El Rocío sits directly beside one of Doñana's permanent lagoons, and the view from the village edge is one of the finest free wildlife spectacles in Europe. Flamingos feed in the shallows, spoonbills wade through the reeds, and in winter the lagoon fills with ducks and waders in extraordinary numbers. The Doñana National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Ramsar wetland — begins effectively at the end of the village boardwalk.
The best watching spot is the wooden walkway that runs along the lagoon edge near the hermitage. Early mornings and evenings are best. You will need no guide and no ticket to stand here and watch the birds; the park itself requires booking for its official jeep tours, which take you further into the restricted zones where Iberian lynx and Spanish imperial eagles live. The semi-wild Doñana marsh horses and cattle that wander through the village streets are another spectacle entirely — they treat the sandy lanes as their own and have right of way.