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Porlamar is the largest city and main port of Nueva Esparta state, on the southern coast of Margarita Island in the Venezuelan Caribbean. It lies about 10 km from the state capital, La Asunción, and is the capital of Mariño municipality, home to about a third of the island's people.
Christopher Columbus sailed past the island in August 1498, and its rich pearl beds soon drew Spanish settlers. Porlamar was founded on 26 March 1536 by Friar Francisco de Villacorta, and in 1561 the conquistador Lope de Aguirre seized its treasury and burned its harbor. Repeated pirate raids later led the Spanish to build stone forts at Pampatar and La Asunción.
Today Margarita is one of Venezuela's favorite holiday islands. From Porlamar it is a short drive to the palm-lined sands of Playa El Agua, the surf of Parguito, the windsurfing beach of El Yaque and the mangroves of La Restinga, while boats run to the smaller islands of Coche and Cubagua.
San Nicolás de Bari Church is the main church of Porlamar and faces the Bolívar statue on Plaza Bolívar, unveiled in 1945. The first church here was burned by French pirates in 1555; the present one was begun in 1853 and blessed in 1864, and its towers were rebuilt in the early 20th century.
The Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Valle is a Gothic Revival church in El Valle del Espíritu Santo, near Porlamar, home of the Virgen del Valle, patron of the island and the Venezuelan Navy. Made a minor basilica in 1955, it draws great crowds for her feast, which opens every 8 September.
Castillo San Carlos de Borromeo is a star-shaped Spanish fort on the bay of Pampatar, just east of Porlamar, built to defend the harbor from pirates. Begun in 1622, wrecked by pirates and rebuilt by 1684, it has four corner bastions and a drawbridge, with fine views over the bay and boats.
Castillo de Santa Rosa is a hilltop fort above La Asunción, the island's capital, finished in 1682 after French pirates sacked the town in 1677. It is famous as the prison of the independence heroine Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi, and its walls look out over the valleys and hills of eastern Margarita.
Playa El Agua is the most famous beach on Margarita Island, a stretch of golden sand about 4 km long and 30 m wide on the northeast coast. Huge palm trees line the shore and shelter the many restaurants that serve diners straight to their chairs on the sand, a short drive from Porlamar.
Playa Parguito is a beach on the northeast coast of Margarita, near Playa El Agua. Its open-ocean waves make it a favorite spot for surfing, and it has fewer restaurants than Playa El Agua, so it draws those seeking a quieter beach, though swimmers should take care in the strong surf.
Playa El Yaque is a beach on the south coast of Margarita, about 3 km south of the airport, known worldwide as one of the best places for windsurfing and kitesurfing. Steady trade winds of 15 to 30 knots blow for most of the year, and shallow water stretches far offshore, ideal for learners.
Juan Griego is a small town on a sheltered bay in the northeast of Margarita, named after a 16th-century sea captain from Seville. Above the bay stands the Fortín de La Galera, a small fort with old cannons, and its walls are a popular place to watch the sun go down over the sea and fishing boats.
Laguna de La Restinga National Park protects a 2,500-hectare salt lagoon between the main part of Margarita and the Macanao Peninsula, and was created in 1974. Boats glide through 18 km of channels and tunnels of mangroves rich in birds and fish, out to a long beach on the sandbar.
Cerro El Copey National Park protects the highest mountains of Margarita, in the east of the island, rising to about 960 m above the dry lowlands. Created in 1974, it holds green forests fed by the moist trade winds and the island's only permanent springs, with wide views over the coast.
Isla de Coche is a small island of 55 square kilometers south of Margarita, once worked for its pearl beds and salt pans. Its calm, sandy beaches, such as Playa El Amor, attract day visitors, and the wreck of the Spanish warship San Pedro de Alcántara, sunk in 1815, lies offshore.
Cubagua is a small, dry island between Margarita and the mainland, where Spanish pearl hunters founded Nueva Cádiz, in 1528, the first settlement in Venezuela to hold the title of city. A tsunami destroyed it in 1541, and the stone ruins of the old town still stand by the shore.
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