Things to do
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Bodegas Gutiérrez Colosía
A small family bodega on the bank of the Guadalete, near the catamaran pier, where the damp river air suits the yeast that ages fino. Visits run around midday from Monday to Saturday and end with a tasting in the cellar. The scale is small: a handful of old halls, with the family still running them.
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Bodegas Osborne
The family firm behind the black bull silhouettes on Spain's motorways keeps its cellars in the centre of town, in long whitewashed halls of stacked casks. The guided tour, with an English one in the morning, takes about an hour and a half and ends with a tasting of fino and older sherries. Places are booked ahead.
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Castillo de San Marcos
A squat medieval castle in the middle of town, built around a tenth-century mosque whose prayer hall still stands inside on reused Roman columns. A sherry bodega owns it. Visits are by audioguide or guided tour, and the longer tour adds the winery and a tasting.
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Fundación Rafael Alberti
The childhood house of the poet Rafael Alberti, born in the town in 1902, now holds his manuscripts, drawings and personal belongings around a small Andalusian patio. A visit takes under an hour and is ticketed. The house opens in the mornings only and closes on Mondays, and it closes at 14:00.
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Iglesia Mayor Prioral
The main church stands on the Plaza de España, the square at the heart of the old town. Its south door, the Puerta del Sol, is covered in late Gothic carving, and the chapels inside hold the town's patron, the Virgen de los Milagros. Café tables fill the square around it in the evening.
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Los Toruños Salt Marsh
A protected salt marsh and pine wood between Valdelagrana and the Río San Pedro, crossed by about 16 km of flat paths for walking and cycling. Spoonbills, flamingos and herons feed in the channels, and boardwalks reach the open beach on the far side. The paths start from the visitor house at the end of Valdelagrana, and the marsh has no shade.
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Market
Mercado de la Concepción
The covered municipal market sells fish landed in the bay alongside fruit, vegetables, olives and cured meats. The fish counters are fullest in the morning, with the shellfish laid out on ice. The market closes in the early afternoon, and it is a short walk from the Ribera del Marisco.
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Playa de La Muralla
Low cliffs and the ruined walls of the Santa Catalina fort, which give the beach its name, enclose this sandy cove. The water is sheltered and calm, and the cove fills early on summer weekends because the sand runs only about 250 m. The way down is on foot from the Paseo de Santa Catalina.
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Playa de La Puntilla
The town beach lies at the mouth of the Guadalete, a walk of about twenty minutes from the centre along the river. The water is calm and shallow, which suits children, and the river breakwater gives a view across the bay to Cádiz. There are beach bars and lifeguards in summer.
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Beach
Playa de Santa Catalina
West of town, beyond the Puerto Sherry marina, a 3 km sweep of sand runs below the villas of Vistahermosa. It is quieter than Valdelagrana, with gentle waves and room to spread out even in August. The walk from the centre is long and has little shade, so most visitors arrive by car, bike or local bus.
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Playa de Valdelagrana
A long, straight beach on the east side of the river, backed by a promenade of hotels and apartments and joined to Playa de Levante for more than 6 km of sand. The Valdelagrana train stop is a short walk from the beach, and at its far end paths lead on into the Los Toruños salt marsh.
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Puerto Sherry
A modern marina at the western end of La Puntilla beach, with yacht berths, a breakwater walk and terrace restaurants looking back over the bay. Sailing schools and boat charters work from its pontoons in summer. The end of the sea wall is a good place to watch the sun go down behind the Atlantic.
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Real Plaza de Toros
Opened in 1880, this bullring is one of the largest in Spain, a ring of brick arcades a few streets from the river. On days without a fight, an audio-guided tour leads through the exhibition rooms and out onto the sand of the ring itself. Bullfights are held in the summer season, mainly in July and August.
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Ribera del Marisco
A riverside street of seafood counters and bar terraces beside the fishing port. The local custom is to buy boiled prawns, langoustines and shellfish by weight in a paper cone at a counter, then carry it to a bar table across the street and order a drink there. It is busiest on summer evenings and at weekend lunchtimes.
