Chipiona is green, Chipiona is white.
Chipiona is green because it has green areas where you can feel in close contact with nature, such as the pine wood, (El Pinar), forest of pines, easy to reach by bike or on foot; the “cordón dunar”, sand dunes which line the Camarón Beach and Las Tres Piedras Beach and where with its regional flora, with a bit of luck, you will be able to watch one of the last colonies of chameleon left in the south of Europe. It is prohibited to catch them as they are protected. If you want to exercise, take a bike ride from town, along the “green route”, (Via Verde) up to Costa Ballena (Whale Coast). Mountain bikes can be hired at the guesthouse.
Chipiona is also white, because it is surrounded by wonderful beaches of white – golden sand. They are Chipiona’s main attraction, well-know for their health giving properties and where fishing and nautical sports are also practised. Chipiona’s municipal has a total of 12.600 meters, 7.600 of which form the 4 main beaches. They can be very clearly identified, distinguished by their different environmental conditions, natural environment, location and access, all having an undoubted tourist interest. There are wide beaches, of thin, fine sand, where swimming is completely safe because of the beaches gently slope into the sea, whose waters are high in iodine and minerals.
Playa de Montijo-Niño de Oro
It is located between the borough of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and the fishing port and marina in Chipiona, it is more than 3 kms. long (3.600 meters) and has two access ramps, life-saving services and toilets.
Playa Cruz del Mar- Las Canteras
Situated between the marina and fishing port and Regla Beach and it is 1,500 meters long. This beach has been awarded 13 consecutive years the European Union Blue Flag for Clean Beaches.
It has toilets, information point, first aid and public-address system, as well as four accesses and one Amphi-Buggy chair, which is a floating chair for the disabled so they can be taken into the water and enjoy the beach.
Las Canteras Beach, owes its name to its old use as a stone quarry (ostionera).It is a quiet, family beach.
Playa de Regla
Located between Cruz del Mar – Las Canteras Beach and Camarón Beach, it is 1.700 metres long. It is probably the most emblematic beach in Chipiona. It has been awarded during 14 years in a row the Blue Flag. Several life-saving points can be found, as well as toilets, Amphi-buggy chairs, information point, public-address system and six access ramps.
Playa de Camarón- La Laguna
Between Regla and Las Tres Piedras Beaches and Cuba and Camarón points, from which it receives its name. Its total length is 2 Kms long. There are 9 wooden walkways that give access to the beach and protect the chameleon natural habitat. It has won two years in a row the European Union Blue Flag for Clean Beaches. Lots of facilities are available on the beach, such as toilets, life-saving point, public-address system and emergency phone.
Playa de las Tres Piedras- La Ballena
This is the most southern beach in Chipiona, adjoining the borough of Rota. Its natural borders are defined by the Rio Nuevo creek, between Rota and Camarón Beach, and it is 2 kms. long. It is a rocky beach at some points with a sandy sea bed, it currently has a direct connexion with the main road joining Rota and Chipiona. On the beach itself you can find, life-saving station, gents, ladies and disabled toilets, as well as a wooden walkway. Two more accesses on La Ballena beach.
Fishing corrals
You can visit our “Fishing Corrals “. They form part of the original historical and cultural landscape that is the heritage of an ancient rural fishing culture, presumably Roman or Moorish. They are stone walls which stretch out to the sea from the coast in a semicircular shape handcrafted of “ostionera” stones handcrafted, distributed along our coast line. When the tides go out, the animals which are trapped within the walls can be caught by men wading on foot in the shallow waters. The stones are fixed by marine concretions, oysters and algae that act as natural cement. The name and the location of the corrals is the following: Montijo’s Corrals, in the zone of the same name between Chipiona and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, those of La Longuera in El Muelle Beach, those of Trapillo, Cabito and Nuevo, in Las Canteras and those of Mariño, Canaleta , Chico and Hondo between Camarón and Las Tres Piedras Beaches.
CHIPIONA, A SEA OF MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
The power of seaweeds
Seaweeds have a high content of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals (up to 30% of the volume). Compared with dairy products, seaweeds provide up to 10% more calcium and iron. In Eastern civilizations, the importance of seaweeds as food has been recognized and apart from being admired for their nutritional uses, they have also been recognized as being antibacterial, antiviral and may help prevent cancer. In addition to this, some types of seaweeds help reduce cholesterol, reduce high blood pressure and clogging of arteries by improving the metabolism of fat. Wrapping and bathing with seaweeds, considerably increases the healing and health of skin.
THALASSOTHERAPY
From ancient times, sea water and seaweeds have been known to have curative properties. There are references in ancient Egyptian scrolls to the power of climate and the use of clays of the Nile Delta.
The ancient Greeks recommended using hot sea water in baths and in poultices as treatment for different pains.
It was during the Roman Empire when sea water was at its most popular, used in a wide variety of ways and applications, that fell into disuse during the Middle Ages.
During the Renaissance there was a renewed interest in the curative properties of sea water that forms the base of modern thalassotherapy: “a process of relaxation, resting and well-being”
It is totally natural therapy that respects the human body. The treatment uses sea water, seaweed and climate. Sea water is collected more than a thousand meters form the shore and is purified using ultraviolet rays, sterilizing guaranties that it remains free of bacteria, when it is used in therapy.
It is used 36 degrees, that allows salts and minerals contain in the water to be absorbed through the skin better.
These salts are beneficial and necessary for good health and they are often lost during illness, and other complaints and through daily living.
The waters around Chipiona are thankfully high in iodine which has many curative properties known for more than a hundred years.
At the end of the 19th century, many specialists, among those, Doctor Tolosa Latour, looked around Spanish beaches and did a study trying to find suitable sites for the first sanatoriums in Spain.
Regla Beach was preferred due to the quality of its water and air, because of the position of the town and the winds it receives.