The town is situated at the Costa de la Luz and the Straits of Gibraltar, opposite the cost of Morocco (Africa), from which the lights of Tarifa are visible at night.
There are regular ferries between Tarifa and the nearby city in Morocco (Africa), Tangier. Regularly, people illegally try to enter Europe from Africa at the cost near Tarifa.
There is also a good bus connection between Tarifa and Algeciras, which is about 20 kilometers north east of it.
Near the port of Tarifa there is a well preserved castle, the Castillo de Guzman. The cost of Tarifa is popular for wind surfers. Like the name Costa de la Luz (Spanish for 'cost of the light') suggests, on the average, Tarifa has very many sun hours per year.
Tarifa is an excellent place to watch migrating birds such as birds of prey and storks cross the Straits of Gibraltar in spring and, especially, autumn.