Mini Hollywood, Almeria

Vistors can sample the life of a gunslinger

The province of Almeria has a stunning landscape that has attracted film markers since the early sixties. The Tabermas Dessert with its wind blown sandstone and dry riverbeds has provided dramatic backdrops for dozens of 'spaghetti' westerns, Peter O'Toole classic Lawrence of Arabia and other more recent films such as Patton, The Wind and the Lion and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Many of the movie sets still remain and have been carefully preserved and rebuilt to provide attractions for an ever increasing number of visitors to the area. The most famous set is Mini Hollywood where over one hundred films have been shot, including the Sergio Leone classics A Fistful of Dollars and The Magnificent Seven where Clint Eastwood starred.

Mini Hollywood: Mini-Hollywood is the longest established of three theme parks existing in the area. The other two 'Western Leone' and 'Texas Hollywood' are still part-time working film locations. Mini-Hollywood is now entirely given over to the theme-park business and provides a variety of attractions, which include, a twice daily simulation of a spectacular Wild West gunfight when bandits ride into town to hold up the bank, a carriage museum, a film museum, a cactus garden and an animal zoo.

Texas Hollywood: Texas Hollywood is located close to Mini Hollywood, 25 kilometres north of Almeria City on the A-340. The film set continues to make films but also offers visitors the opportunity to stroll around the film sets which include a Mexican Village, an Indian Village and a typical America Wild West Town complete with a saloon, a jail, shops, a bank and stables with horses and authentic stagecoaches.

Western Leone: Western Leone owes its name to the Italian film director Sergio Leone who turned the Almeria landscape into a film location. Leone films included his epic Western 'Once Upon A Time In The West' (1968) starring Claudia Cardinale and the legendary Henry Fonda, as well as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Treasure Island.