Melilla

Introduction

Melilla is an autonomous Spanish exclave and city, located in the northern tip of Africa, surrouned by Morocco and the Mediterranean Sea. The city has about 75,000 inhabitants and is an important port city.

Neighbourhoods

Melilla is subdivided into eight neighbourhoods (barrios):

• Barrio de Medina Sidonia
• Barrio del Real
• Barrio de la Victoria
• Barrio de los Héroes de España
• Barrio del General Gómez Jordana
• Barrio del Príncipe de Asturias
• Barrio del Carmen
• Barrio de La Paz

Sights and Activities

• Capilla de Santiago or James's Chapel- - the only Gothic architecture in Africa

Weather

Melilla has a typical Mediterranean climate with warm, dry and sunny summers and mild but wetter winters. Average highs from June to early September are mostly in the 25-30 °C range with nights around 18-22 °C. Winters from December to February see highs of 15-17 °C and nights around 10-12 °C. Most of the annual precipitation falls from October to April, while summers hardly see any rain at all.

Getting There

By Plane

Melilla Airport (MLN) is about 4 kilometres from the city centre and has flights with Air Nostrum to Almería, Granada, Madrid, Málaga and Valencia.

By Boat

Trasmediterranea travels to Melilla from Almeria and Málaga in southern Spain.

Sleep

Upscale

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet is widely available within Spain. Most airports have wifi-zones and in most towns there are internet cafés or shops where you can use internet for a fixed price. Wi-Fi points in bars and cafeterias are available after ordering, and most hotels offer Wi-Fi connection in common areas for their guests.

Phone

See also: International Telephone Calls

The international access code for Spain is +34. The emergency number for police, ambulance and the fire brigade is 112.

In cities you can find plenty of public phones, and 'locutorios'. The latter are small shops where you can use the phone and use internet. Most of them also sell prepaid cards for mobile telephones. These shops are used a lot by foreigners to call to their mother country.

The main mobile network operators in Spain are Yoigo, Vodafone, Movistar and Orange, as in most of Europe voice and data coverage is generally good in urban areas however it can be patchy in rural locations. Cheap mobile phones (less than €50) with some pre-paid minutes are sold at FNAC or any phone operator's shop (Vodafone, Movistar, Orange). Topping-up is then done by buying scratch cards from the small stores, supermarkets, vending points (often found in tobacco shops) or kiosks.

Post

If you want to post a card, you can head to the post office (Correos). The Spanish post is not yet as efficient as colleagues in other countries so receiving a card can take a bit longer than the number of days that it should take. On the website of Correos, you can find the locations of nearby post offices.
Post offices are generally open from 8:30am to 2:00pm, although times will vary according to the size of the city/town and the main post offices might be open until the early evening. Most will also open again on Saturday mornings, but in the smaller towns will close as early as 12 noon. When posting a letter, look for a yellow box and, if possible, post at the post office itself where there will also be divisions for local, national and international mail. Be prepared for long queues at the post office. This is why tobacco shops sell stamps and many will also have the facility to weigh packages. Standard letters/postcards of up to 20 grams sent within Spain are €0.34. However, non-standard letters/postcards of up to 20g are €0.39. Letters/postcards of 20 to 50 grams are €0.45. In the case of international shipping, the price is €0.64 to most countries within Europe for standard envelopes (letters/postcards) up to 20g, for a few European countries and outside Europe it is €0.78. If you want to send a package you are probably better off with a private courier company like TNT, DHL or UPS, as they offer quick and reliable services against competitive prices.

External Links

• Official Website
• Official Tourism Website