Desert areas and wild landscapes, such as those of Tabernas, wide sierras with luxurious vegetation, coasts, cliffs and the pristine beaches of Cabo de Gata-Nijar, few Spanish provinces can boast of such a varied and strongly contrasted geography.
Undoubtly, this feature is what caused Almería to become one of the world's major film production centres, with up to 200 films and series filmed as of 2001.
Beginning with Spanish films soon European and American productions followed suit, bringing with them the brightest international stars as well as making tourism a major source of wealth and development in the province.
Under the direction of Sergio Leone, Western films became landmark productions. The zone, however, did not wish to focus on a single genre and wisely "marketed" its charms to directors and actors working on other types of filmes. Areas of the captial city such as the Alcazaba were transformed to shoot Indiana Jones and The last Crusade under Steven Spielberg and Battle of Guettar in Patton was filmed on location at Rambla del Buho in Tabernas.
