Oasys MiniHollywood

MiniHollywood is the best known of the surviving western sets in the Tabernas desert, built in the 1960s and used in For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly among many others; when film production moved elsewhere the set was kept and opened to visitors. It runs as a theme park now: a main street with saloon, bank, jail and stables, staged gunfight shows several times a day, a cancan performance in the saloon, and a reserve holding several hundred animals including big cats, giraffes and reptiles, which sits oddly beside the film content. A pool operates in summer. The heat is the main practical consideration, with the site almost entirely unshaded.

What you actually see

• The western street - the original set with saloon, bank and jail.
• The staged gunfights - shows several times daily on the main street.
• The animal reserve - several hundred animals in an attached zoo.
• The Leone connection - the set used in the spaghetti westerns.

When to go

April to June and September to October for bearable temperatures with a full show programme; July and August are extremely hot and the shows run at reduced times. Winter opening is limited.

Honest expectations

The park is dated and the shows are pitched at children rather than film enthusiasts. The zoo section draws criticism over enclosure standards. There is almost no shade, and summer visits are genuinely uncomfortable.

Nearby

Other former sets, Fort Bravo and Western Leone, are nearby; Almeria and Cabo de Gata lie south.