Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ANDALUSIA

Discover Spain: Horse races on the beach in Sanlúcar de Barrameda

In the Andalusian town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, horse races take place along the beaches each summer, attracting thousands who come to watch the sunset spectacle. Here's what you need to know and how to watch them.

Published: 16 August 2024 11:07 CEST
Discover Spain: Horse races on the beach in Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Jockeys race along a beach during the annual beach horse races in Sanlúcar de Barrameda near Cádiz. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP)

What is it? 

The Carreras de Caballos (Horse Races) of Sanlúcar de Barrameda have been taking place the coastal Cádiz town for almost 200 years.

They comprise of over 20 races taking place over several days between the beaches of Bajo de Guía and Las Piletas.

The dates are times of the races are dictated by the low tide, which vary each year.

Typically they begin in the evening, finishing up at sunset. Almost 300,000 people come to watch the event, to see the horses galloping along the shore, framed by Doñana National Park in the distance. 

Almost €211,000 are up for grabs for the winning jockeys of the 25 races this year, with the winner bagging €8,000, second place getting €3,200 and third and fourth getting €800. 

When does it take place?

The Carreras de Caballos horse races will celebrate their 179th edition in 2024.

The first races will take place on August 14th, 16th and 17th, while the second lot will happen on August 28th, 29th and 30th.

Sanlúcar’s first official beach horserace was held in 1845. Photo: Cristina Quicler/AFP

How can I watch?

The event is free, so you can simply turn up at the beach and watch.

If you get there early enough, there are also boxes and seats, which have been set up on the sand.

The Horse Racing Society also builds a temporary enclosure at the finish line, where horse bets can be placed. 

If you want to watch them on TV or online, Sanlúcar’s local TV channel Costa Noroeste Televisión streams the races on their YouTube channel. 

Spectators gather on the beach to see the annual beach horse races. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP)

How did it start? 

There are several theories as to how the races began, but the most common one is that they started in the 19th century, when many members of the aristocracy moved to Sanlúcar for the health benefits of the sea. 

Others claim they began as informal competitions where fishermen raced to transport fish from the old port to the local markets and nearby towns on horseback.

Sanlúcar’s horse races have been held officially since 1845 and the competition has grown both in size and in status. Once the races were just for men, but today professional jockeys, as well as amateur men and women take part.

The event has become a big deal, especially since 1981 when the Sanlúcar de Barrameda Horse Society was re-founded. 

The sun sets on Sanlúcar de Barrameda as the beach horse races end. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP)

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

DISCOVER SPAIN

Nine otherworldly landscapes found in Spain

Away from its popular beach resorts and historic cities, Spain is full of bizarre otherworldly landscapes, many of which you won't even believe are real until you're there yourself.

Published: 28 August 2024 11:05 CEST
Updated: 1 September 2024 07:30 CEST
Nine otherworldly landscapes found in Spain

Las Bardenas Reales, Navarre

Right on the border between Navarre and Aragón lies the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Bardenas Reales, a harsh desert-like landscape just 70km from the lush Pyrenees. Bizarre rock formations and mountains are scattered throughout like giant sandcastles sculpted from something or someone high above.

Gaze upon the formations of Navarre’s Bardenas Reales. Photo: Jesús Esteban San José / Pexels

Laguna Rosa, Valencia region

Lakes are often described as cerulean blue, turquoise, navy or even aqua marine, but never bubble-gum pink. Arriving at the Laguna Rosa near the popular resort of Torrevieja feels as if it’s a world away and could almost be on another planet, where pink water is the norm. One of Europe’s largest salt lakes, it’s actually Halobacterium (a type of bacteria) and microalgae that give it this unique shade. 

The pink water of the Laguna Rosa. Photo: Tomas Wells / Pexels

Las Médulas, Castilla y León

Close to the border between Castilla y León and Galicia, you’ll find Las Médulas, an ancient Roman gold mine where towering red rocks peek out from beneath the verdant emerald green foliage. Surprisingly it’s one of the few places on our list that is actually not a natural phenomenon, but a manmade one. To access the gold in the mountains, the Romans used hydraulic power, diverting water from a nearby river to carve out gullies and even explode them from the inside. The result is this scarred, but somewhat fascinating landscape. 

The Romans created this landscape thousands of years ago. Photo: Elena Martinez Chacon / Wikimedia Commons

Lanzarote’s Charco Verde, Canary Islands

If there’s anywhere in Spain where the entire place could be another planet, then it’s Lanzarote. This small Canary Island is known as ‘the Island of Volcanos’ is filled with bizarre blackened landscapes, fossilised lava tubes and deep craters that feel almost as if you’re walking on the moon. But one strange place stands out among all the black for its bright green hue – is the Charco Verde or Green Lagoon. Almost fluorescent in colour, It’s caused by algae at the bottom of the lake which contrasts with the colour of the sky.

El Charco Verde has a luminous green hue. Photo: Javier Balseiro / Pexels

Río Tinto, Andalusia

With its blood orange shade and its rugged surrounds of reddish rocks, the landscapes around Rio are as close as many of us will ever get to standing on Mars. In fact NASA and the European Space Agency even carried out some of their training and experiments here in preparation for their voyage to the red planet. The area around Minas de Riotinto near Huelva is one of the most peculiar spots, an ancient mining village constructed here during Roman rule.

The Martian-like landscapes near Huelva, Photo: Paco Naranjo Jiménez /Wikimedia Commons

Cuenca’s Ciudad Encantada, Castilla-La Mancha

Set within the Serranía de Cuenca, you’ll find the aptly-named Enchanted City, where whimsical shapes have been carved from the limestone, modelled over millions of years by waves, ice, wind and rain. Over 90 million years ago, this area lay beneath the Tethys Sea and when it retreated these odd formations began to appear.

The Enchanted City near Cuenca. Source: Visit Cuenca

La Montaña de Sal, Catalonia

Rising 120 metres into the sky, around 100km northeast of Barcelona, sits this oddly-shaped mountain made of salt covered in ridges, bubbles and strange coloured rock. The outside is otherworldly enough, but for an even more alien experience, you can head deep into the mountain itself to the salt mines. Here, delicate salt crystals grow up from the floor and cling to roof, just like stalactites and stalagmites and the walls are adorned with what looks like salty foam. It was in fact a working mine all the way from 1929 to 1990.

You can even explore inside the Cardona Salt Mountain. Photo: Cardona Turisme

Torcal de Antequera, Andalusia  

Not far from the city of Antequera, just north of Málaga, sits one of the most unusual landscapes in Andalusia, where towering rocks are piled one on top of another, almost like bizarrely-shaped stacks of pancakes. What makes it even more fascinating is that millions of years ago, this natural park was under the sea and you can still see fossils of many ammonites imprinted into the rocks.

The pancake like rocks of Torcal de Antequera. Photo: Dgalan / Wikimedia Commons

Cuevas del Drach, Mallorca

Another underground marvel are the Drach Caves, ‘Drach’ meaning dragon in the Majorcan language. Deep beneath the surface of Mallorca, extending for 1200 metres, they’re some of the few caves you can explore by boat. Row across the glassy waters of Lake Martel within the caves themselves and gape at the otherworldly formations that almost seem to glow in gold when lit.

Take a boat through the Drach Caves in Mallorca. Photo: lapping / Pixabay
 
SHOW COMMENTS