El Algarrobico, Golden sand beach in Cabo de Gata, Spain.

El Algarrobico is a 1,300-metre beach four kilometres north of Carboneras, reached by the AL-5107 road towards Mojácar. It lies in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park, between the Punta del Santo and the mouth of the Río Alías, at the foot of the Sierra de Cabrera. On the sand stands the unfinished, ruinous Hotel El Algarrobico, a multi-storey block with white lower floors and grey-brown upper walls, flanked by two construction cranes.

The Torre del Rayo watchtower was built in 1584 as part of Spain's coastal defense network against pirate attacks. The remote setting helped keep the area largely undeveloped through the following centuries.

The beach belongs to the Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park, so it has no beach furniture or urban services; the only discordant element is the unfinished Hotel El Algarrobico, awaiting demolition. The name comes from the algarrobo, the carob tree. The hotel case became a media symbol of poor coastal conservation in Spain.

Access is via the AL-5107 road towards Mojácar; an unpaved track skirts the coast and leads directly to the beach, where there is an unattended car park. The beach lies within the Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park, so it has no urban furniture or services. The sand runs about 1,300 metres between the Punta del Santo and the mouth of the Río Alías, below the eastern end of the Sierra de Cabrera.

The hotel was begun in 2003 by the developer Azata del Sol and named El Algarrobico after the beach. It was built inside the Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park in breach of the Coastal Law, and the resulting case made it a national symbol of Spain's poorly protected coastline. It now stands empty awaiting demolition.