Huelva's capital city is home to just one beach, El Espigon. It is a relatively young beach, in that it was 'born' after works on the Juan Carlos I dock in the seventies. The 3 kilometre beach is located on a sand spit that can be accessed only by driving across las Marismas del Odiel wetland area.
Ayamonte is the westernmost town on the Costa de la Luz with the last beaches before the Portuguese border. The area boasts two main beaches. Isla Canela is the nearerst beach resort, just five minutes' drive away from the centre of Ayamonte. It boasts a particularly wide 5.5km stretch of sandy beach, with chiringuitos (summer beach bars).
As well as being home to part of Doñana National Park, the municipality of Almonte is home to the village of El Rocio which sees an annual pilgrimage of over a million pilgrims at Pentecost. The beaches here are very popular with naturists.
Punta Umbria is the largest seaside town along the Huelva Costa de la Luz. It's busy with beachgoers from Sevilla and Huelva city in the summer, when there is a vibrant nightlife with loads of late-night bars and clubs to choose from when the sun goes down.
The municipality of Cartaya boasts just over 4km of sandy estuary beaches, protected from the winds by a sandy spit of land opposite, just across the Rio Piedras. The beach at this small, friendly fishing village called El Rompido is protected from the open sea by the spit that extends across the Río Piedras estuary.
The municipality of Lepe boasts over 20km of sandy beaches stretching from the newer resort of La Islantilla to La Antilla, Nueva Umbría and the marshes of Rio Piedras. The beaches get very busy during the summer season.
Isla Cristina is one of the most popular resorts on the Costa de la Luz in Huelva and gets very busy in the summer. There are many beaches to choose from, although the main beach, Playa Central can seem overcrowded in July and August.
Huelva's provincial museum, housed in a modern building on the Avenida Sundheim, has an interesting archaeological collection, with objects from the megalithic sites of La Zarcita at Santa Bárbara de las Casas and El Pozuelo at Zalamea la Real; Tartessian treasure from the necropolis at La Joya; and Phoenician and Greek artefacts discovered in excavations within the city. Moorish artefacts are also on display.
The principal shopping streets are the narrow pedestrianized streets of Concepción, Palacio, Pérez Carasa and Berdigón and the roads leading off this main drag. Sara Merino has a good selection of dresses for special occasions.
La Soledad hermitage on Calle Jesús de la Pasión was first erected in the early 1500s as a church for the neighbouring Hospital de la Misericordia, which was founded in 1516. From 1854 the hermitage was used as a school and a hospital.
Punta Umbría is the closest beach to Huelva City and is the most popular resort along the Huelva Costa de la Luz. During July and August it is overflowing with Spanish visitors and it is worth booking accommodation in advance at this time. It sits on the banks of the Río Odiel river estuary and is surrounded by extensive salt marshes, which make up the El Paraje Natural Marismas del Odiel, the most important nature reserve in the area after the Parque Nacional Coto Donaña. It has about 14, 900 inhabitants.
Ayamonte is situated on the estuary of the Río Guadiana, second longest river in Andalucia. Ayamonte's development has been inextricably linked to its position on the border with Portugal and has more foreign tourists than other locations on the Costa de la Luz, partly due to its proximity to the Algarve and its position far west on the Andalusian coast. It has about 19, 600 inhabitants.
Matalascañas is a popular, modern resort, located in a beautiful area of extensive coastal dunes and sandy beaches. Despite the village's tasteless high-rise development, which is one of the worst along the Huelva stretch of the Costa de la Luz, Matalascañas has some redeeming features; namely, its beach and its proximity to the Parque Nacional de Donaña. It has about 780 inhabitants.
El Rompido is a fishing village out on a limb, 8km from the nearest town of Cartaya. It is one of the most tranquil and un-crowded spots on Huelva's Costa de la Luz. Up until now, it has managed to remain unscathed by the tourist development that has marred other resorts along Huelva's Costa de la Luz, perhaps because of its relative distance from the new A-49 Portugal-Seville motorway, compared with the more popular neighbouring coastal towns.
This is a strange outpost of the Wild West, with wide, sandy streets lined with houses complete with broad verandas and wooden rails for tying up horses. It is famous for its annual Romería, the Rocío Pilgrimage at Pentecost when it is overflowing with a seething mass of a million pilgrims, either on foot or with horses and decorated carts.
La Antilla is a small resort just 5km south of Lepe and has a pleasant promenade, a wide, sandy beach and some excellent seafood restaurants. It changes in the summer months due to the influx of tourists from Huelva, Seville and other parts of Spain. Is a more attractive holiday for the curious traveller to stay in an 'old fashioned seaside town' than its new resort neighbour, La Islantilla. It has about 1560 inhabitants.
The Costa de la Luz is famous for the golden sandy beaches and small resorts which have originated form fishing villages.
Seven kilometres south of Huelva city where the Tinto and Odiel rivers meet is an area known as La Rabida in which is located the 15th-century Franciscan Monasterio de Santa María de la Rábida. If you're interested in Christopher Columbus, this is one of three places to visit around Huelva. The other two are the nearby town of Palos de la Frontera.
Isla Cristina was once situated on an island and is worth a visit for its marvellous choice of beaches that are sandy and extensive, stretching 8km long. There are some excellent windsurfing spots along this stretch of coast. It is also a busy port, famed for its fresh and preserved fish and one of the most important in Andalusia, if not Spain. It has about 21,300 inhabitants.
Mazagón is a low-level resort with a choice of excellent beaches,and is less developed than the next seaside town, Matalascañas. One of Mazagón's best beaches is situated 6km east of Matalascañas, by the Parador Cristóbal Colón. Unusually for this stretch of coast, where beaches are generally more open and exposed, this beach is backed by sandstone cliffs.
