What brings visitors to Huelva?

People come to Huelva perhaps first and foremost for the history. The area in and around Huelva was founded by the Phoenicians in antiquity, and Christopher Columbus started his explorations of the New World from the port of Palos de la Frontera, just east of the center of Huelva proper. Huelva is the home of Iberico ham, considered a prized delicacy. Huelva is also a local center of art and culture which quite a few luminaries have called home, including Nobel Prize-winning poet Juan Ramon Jimenez and the painter Jose Caballero.

What are the outdoor activities to do in Huelva?

The most popular outdoor activity for people visiting Huelva is embarking on a tour or self-guided discovery of the UNESCO Heritage Site Doñana National Park, which has been a nature reserve partially funded by the World Wildlife Fund for over 50 years. This area also includes the Las Marismas marshes to the south of Huelva, where the Guadalquivir River meets the sea. For those who want to go to the beach, the area south of Las Marismas is where you want to go. There are four beaches along this stretch of coast: Playa de la Bota, Playa de Mata Negra, Playa de los Enebrales, and Playa de Punta Umbria. As far as green spaces in town are concerned, Parque Moret on the northern side of town has over a half-dozen running and jogging paths and beautiful greenery.

What are the beaches like in Huelva?

You need to take the Autovía Huelva-Punta Umbria out of the city and west alongside the confines of Las Marismas to reach the beaches in and around Punta Umbria. Playa de Punta Umbria is the widest, longest, and most commercialized of the four beaches near Huelva. There are lots of accommodation, bar, restaurant, and shopping options within a few streets of the coast. The farther west you go, the more secluded the beaches are, and there are also walking trails that connect these beaches.

What are the nightlife offerings in Huelva?

Huelva proper has about a dozen popular bars and nightclubs and they are all scattered throughout the city. The most popular include Mandala Mirador (Avenida Manue Siurot), a cocktail bar with great views of the city below; The Red Lion Pub (Avenida Martin Alonso Pinzon 26), an Irish-themed bar; and the relaxed vibes of Berdigon 14 (Calle Berdigon 14). In Punta Umbria, you can't go wrong partying at Mykonos Beach Club (Calle Tres Marias 44B). Last orders is fairly late in Huelva, with bars closing anywhere between 2 and 3 on weekdays and as late as 6 a.m. on weekends.

What can I do with kids in Huelva? What are some of the alternative attractions to enjoy such as museums, theaters, etc.?

Kids might have fewer mainstream attractions to hold their interest in Huelva, but it doesn't mean you can't get creative with them when it comes to exploring the city's history and geography. For example, the Barrio Obrero neighborhood features beautiful Victorian-era homes you'd think were transplanted from England. After that, you can take a boat ride along the Tinto River to the marshes at Las Marismas. Stroll the paths of Parque Moret and have a picnic lunch and then trace the path of Christopher Columbus before he set off for the New World.

One place you shouldn't miss when you're tracing Columbus's steps is the Muelle de las Carabelas, an open-air museum in Palos de la Frontera which features replicas of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Other museums in the area include the archaeological museum Cabezo de La Almagra, and the Museo de Huelva on Alameda Sundheim which tells the entire history of the region through artifacts uncovered in the area. For performing arts, the city's major venue is the Gran Teatro de Huelva on Calle Vazquez Lopez 13. For movies, from arthouse to blockbusters, there are two major cinemas located at Centro Comercial Aqualon Glorieta Norte and Holea Shopping Centre, respectively.

What is the culture and lifestyle (traditions, festivals) like in Huelva?

Huelva is a very relaxed place. As it is one of the last places in Spain to be introduced to tourism, the town retains an unspoiled ambience.

The largest events in Huelva are as follows:

-Carnaval, which is celebrated in February or March in the run-up to Ash Wednesday.
-The Columbian Festivals, held in Huelva and Palos de la Frontera in late July until August 3, the day in 1492 when Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World.
-Fiestas de la Cinta, held from September 3-8, a live music festival held before the feast day of Huelva, Dia de la Virgen de la Cinta, which falls on September 8.
-Festival de Cine Iberoamericano de Huelva, one of the largest Latin American/Hispanophone film festivals in the world, running for a week in mid-November.