Situated 35km beyond Estepona in Cádiz province, SAN ROQUE was founded by the people of Gibraltar fleeing the British, who had captured the Rock and looted their homes and churches in 1704. They expected to return within months, since the troops had taken the garrison in the name of the Archduke Carlos of Austria, whose rights Britain had been promoting in the War of the Spanish Succession. But it was the British flag that was raised on the conquered territory - and so it has remained.
The "Spanish-British frontier" is 8km away at LA LÍNEA DE LA CONCEPCIÓN , obscured by San Roque's huge oil refinery. In February 1985 the gates were reopened after a sixteen-year period of Spanish-imposed isolation, and since then crossing has been a routine affair of passport stamping, except for the odd diplomatic flare-up when the Spanish authorities have decided to operate a go-slow to annoy the Rock's inhabitants. If you're planning a stay in Gibraltar, be warned that accommodation there is very expensive and in summer the few budget places available are in tremendous demand; La Línea is more realistic, although even here prices have risen and it's now more expensive than neighbouring towns. There are no sights as such; it's just a fishing village which has exploded in size due to the jobs in Gibraltar and Algeciras.
At the heart of La Línea is the large, modern and undistinguished Plaza de la Constitución, where you'll find the Correos . The turismo (Mon-Fri 8am-3pm, Sat 9am-1pm; tel 956 769 950), which provides a useful town map labelling hostales , and bus station are both on Avenida 20 Abril, to the south of the square. Most of the budget hostales are also around Plaza de la Constitucíon. The friendly La Campana , c/Carboneras 3, just off the square (tel 956 173 059; ¬27-36), is clean, and has rooms with bath and TV; if this is full, Hotel-Restaurante Carlos (tel 956 762 135; ¬27-36) is almost opposite with the same facilities. Slightly further north, Hostal Florida , c/Sol 37 (tel 956 171 300; ¬18-27), is another possibility, with a good-value restaurant downstairs, and cheaper rooms are on offer at the basic but clean Pensión La Perla , c/Clavel 10 (tel 956 769 513; ¬12-18), off the north side of the square.
Off the east side of Plaza de la Constitución an archway leads to the smaller, pedestrianized Plaza Cruz de Herrera, with lots of reasonably priced bars and restaurants , among which La Nueva Mesón Jerezana does good fino and jamón . Slightly north lies c/Real, the main pedestrianized shopping street and another area with plenty of bars and cafés: just off the north side is La Venta , c/Dr Villar 19, which does a good-value menú and an excellent paella, while to the south at Avda. de España 22 is an excellent marisquería, Bar Aquarium . C/Clavel, signposted from the main plaza to the Plaza de Toros, has more options: Bar Alhambra halfway down is basic and excellent value.
Local buses from La Línea to Algeciras take thirty minutes, with departures every hour. The closest main-line train station is San Roque-La Línea, 12km away, from where you can pick up a train to Ronda and beyond. Buses link La Línea with Sevilla (daily; 4hr), Málaga (daily; 2hr 30min), Cádiz (daily; 2hr 30min) via Tarifa, and as far as Ayamonte on the Portuguese border (daily; 7hr).
Google Map of San Roque
