El Rocio is a small town in the province of Huelva in the region of Andalusia in southern Spain. It borders on the wetlands of the Parque Nacional de Donana. This park offers guests in discount hotels in El Rocio 123,000 acres (50,000 hectares) of marshes and sand dunes to explore. It was formerly a hunting preserve for the aristocracy and is now one of Europe’s greatest wetlands. Here visitors can see deer, wild cattle, Imperial eagles, greater flamingos and even the rare Spanish lynx. The flora includes rock rose, lavender and prickly juniper. The only way to see the park is by official guided tours. It is a good idea to book your tour in advance, because the number of visitors allowed in is limited to protect the park’s fragile ecology.

Every year thousands of pilgrims come to budget hotels in El Rocio for the Romeria, which is celebrated on Pentecost. In the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Rocio there is a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary which is believed to have performed miraculous cures since the 13th century. Men in brightly colored costumes fight for the right to carry the statue through the streets while crowds of pilgrims strive to touch it. The scene appears chaotic, but all is done in good humor. Up to a million people can converge on El Rocio during the Romeria.