The celebration finca above Los Genoveses

If your guest list refuses to get shorter and only keeps growing, this is where we end up. It is the venue for the big wedding, and the only one in my portfolio that can genuinely do it.

A finca in the middle of the natural park, nothing around it but steppe, cactus and eucalyptus, and on the horizon the mountain above the beach of Los Genoveses. Nobody sleeps here — for that there are two hotels belonging to the same operator in San José.

Below 80 guests I would talk you out of it. The estate is large, and with thirty people it feels empty.

At a glance

What it is	Pure celebration venue in the Cabo de Gata natural park
Celebrating	80 to 350 guests
Sleeping	none on site – guests stay in two hotels in San José
Music	until 6 a.m.
Catering	external caterers
Rain plan	large hall for dining and dancing
Ceremony	on a round terrace on the hill, panorama to Los Genoveses
From Almería airport	approx. 30 to 40 minutes
Step-free	yes

The venue for 80 to 350 guests

Most of my weddings have between 30 and 60 guests. If you are well above that — a large family, many friends, two cultures both arriving in full — the choice in Almería gets very small very fast. Here it does not run out.

There is a limit downwards, though. Below 80 guests I advise against it. Not because it would not work, but because these spaces are built to be filled. Thirty people in a hall for three hundred feel uncomfortable. Then one of my smaller venues suits you far better.

Three areas that work together

The ceremony takes place on a hill, on a round terrace with a panoramic view across the plain to the limestone mountain of Los Genoveses. That is the moment your guests understand why they flew so far.

Dinner is served in the courtyard with the white arches and the terracotta floor, or under the large open pergola looking out across the steppe.

The party has its own covered terrace. The DJ can set up there and leave everything overnight — at a large wedding that is worth more than it sounds, because the pack-down does not eat into the celebration.

No curfew

There are no neighbours here. So the music runs until six in the morning — together with one other venue, the longest party in my portfolio.

At a large wedding that makes a real difference. By the time everyone has eaten, it is late. If it ended at midnight you would get two hours of dancing. Here you get six.

And if it rains?

Then you go inside. There is a large hall for dining and dancing — high, bright and very adaptable with decoration. At a party this size a real indoor space is not a comfort, it is a necessity. That is exactly why I suggest this venue first for uncertain dates.

Where your guests sleep

Nobody stays on the finca. That sounds like a drawback, but it is solved: two hotels in San José belong to the same operator — one directly above the beach and an old cortijo with 25 rooms. Between them you can accommodate a large group, and the distances are short.