Los Albaricoques, Spain – Spaghetti Westerns Filming Location

Los Albaricoques is a small, whitewashed village in the Nijár area of Almería, in southern Spain. It sits in rugged, desert‑like terrain that looks a lot like the Old West, which made it perfect for Western movie makers. Back in the 1960s, filmmakers looking for dramatic landscapes but with lower costs than in America discovered this region, especially parts of the Tabernas Desert and the surrounding villages like Los Albaricoques. The local scenery—dirt roads, dusty plains, old stone and stucco buildings—helped create the feeling of a frontier town.

The Small Town of Los Albaricoques

Some of the most famous films in the “Spaghetti Western” genre were shot there. For example, A Fistful of Dollars (1964) uses Los Albaricoques for the approach to “San Miguel,” the place Clint Eastwood’s character rides into at the start. Then in For a Few Dollars More (1965), Los Albaricoques stood in for a town called “Agua Caliente,” particularly in its final duel / shoot‑out scenes and the circular threshing ring on the edge of town.

Many big-name actors worked in the village during those years. Clint Eastwood is the most famous—he stars in both A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. Lee Van Cleef is also important, especially in For a Few Dollars More. Other actors in films shot around Los Albaricoques include Gian Maria Volonté (in A Fistful of Dollars) and many supporting actors and extras drawn from the local population.

Today, Los Albaricoques is proud of its Western film heritage. Street names like Calle Clint Eastwood, Calle Lee Van Cleef, Avenida Sergio Leone, and signs welcoming visitors (“Bienvenidos a Los Albaricoques – es de cine”) remind visitors of its movie past. The town also hosts reenactments and events celebrating those classic films, especially around anniversaries of Sergio Leone’s famous “Dollar Trilogy” (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).