EL PUERTO DE SANTA MARIA is a favorite family holiday destination for the locals as well as for foreigners; namely the gaditanos who are Cadiz’s inhabitants, and the sevillanos who built their chalets and villas on the Playa Puntillo which may be a bit out of the town but is accessible by foot or bus within 15 minutes.

There are many choices of friendly beach bars that one can drink cheaply with food of your own. The numerous sherry bodegas prove to be the main attractions here, flanking the town streets and river banks with their long and white warehouses.

Transportation

In the past, all sherry shipments came through the town of Santa Maria from Jerez, until Cadiz had its own train service. Since then, the town port has less activity as the mode of shipment is diverted. Today, many firms take advantage of the region’s sherry supply to offer tourists free tastings of the wine and tours of the bodegas, which some require advanced bookings.

There is a tourist center, or turismo, in Cádiz which can offer tour information to assist the tourists. The best tours are offered by the town’s biggest wine producers, Osborne y Cía and Fernando de Terry, which is housed in a splendid 17th century convent that has been restructured.

Another type of transportation here is the ferry service which the locals call El Vapor, after the steamboats. The ferry proves to be a faster and cheaper mode of travel compared to the bus. Besides the ferry, there is also the catamaran service which is quite recent in its operations but operates 7 times every day and is half as long as the ferry trip in terms of duration. The price is higher for it though, of course.

Local buses are available to take tourists to their preferred sights, which one can obtain further information about from the turismo. There is another tourist center at El Puerto which is situated near the town's plaza, Galeras Reales, just at the ferry dock.

Gastronomy

There are quite a few seafood restaurants that can whip up some excellent seafood dishes around this area. Some of the more renowned eateries include Romerijo, which offers not only great food but also some fun as it is renowned as the town’s favorite marisquerías. This is a common local snack where you enjoy your selected shellfish in a paper funnel, known as cartucho in Spanish. It is normally enjoyed with a beer, seated on a terrace while watching the world go by.

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