Jerez has its own airport which is a just 6km and a bus or taxi ride away from the city centre. Jerez de la Frontera is a great place for a weekend break and if often overshadowed by its more famous neighbour, Seville. It offers a very traditional and attractive old quarter, some excellent tapas bars and restaurants and is famed for its flamenco, Andalucian dancing horses and namesake sherry.
Jerez sherry has been exported internationally for hundreds of years and is drunk as the accompaniment to tapas, or a chilled glass of the pale and dry fino variety is very refreshing on a hot summer’s day. To find out more about the different types of sherry you can take a tour of the large bodegas in the town centre where the wines are aged and bottled. These include Pedro Domecq and González Byass who is the maker of Tío Pepe: the world’s best selling dry sherry. You can sample a light hazelnut flavoured amontillado, or a heavier raisin tasting oloroso.
Jerez is the home of flamenco - especially the fast and furious bulería style. The city has one of the largest gypsy populations in Andalucía; living in the white washed neighbourhoods of Santiago and San Miguel. In Santiago you can visit the Centro Andaluz de Flamenco which is a museum, gallery and cinema in one.
Jerez’s main flamenco dates are the International Flamenco Festival (27th February -14th March 2010) which is one of the most important flamenco events in the world with two weeks of amazing music and dance from international performers. The flamenco dancing is centred around the Barrio de Santiago which faces the cathedral.
There is also flamenco featured at the Bulería festival which kicks off the Jerez Autumn Festival (Festival de Otoño) which takes place from 4th-19th September 2010 and is a time to bless the grape harvest, dance flamenco, sing and drink sherry like there's no tomorrow.
Jerez is also famous for its cartujano dancing horses which are Andalucían thoroughbreds trained at the Royal Riding School (Real Escuela Andaluz del Arte Ecuestre). They present daily synchronised shows and even the training sessions, which are also open to the public, are fascinating to watch.
The real horse lovers should make their visit to Jerez during the annual Horse Fair (Feria de Caballo) which runs from 2nd-9th May next year.
Jerez’s main shopping street is Calle Larga, which can be found inside the ruins of the 12th-century Moorish walls. It leads south to the streets around Plaza del Arenal where there are occasional horse races and the best tapas bars. Just to the south is the 12th-century Alcázar which has a mosque which has been converted into a chapel and a bathhouse with star-shaped skylights.
If you want a short trip away from Jerez during your weekend then take go the bus station in the city centre and take the 30 minute bus journey inland to Arcos de la Frontera which is a pueblo blanco (white town) built on the tip of a sheer cliff. It has a traffic-free centre, with dozens of of narrow alleyways to explore.
Or El Puerto de Santa María is a 20-minute drive or short train ride away (train station is next to bus station in Jerez) and offers first-rate seafood and a ferry terminal to Cádiz.
The writer of this article is Linda Craik who has lived in Spain for a number of years. She works for Plus Four SL who specialise in writing airport guides including the Spanish Airport Guide which has comprehensive information on Jerez Airport
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