Things to Do in Isla Margarita

Isla Margarita is Venezuela's beach playground, an island large enough to hold genuine geographic variety - from desert dunes to cloud-forest peaks to 50 beaches scattered along its coastline. Start at Playa El Agua on the northeast coast, a three-kilometer stretch of golden sand backed by palm-thatched restaurants and bars that fills with Venezuelan families on weekends and empties midweek. The waves here are stronger than the western beaches, making it popular with body surfers and boogie boarders.

For something quieter, head west to Playa Parguito, a surfer's beach with consistent breaks and a more local crowd. El Yaque, on the southern tip near the airport, is an entirely different experience - steady trade winds and flat, shallow water have made it one of the world's top windsurfing and kiteboarding destinations. Gear rental runs around $30 to $50 USD per session, and the vibe at the beachside posadas is pure wind-sport culture.

Inland, La Restinga National Park protects a lagoon fringed by mangrove channels that you explore by small motorboat (around $10 to $15 USD per person for a 45-minute tour). The boatmen cut the engine to glide through natural tunnels of interlocking mangrove roots while pointing out oysters clinging to the roots, herons stalking the shallows, and scarlet ibis nesting in the canopy. The boat drops you at a sandbar beach on the Caribbean side where you can swim before the return trip.

For a different landscape entirely, drive up to Cerro El Copey National Park in the island's mountainous center, where cloud forest and orchids replace the coastal aridity. The trail to the summit at 960 meters passes through three distinct vegetation zones and rewards with views stretching to the mainland on clear days. In Porlamar, the island's commercial center, the appeal is duty-free shopping - Sambil Margarita and Rattan Plaza draw mainland Venezuelans for electronics, perfumes, and clothing at prices below Caracas. The colonial capital of La Asunción, quieter and more charming, has the 16th-century Castillo de Santa Rosa and the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de La Asunción, the oldest church in eastern Venezuela. For a day trip, take a boat to Isla de Coche, a low-lying island known for its kiteboarding conditions and quieter beaches, or to tiny Cubagua, once the center of the colonial pearl trade and now an uninhabited archaeological site.