Punta Umbría

It is a point of clean fine and golden sands going straight into the sea. Punta Umbría, a tourist destination since the English came here in the last century protected by the metallurgical wealth of the Piritican coastline and chose these beaches to relax. They were looking for the goodness of a temperate climate by the sea and the ria which surrounds this pretty maritime village.

Punta Umbría Beach, located right on the Atlantic coast of Andalucia, appears to the visitor to be a genuine peninsula escorted by the Atlantic in the south and a ria in the north which either separates it from or unites it with the Paraje Natural de las Marismas del Odiel. Another protected place is Los Enebrales with an immense beach of fine golden sands which leads to the residential zone of El Portil, where the Laguna de El Portilcan be found. For a lift, the breezes which appear here carry the aroma of the Parque Nacional de Doñana, anointed by tar and salt, or you can go to see the fishing boats undulating and the constant flight of thousands of species, flamingos, herons, common spoonbills, seagulls...

Today, Punta Umbría has a physiognomy very different to that which the English saw. Of their presence remains the singular architecture of the wood houses where they spent the summer and which are now known as the "The English Houses". Today, only one remains.

Punta Umbría enjoys twelve kilometres of beaches of fine sands, golden and clean, which are its principal attraction. Since 1987 the European Foundation for Environmental Education has rewarded the beaches of Punta Umbría with the Blue Flag. All in all recognizing the efforts the Consistory have put in to ensuring that the beaches are clean and managed with consummate respect for the local environment.

Fishing and tourism are the industries on which the economy of Punta Umbria is based. Punta Umbría has one of the most important fishing fleets in the province, and the port, part of Huelva port, handles more than 900,000 kilograms of fish.
The second important resource is tourism, based on a high percentage on second homes. In addition to the nearly 70,000 new residents during summertime, the district receives the massive affluence of those who go to its beaches for a pleasant day.

As a summer destination for tourists and second home owners Punta Umbria’s gastronomic variety is numerous. From beachside bars offering the popular roast sardines to restaurants with good reputations and great artists in the kitchen, the variety is virtually impossible to describe. The stand-out foods are the fried fish, clams fried in garlic, peppered skate, monkfish dishes, sea bass, and, of course, shellfish. The stand-out ones in this category are white prawns, king prawns and crayfish.

The Municipal Office of Tourism in Punta Umbria organises two large events relating to its gastronomy, those being the National Show of the Clam which takes place in April, and the National Festival of Shellfish and Prawns of the Costa de Huelva in July. The Feplamur is very important , this being the Festival of Beach Equipment and Street Furniture which takes place in the month of March and attracts all the major names in the sector.

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HOTELS IN Punta Umbría y el Portil, Province of Huelva

There is a Roman Punta Umbria, although nowadays it seems buried. It is on the banks of the ria in a place called "el eucaliptal". All of the children in Punta Umbria have been there at some point to “find treasure”, and some have found coins from the era. Getting to the "la punta del eucaliptal" is very easy, it is at the end of the Avenida de la Marina, after passing the "Casa Blanca".

Punta Umbria has a beacon tower from the 17th century, which King Felipe the Third of Spain ordered built to defend the coast as invasions by Turkish pirates were common in those days. According to an inscription which exists there it was completed in 1614.

The neverending beaches of Punta Umbría are ideal for every type of open air activity such as swimming, fishing, canoeing, windsurfing and bodyboarding with the unique scenery of the ria. It has excellent sporting facilities, and, more importantly, nature spaces and a magnificent climate all year round. These characteristics make it ideal for any sport and it has the capability of holding any sort of competition.

Amongst the festivals celebrated in Punta Umbria the most striking are: the carnaval, during the second fortnight of February; Easter Week, the Pilgrimage of Santa Cruz, which takes place on the final Sunday in May; the Festivals of Ntra. Sra. Del Carmen, in the middle of July; and the Festivals of Summer on the 15th of August.