are under an hour away by road.
