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; after The Good, the Bad and the Ugly the film's extras bought the set and ran it as a tourist attraction, and a hotel group now runs it. 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 zoo reserve, opened in 1997, with more than 200 species including big cats, rhinos, Nile crocodiles, zebras and giraffes, 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 to look for

• 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 - more than 200 species 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.

What to expect

The park is dated and the shows are pitched at children rather than film enthusiasts. 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.

Key facts