Barril and Cacela Velha: a little train to the anchors and the lagoon at sunset.

Until the 1960s, tuna was fished at Barril with a trap. When that ended, the anchors of the nets stayed in a row on the dune and the fishermen's houses became bars. Today you get there crossing the Ria Formosa on a footbridge and covering a kilometre and a half on foot or on a little train, and behind the former settlement a wide open-sea beach begins. This plan spends the morning there, lunches in Tavira and stops at Cacela Velha on the way back, a whitewashed village over the lagoon that empties at sunset. All within an hour of Huelva; from Seville, two.

The day, hour by hour

Stop times are Portuguese time, one hour behind Spain.

9:00 (Spanish time) · Leave. From Huelva via Ayamonte and the A22, toll-free since 2025, to Pedras d'El Rei, in Santa Luzia, a few minutes west of Tavira. You arrive around 9:15 Portuguese time.

9:45 · Barril. Park by the bridge, cross the footbridge over the lagoon and follow the path between dunes and salt marsh, on foot or on the little train, which takes about ten minutes and costs around €2 each way; confirm the price at the ticket office. At the end, the white settlement of the trap station, with restaurants, bars, adapted toilets and first aid, and in front, hundreds of rusty anchors. The beach has had a Blue Flag since 1987, and in 2026 it also renewed the Gold Quality and accessible beach distinctions. If you move a little away from the access, there is plenty of room.

13:30 · Lunch at Gilão, in Tavira. Ten minutes by car: park outside the centre and cross on foot to the old Ribeira market, by the river. Gilão has a terrace over the Gilão and is open every day from 12:00 to 22:00, Sunday too. Order a cataplana for two, of sea bass with king prawn and clams or of Iberian pork cheek; mains run from about €16 to €33. Book on its website. If you would rather not move, at the Barril trap station there are restaurants and bars.

16:00 · Cacela Velha. Along the N125 to the east, a quarter of an hour away. Leave the car in the car park at the entrance: the village is just a few streets. Look out from the viewpoint by the church, with the lagoon, the channels and the sandbanks in front, and walk round the 17th-century fortress. At low tide, the channel can be crossed on foot to the beach opposite; check the tide table and come back before it rises.

17:45 · Return. A quarter of an hour to the Guadiana bridge. You reach Huelva around half past seven in the evening, Spanish time.

With children

It is a very family-friendly plan. The little train is an excursion in itself and has room for pushchairs and wheelchairs; the route handles the slopes with ramps and there are adapted toilets. At Cacela Velha, the edge of the viewpoint has no protection in some stretches: keep them close. Crossing the channel at low tide delights them, but the water rises fast.

If it is windy

In strong wind, the open-sea beach at Barril becomes uncomfortable. The walk to the anchors is still worth it; afterwards, swap the beach for the centre of Tavira and its churches.