For many people a holiday in Spain means either two weeks of beer and beaches in a sun-drenched resort like Benidorm or cramming in culture during a trip to a cosmopolitan city like Madrid or Barcelona.

A trip to Almeria on the south coast has proved there is a third, and arguably more authentic option, available.

The verdant and sparsely populated region is something of a larder for the entire country. Citrus fruits, vegetables and wine grapes are grown throughout Almeria and there is a wealth of fresh seafood available in almost every cafe and restaurant.

Nestling in the midst of the region’s unspoilt, natural beauty, framed to the north by the Sierra Cabrera mountains, is the Holiday Property Bond (HPB) resort at Alfaix.

This tranquil, pink stone complex offers apartments furnished to high standards with en suite bathrooms, sun terraces and flatscreen TVs.

The resort also has a restaurant serving excellent food, a bar, around 15 swimming pools, a tennis court, bowls green, outdoor gym and crazy golf course – more than enough to keep even the most active family busy while soaking up the Mediterranean sun – and all within twenty minutes’ drive of the nearest beach.

During my first day at the resort I found myself sitting on my apartment’s roof terrace, sipping a glass of tasty, local red wine and looking at the spectacular mountain range nearby, the scent of jasmin and honeysuckle wafting through the quaint streets of the resort.

There are certainly worse ways to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

My first full day in Almeria took in a tour of a thriving bodega only 30 minutes’ drive from the resort.

Southern Spain has the only desert in Europe, the Tabernas, and it is perhaps not the most obvious to establish a vineyard. That is, however, exactly what entrepreneur vintner Juan Perez Perez did some 20 years ago. During a tour of his small but productive site I learned the vineyard produces around 350,000 bottles of red wine per year.

These wines – delicious and earthy – have won awards and acclaim from international wine critics.

The bodega also has a splendid restaurant offering rustic Spanish fare including tapas, slow-roasted pork served with wild rice and peas, and creme caramel for desert.

The second full day of the trip took in a whistlestop tour of a few of Almeria’s coastal towns.

The entire region’s infrastructure is far from modern – the first major trainline, running from Madrid, is due to open in 2014 – and as a result many of the town’s have retained an unspoilt quality that makes them feel like they are in a kind of timewarp.

I say that’s a good thing and I feel lucky to have seen this region before it is fully opened to the modern tourist trade and the homogenised trappings that come with it. The people are friendly and the service at cafes and bars is always great.

After a delicious lunch of seabass and salmorejo soup, a local equivalent to Gazpacho, I took a step even further back in time – to the American mid-west of the 1800s to be precise.

For me the highlight of the trip was a visit to Fort Bravo, known to millions worldwide as the location at which the spaghetti westerns were shot.

The very convincing looking ‘town’ is still active as a film set to this day, having appeared in Doctor Who, as well as international adverts and westerns.

My last full day in Spain took me on a two hour trip to the Alhambra (the red fort) in Granada. The site is sprawling and breathtakingly beautiful, oozing with Moorish culture and design, and offering spectacular views over Granada.

Our friendly and well-informed tour guide showed us through each level of the castle, including the chambers of the former king and his queens. It is a right royal treat for history and architecture buffs and was the perfect way to round off a trip to this beautiful and overlooked corner of Spain.