El Rocio

El Rocio has streets of sand rather than asphalt, hitching rails outside the houses and horses ridden through the centre, and for most of the year it is close to empty: the houses belong to hermandades, brotherhoods from towns across Andalusia and beyond, and stand shuttered until their members come. At Whitsun the Romeria del Rocio brings around a million people, many travelling for days by ox cart, horse and on foot across the Donana country, converging on the sanctuary that holds the Virgen del Rocio; in the early hours of Whit Monday the men of Almonte take the image from the church and carry it through the crowd in a crush that is famously chaotic. The marshes beside the village are part of Donana and hold flamingos and waders.

What you actually see

• The sand streets - unpaved roads with hitching rails outside the houses.
• The sanctuary - the white church holding the Virgen del Rocio.
• The brotherhood houses - shuttered buildings owned by hermandades.
• The marsh edge - Donana wetland with flamingos beside the village.

When to go

Spring and autumn for the birds and an empty village; Whitsun for the romeria, when accommodation for a hundred kilometres around is booked and the village is impassable. The pilgrimage date moves with Easter.

Honest expectations

Outside the pilgrimage the village is quiet to the point of feeling abandoned, which some find striking and others dull. During the romeria it is extremely crowded, hot and difficult to move in, and it is a religious event rather than a spectacle. Sand streets are hard going for vehicles.

Nearby

Donana National Park surrounds the village; Matalascanas beach and Huelva lie west.