Almería

Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park shelters the best-preserved marine reserve in the western Mediterranean, where the arid volcanic coastline of southeast Spain plunges into crystalline water that hosts seagrass prairies, pelagic aggregations, and a seahorse population dense enough to earn El Ancón the informal title of seahorse capital of the Mediterranean. The park's near-total absence of river runoff delivers visibility regularly exceeding 20 metres.