Top Travel Tips to Your Vacation in Isla Canela, Isla Cristina & Punta del Moral august 16, 2024 – Posted in: Spain, Travel – Tags: Andalusia, Attractions, Ayamonte, Beach Holiday, Holiday, Isla Canela, Isla Cristina, Punta del Moral, Restaurants, Shopping, Spain, Vacation

Enjoy a Beach Holiday in Isla Canela, Isla Cristina & Punta del Moral

Isla Canela, Isla Cristina, and Punta del Moral are three Andalusian gems strung together along Spain’s Atlantic coast, known as Costa de la Luz. These three beautiful seaside towns are just waiting for you to visit and create unforgettable memories. Here on the coast, you’ll find stunning sandy beaches, a refreshing summer breeze, fun activities, and plenty of delicious seafood dishes on the menu.

When Should You Visit Costa de la Luz?

We visited these towns during our extended stay in Ayamonte during the first three months of 2024. In the Spanish winter, these small coastal towns invite you to take long walks along the beach and enjoy a delightful lunch in the glorious sunshine here on the Coast of Light.

Southern Spain is also lovely at this time of year – and it’s affordable! While other tourists flock to Malaga on the other side of Gibraltar, you can have an equally wonderful holiday here on the coast for about half the price.

In summer, the temperatures in Andalusian towns are among the highest in Europe, drawing everyone, including the locals themselves, to the coast, where the beaches are packed with tourists seeking a refreshing dip in the ocean.

If you want to enjoy uncrowded beaches and restaurants, we highly recommend visiting Isla Canela, Isla Cristina, and Punta del Moral between March and May or again from September to November. Especially in the fall, the Atlantic Ocean is still warm enough for a delightful swim.

About the Three Towns

Isla Canela, Isla Cristina, and Punta del Moral are often described together as one continuous town, but that’s a bit misleading. The towns are quite different, and only Isla Canela and Punta del Moral are connected by a lovely sandy beach that you can walk along. Isla Cristina is on the other side of the small river, Rio Carreras.

There are also two different bus routes that serve the towns from Ayamonte. Bus number M-312 first goes to Isla Canela and then out to Punta del Moral, while the Huelva bus takes a detour to Isla Cristina. You can view the bus schedules to Ayamonte and out to the three towns by clicking the two links.

Now let’s take a closer look at each of these towns and their unique attractions:

Isla Canela

Located closest to Portugal and nearest to Ayamonte is the seaside town of Isla Canela. Isla Canela is especially known for its large golf course, Isla Canela Golf Club, which attracts many tourists every year. Otherwise, the beautiful beach, Playa de Isla Canela, is the main attraction. The days pass quickly with swimming and sunbathing on the wide sandy beach with its gorgeous, powdery white sand, interrupted only by a snack and a glass of ice-cold white wine at one of the many beach bars.

Along the beach, you’ll find numerous beach hotels – check out all the fantastic hotels in Isla Canela by clicking the link here! You can also walk to Punta del Moral, which is a lovely 4-5 km stroll! On the way to Punta del Moral, you’ll pass one of the many fortress towers, Torre Canela, which you can spot along the coast.

Punta del Moral

Punta del Moral (pictured above) is the smallest of the three towns – and also the most charming. This quaint fishing village offers some of the best lunch spots, and we particularly recommend trying the grilled fish, seafood, or meat at El Chiringuito 3. There are several delightful restaurants along the road, but El Chiringuito 3 stands out with its outdoor grilling, filling the entire little bay with heavenly aromas!

After a lavish lunch, it might be a good idea to take a stroll along the beach or perhaps a hike through the nearby nature reserve at Salinas del Duque. Here, the old salt pans lie side by side, offering a stunning habitat for birdlife. There are benches along the way where you can rest and enjoy the view of the lighthouse in Isla Cristina.

Want to explore more of this small town? Find your favorite among the charming hotels in Punta del Moral – click here!

Isla Cristina

In the summer, a small ferry operates across the river between Punta del Moral and Isla Cristina. Otherwise, you’ll need to take one bus back to Ayamonte and transfer to another to reach Isla Cristina. But it’s worth the effort because Isla Cristina is yet another beautiful gem among these coastal towns. See all the wonderful hotels in Isla Cristina – click here!

Isla Cristina is the largest of the three towns and rich in history. The vast salt pans north of the town tell the story of the wealth that the town thrived on during its heyday in the 1800s. Along the coast, large quantities of fish were landed, and the means to preserve them was salt. The salt was extracted from the large basins: first, water was let in and then allowed to slowly evaporate. The salt was harvested in March/April.

Great Restaurants in Isla Cristina

After visiting the salt pans, where you can also see flamingos, it might be time for a little lunch. At the town’s small square, you’ll find the most popular eatery, Restaurante La Sal. Here, you can enjoy delicious self-serve tapas and cold beer outside, or opt for a more formal setting indoors with a tablecloth and tasty fish and meat dishes. Also, visit the local tapas bar Bar Marinero, where you’ll find local dishes with excellent fish tapas and seafood. Everything is fresh, straight from the large fishing boats that arrive in the morning!

Looking for a great spot for an afternoon coffee? We couldn’t leave Isla Cristina without visiting the patisserie Pasteleria Pavón. We’ve tasted a significant portion of their cake selection and can confirm they have fresh and newly baked cakes on Fridays right after lunch. Try their Coca de Ayamonte or one of the cream cakes!

Hiking in Isla Cristina

A visit to Isla Cristina isn’t complete without a trip out to the Atlantic Ocean. At the town’s most popular beach, Playa de la Gaviota, a long wooden boardwalk stretches over the lagoon, making it the perfect spot for a leisurely walk towards the sunset.

Like Ayamonte, Isla Cristina is also surrounded by salt marshes. After visiting the salt pans in Isla Cristina, you can continue north of the town to enjoy flamingos and other birds in the large nature park. From here, you can continue towards either Huelva or Ayamonte along the old railway tracks. We’ve written much more about that hike here: Hiking in Ayamonte, Spain: Discover the Unique Marshlands and Salt Pans

A Quick Trip to Islantilla through the Chameleon Forest

Before we wrap up, how about taking a quick trip out to Islantilla, which many also visit when traveling to Costa de la Luz? From Isla Cristina, there’s a hiking trail all along the coast – and the first part takes you through the beautiful forest just east of Isla Cristina on the Ruta del Camaleón.

The first part of the trail is laid out on solid cement, making it a perfect walk through the quiet forest for strollers, wheelchairs, and walkers alike. Especially in the scorching summer sun, it’s popular to seek shade here under the trees. And no, we didn’t spot any chameleons, but every year in September, they come down from the trees to lay their eggs in the warm sand.

When the forest ends, the terrain becomes sandy and hilly for about a kilometer, and this part is only for those in good shape. Be sure to bring your swimsuit, as the beaches are beautiful all along the way.

The last couple of kilometers to Islantilla are again in flat terrain, and later along the beautiful promenade by all the beach hotels. Finally, you’ll end up at the large center Centro Comercial Islantilla. Here, you’ll find plenty of shops and restaurants and the most delightful sandy beach.

You can either take the Huelva bus back to Isla Cristina or stay in Islantilla! Why not spend a few extra days in this lovely beach town? See all the wonderful beach hotels in town right here.

City Vacation in Charming Ayamonte

Would you prefer to stay a little further inland? You can also do as we did and vacation in the authentic Andalusian town of Ayamonte. We stayed here for three months during our long vacation in 2024. The blue and white little town house, Flor de Sal, was the setting for our stay, and you can read more about it by clicking the link.

From here, we ventured out to the beautiful beach towns along the Atlantic, and it’s from all these trips that we gathered our knowledge about Costa de la Luz. From the terrace on top of our townhouse, we had the most beautiful view all the way out to the Atlantic, allowing us to enjoy both a city vacation and a beach holiday at the same time.

Learn more about renting Flor de Sal by clicking on the images and links.

You can also see all the other hotels in Ayamonte by clicking here – or do your own search for hotels in the area right here:

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