Bolonia

The bay of Bolonia

The bay of Bolonia, in Spanish Ensenada de Bolonia, lies within the municipality of Tarifa on the Strait of Gibraltar. On the bay are the Bolonia-El Lentiscal beach and, in the western part, the ruins of the Roman town of Baelo Claudia.

The bay is part of the Parque Natural del Estrecho, designated on 21 March 2003. The park covers 19,177.29 ha in the municipalities of Algeciras and Tarifa and more than 60 km of coastline, and about half of its area is at sea. Since 2006 it has been part of the Intercontinental Biosphere Reserve of the Mediterranean, a UNESCO designation. It is also a special protection area for birds (ZEPA, since 2003) and a special area of conservation (ZEC, since 2012).

Bolonia-El Lentiscal beach

The Bolonia-El Lentiscal stretch of beach is 2,412 m long and classified as a natural beach. Three lifeguard towers and one module are planned here. A bathing-only zone between the flags is kept separate from a zone for water sports only, and there is a line of buoys at 200 m.

A year-round kite school zone marked with buoys is planned for Bolonia. Where else people kite in Tarifa is described under Kitesurfing.

Duna de Bolonia

The Duna de Bolonia lies on the isthmus of Punta Camarinal, close to Baelo Claudia. The active shifting dune is over 30 m high and exposed to the easterly Levante, the east wind of the Strait. Since Decreto 226/2001 of 2 October it has been a geological natural monument (Monumento Natural) covering 13.17 ha, within the natural park and the ZEC and ZEPA Estrecho protected areas.

The most common tree in the natural park is the stone pine. It was planted in the 1960s to stop the dunes from advancing. Marram grass, juniper and camarina grow on the dunes and sandy areas.

Path to the dune

Since 22 September 2026 the Sendero Duna de Bolonia has been closed from the Conjunto Arqueológico to the Mirador. No reopening date has been announced.

The waymarked path is 1,048 m long one way, takes about 30 minutes and is easy. It starts at a boardwalk around 400 m long and runs along the beach below the ruins of Baelo Claudia, with views of the Roman salting works. It then passes beach lagoons with turnstones, sanderlings, sandpipers and gulls, and leads through juniper and pine woodland almost to the foot of the dune. To reach the starting point, take the road from the N-340 to Bolonia and then head towards the beach; the path begins after the Arroyo de Alparieta.

Viewpoints

Around Bolonia, the natural park has several viewpoints and paths:

• Observatorio Bolonia,
• Mirador Monte Camarinal,
• Sendero and Mirador Faro Camarinal,
• Sendero and Mirador Duna de Bolonia.

Baelo Claudia

The ruins of Baelo Claudia lie in the western part of the bay. The Roman town was founded in the 2nd century BC, and the surviving remains include the forum, temples, theatre, baths and the fish-salting quarter by the beach. Entry is free for EU citizens with proof. From the N-340, the road towards Bolonia and El Lentiscal reaches the Conjunto Arqueológico in less than eight kilometres.

Other beaches in the municipality are listed under Beaches, day trips under Day trips around Tarifa and how to reach Tarifa under Getting there. The castle, old town and island are covered in Things to do.