Where was Lawrence of Arabia filmed in Spain? Landscapes behind the epic

David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia is closely associated with the desert landscapes of Jordan, but Spain also played an important part in the 1962 film. Spanish locations were used to create Aqaba, Cairo, Damascus and other settings in T. E. Lawrence’s story.

Lawrence of Arabia filming locations in Spain

Lawrence of Arabia was filmed in several locations, all in the region of Andalucía, where the land is drier and desert-like. 

Playa del Algarrobico: the Spanish location for Aqaba

El Algarrobico Beach, near Carboneras in Almería province, was used for Aqaba, the strategically important port that Lawrence and his allies plan to capture.

The real Aqaba is in Jordan, on the Red Sea. For the film, however, the production built its version of Aqaba on this stretch of the Almería coast, creating the town needed for the large-scale assault sequence.

The beach provided an open coastal setting, with the Mediterranean standing in for the waters beside Aqaba. It is one of the clearest examples of Lawrence of Arabia using Andalucía to create a Middle Eastern location.

Genoveses Beach in Cabo de Gata and the train attack

Movie-Locations.com identifies Genoveses Beach, near San José, as the location used for the train-attack sequence in Lawrence of Arabia.

Genoveses Beach. José Antonio JG, CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative commons

Genoveses Beach lies within Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, in the municipality of Níjar. It is a broad, curved beach surrounded by low hills, dry vegetation and the volcanic landscape characteristic of this part of the Almería coast. Its open setting and sparse surroundings suited the film’s desert-world imagery. 

Seville as Cairo and Damascus in Lawrence of Arabia

While Almería was used for coastal and action scenes, Seville provided several urban settings. The city’s historic architecture and the buildings around Parque de María Luisa helped create locations in Cairo and Damascus.

Plaza de España and the Cairo officers’ club

The Plaza de España complex in Seville was used for the Cairo officers’ club in Lawrence of Arabia. The area forms part of Parque de María Luisa and was built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition.

Plaza de España. Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 4.0 Creative commons

Also used in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, its arcades, tiled details and grand scale have made it a familiar location in international cinema. The officers’ club setting is linked with the Palaçio Español, an arcaded building in the Plaza de España complex.

The Hotel Alfonso XIII courtyard

According to IMDb, the courtyard at the Hotel Alfonso XIII was used for the Cairo Officer’s Club.

The hotel is on Calle San Fernando, close to Parque de María Luisa and Plaza de España. It opened in 1929 ahead of the Ibero-American Exposition and was commissioned by King Alfonso XIII as a grand hotel for visitors to the event.

Hotel Alfonso XII. Herry Lawford from Stockbridge, UK, CC BY 2.0 Creative commons

As the hotel is a working property, access to particular spaces may be limited, so check current arrangements before planning a visit.

El Casino as Damascus town hall

According to IMDb, El Casino, on Avenida de María Luisa, was used as Damascus town hall in Lawrence of Arabia.

The building is also part of the architectural ensemble created for Seville’s 1929 exposition, alongside other landmarks around Parque de María Luisa. Its position near Plaza de España and the Hotel Alfonso XIII shows how the production could create several Middle Eastern urban settings within a relatively compact area of the city.

Casa de Pilatos: where Lawrence meets General Allenby

Casa de Pilatos, in Plaza de Pilatos, was used for the meeting between Lawrence and General Allenby, according to IMDB. 

Casa de Pilatos. James Gordon, CC BY 2.0 Creative commons

The 16th-century palace is one of Seville’s most distinctive historic buildings. Its courtyards and decorative architecture helped it stand in for a Middle Eastern setting in the film.

Why Almería remains one of Spain’s great film landscapes

Almería’s importance to cinema is not simply down to its dry climate. Few parts of Spain bring together such contrasting scenery within one province. That range allowed filmmakers to create very different worlds without leaving Almería. 

The same province later helped shape the visual language of the spaghetti western, with Sergio Leone using the Tabernas area for films including A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Carboneras. Luis Rogelio HM, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative commons

Almería’s film history also stretches beyond westerns. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade used Cabo de Gata and other locations in the province for its chase sequences, bringing the area’s stark roads, coastal cliffs and open landscapes into another fictional desert setting.