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Costa de la Luz Destinations
the online guide to the costa de la luz, andalucia, spain
Tony Jefferies travels to Spain’s most south-westerly province and finds some familiar influences among the vast mountain ranges, natural parks and breathtaking beaches
It’s hard to believe, but Britain provided the Spanish with one of the central planks of their culture. No, not football – though we did, of course, introduce the great game to Spain. It’s the seaside holiday which is perhaps our greatest gift and one no Spanish family would do without.
As those who live on the Costa de la Luz know, the natives know enough to give the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca a wide berth. And if the beaches of Cadiz province seem broad and beautiful, then those across the Guadalquivir river are even more so. No wonder the Spanish flock there in even greater numbers than they do to our doorstep.
It’s all thanks to the employees of a British mining company. When the copper mines of Rio Tinto in Huelva province were acquired by Britons in the 19th century, the engineers and managers brought their customs with them. The company provided them with ‘model’ villages of villas and workers’ houses, and when holidays came around they headed south to the beach.
These miners also brought football to Spain, forming the first team in the city of Huelva. Even today, Recreativo de Huelva are known as ‘El Decano’ – the ‘Old Man’. Both traditions caught on fast. By the time the first package holidays to Spain left Britain, just over 50 years ago, the beachside break was entrenched in Spanish minds.
Huelva is often discounted as somewhere to pass through en route to Portugal, or Seville, or north to the centre of Spain. But while other provinces of Andalucía have more obvious attractions, Huelva has everything for a great holiday – minus the crowds.
The advantage of those vast beaches is that even in August, when the whole of Spain seems to decamp to the coast, there’s plenty of room. What’s more, there’s plenty of choice. Purpose-built resorts like Isla Canela and Matalascañas offer five-star luxury every few yards. The planners have avoided the mistakes of Torremolinos or Benidorm.
On Isla Canela, for example, the string of hotels is screened from the beach by pine woods and sand dunes, and the complexes are full of well-landscaped gardens and fountains.
Older settlements like Ayamonte and Isla Cristina blend traditional Spanish town life with hotels, apartments and villas. You can stroll down the main street in Isla Cristina and spot a farmer with his donkey, then stop for a cafe con leche in one of the tranquil, tiled squares before heading for the beach. And here, wading birds and flamingos which feed happily in the Rio Tinto estuary share the shore with sunseekers and clam collectors.
The beaches at the eastern end of the province have a much less developed feel. The best is at Mazagón, where a Parador hotel has its own path down the cliffs to the sands. There’s not a great deal here – just a couple of hotels, a few campsites and miles of Atlantic rollers breaking on the shore.
Actually, the Doñana national park further east has the best beaches in the country, but they’re strictly for the birds. You can only access this 200-square mile reserve by boat from Sanlúcar de Barrameda or by four wheel drive trek from the El Acebuche visitors’ centre on the western edge of the park.
It’s worth the effort. This is an internationally-renowned site which provides a welcome stop-off for millions of migrating birds and a permanent home to thousands more as well as the world’s most endangered big cat, the Iberian lynx. Cowboys rule the roost (or roam the range) in El Rocio near the park’s entry point.
This is the site of Spain’s largest romeral, or pilgrimage, and every Pentecost thousands of horse-drawn wagons, tractors and trucks bring up to a million pilgrims to spend three days and nights worshipping the town’s image of the Virgin and partying round the clock.
Once the town has been drunk dry and the icon has been returned to the church, El Rocio becomes a sleepy place again. The streets are covered in sand, and most are barred to traffic because the horse is the favoured mode of transport here.
It’s an odd thing to walk round a corner and see two vaqueros, or cowboys, kitted out in leather chaps, waistcoats and sombreros, tying up their horses on the rails outside a bar. You keep expecting Clint Eastwood to stride down the street and start a gunfight.
To the north, the mountains of the Sierra de Aracena provide magnificent walking country and a dozen or so beautiful hilltop villages, mostly crowned by castles. Linares de la Sierra, Alájar and Aracena are as pretty as one another but the best known settlement here is an ordinary little town called Jabugo, home of the finest air-cured hams in Spain.
The Riotinto mines to the south are as much a tourist attraction as an industrial concern today. Tours of the massive open-cast mine, museums and a steam train ride are all part of a package which will keep the family entertained and stop you complaining ever again about digging the garden.
Back down on the coast, the city of Huelva makes few overtures to tourists, though this was the departure point for Columbus on his first great voyage, and you can follow a heritage trail in the area (see this issue’s Day Tripper).
If you’re at the beach, though, the best thing is to stop for a seafood lunch then head for the sands to sleep or swim it off. After all, millions of Spaniards can’t be wrong – especially when we Brits showed them how to do it.
Info
Visits to the Doñana National Park start at El Acebuche, on the Almonte-Matalascanas road (A483). Visits cost around £13 per person, and can be booked in advance on 0034 959 448 711, www.parquenacionaldonana.com
The Museo Minero and other attractions at Minas de Riotinto (0034 959 590 025) are open all year round. Admission to all facilities is £9.50.
Where to stay
Parador de Mazagón (A494, km30. Tel: 959 536 300; www.parador.es) has doubles from €135.