Playa La Herradura

About Playa La Herradura

Playa La Herradura is the main beach of La Herradura, the westernmost village of Almuñécar on Granada's Costa Tropical. It curves for about 2 km around the horseshoe-shaped bay that gives the village its name, between the headlands of Cerro Gordo to the west and Punta de la Mona to the east. Behind it runs the Paseo Andrés Segovia, renamed in 1983 after the guitarist, who had a residence here.

On 19 October 1562 a fleet of 28 royal galleys under Juan de Mendoza sheltered here from an easterly storm; the wind swung south, and 25 galleys were wrecked against Punta de la Mona, with an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 dead. A monument on the seafront, unveiled in 1990, recalls the disaster. Set back from the shore, the castle of 1768 is now a cultural centre.

The beach is sand and pebbles, divided by rocky outcrops and a river mouth, with palms along parts of the promenade. It has held a Blue Flag, has lifeguards and sunbed hire in season, and the Posidonia meadows offshore support the village's many diving centres.

May, June and September give warm water with fewer people than August. Come in the morning to snorkel before the beach fills.

Playa La Herradura in pictures

What you’ll find

• Beach lifeguardSupervised swimmingFree
• Beach sunbedsSunbed hireRent
• Pebble beachRest on beachFree
• Sandy beachRest on beachFree
• Sea shoreSnorkellingRentSwimmingFree

Nearby places to visit

On the eastern headland, Playa Marina del Este (1 km) lies beside the marina on Punta de la Mona and is now more of a diving spot than a bathing beach. Round the point, the naturist cove of Playa El Muerto (2 km) is reached on foot from Cotobro. West under Cerro Gordo, Playa de Calaiza (2 km) is a tiny cove with no facilities. In Almuñécar town, Playa Puerta del Mar (5 km) is the central town beach, below the Peñón del Santo, and Playa Tropical (6 km) sits at the western end of the long urban beach of Velilla.