The dunes are not a big beach
They look like an extension of the beach and they are not: they are a Special Nature Reserve, a system of moving sand that degrades when people walk where they should not. Knowing where to go is not bureaucratic box-ticking, it is the difference between visiting them and damaging them.
Why they are protected
This is a field of mobile dunes: the sand travels, pushed by wind in a dominant direction, and the system holds together as long as that transport is not interrupted. Anything that fixes the sand or breaks the vegetation anchoring its high edges alters the mechanism.
That is the real reason for the restrictions. It is not that sand is fragile to the touch: it is that the system depends on a flow that can be cut.
What that means for a visit
- There are signed access points and routes. Using them is not a suggestion: off them you tread on vegetation that holds the edge of the system together.
- The La Charca area, the lagoon by the sea, is the most sensitive part because of the wildlife that depends on it.
- No camping, no fires, no vehicles.
- The sand gets extremely hot around midday. Barefoot, it genuinely burns.
The usual miscalculation
Assuming you can cross them on a short stroll. It is a wide dune field with no shade and no clear reference points: walking on soft sand costs far more effort than firm ground, and perceived distance misleads. Heat plus no water is the combination that causes most rescues in places like this.
When they look best
Early and late in the day. It is not only the temperature: with a low sun the relief of the sand is drawn in light and shadow, and the landscape looks like the photograph you have seen. At midday, under a vertical sun, the dunes look flat.
Frequently asked questions
›Can I walk anywhere on the dunes?
No. It is a Special Nature Reserve with signed access points and routes, and off them you tread on the vegetation that holds the edges of the system. Camping, fires and vehicles are also prohibited.
›Why are they so fragile if it is only sand?
Because they are mobile dunes: the sand travels, pushed by the wind, and the system survives as long as that transport is not interrupted. What protection prevents is not wear from footsteps but the breaking of the flow that keeps them alive.
›How long does it take to cross them?
Longer than it looks. Walking on soft sand costs far more effort than firm ground, there is no shade and visual references mislead. Bring water and shoes, and do not estimate the time as if it were a walk along the beach.