Name and Location

The Faro de Chipiona, also known as the Lighthouse of Regla, is located in Chipiona, Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain. Its official address is Avenida del Faro, 42, 11550 Chipiona.

2. Construction and History

The lighthouse was built between 1863 and 1867 under the direction of the Corps of Royal Engineers, following a 1861 decree to improve navigation in the Guadalquivir mouth. It was inaugurated on January 15, 1867, and designed by Major engineer Jaime Font y Andreu.

3. Architecture and Materials

The Faro de Chipiona is a mid-19th-century neoclassical lighthouse tower built using local sandstone and brick, rendered and painted white. The structure features a cylindrical masonry tower with a gallery and lantern, attached to a single-storey keeper's house. The exterior marking is an entire tower white with a single narrow black horizontal band above the main gallery.

4. Light and Navigation

The lighthouse stands at 69 meters tall and has a focal height of approximately 74 meters. It emits one white flash every 10 seconds, with a light range of 25 nautical miles (46 km). The light source is a modern rotating Fresnel lens with a xenon discharge lamp producing 300,000 candela.

5. Accessibility and Visiting

The lighthouse is open to the public for guided visits to the tower summit and features a museum area in the keeper's quarters. Visitors can access the site on foot via Avenida del Faro or by bus and taxi services connecting with Chipiona town center. Free parking is available nearby.

6. Notable Views and Landscape

The climb of 344 interior steps leads to a panoramic gallery beneath the lantern, offering unobstructed views of the Atlantic coast, the Guadalquivir estuary, the white beaches of Chipiona, and the distant Cádiz skyline.

7. Anecdotes and Folklore

The lighthouse has been built atop a medieval coastal watchtower known locally as "Torre del Perro." Former head keeper Manuel Uva de Rivera left a detailed logbook chronicling storms, vessel rescues, and community life, which is on display in the on-site museum. Local fishermen claim that on certain midsummer nights, the lighthouse lantern glows with an extra "greenish" hue, attributed to phosphorescent plankton stirred by waves.

8. Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse was automated in the mid-20th century, and its Admiralty number is D 2351. The Port Authority of the Bay of Cádiz manages the site, with upkeep provided by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage.

9. Further Information

For further reading, please refer to Spanish Wikipedia, US NGA Pub. 113 (2011–10–20), Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico: Faro de Chipiona dossier, Miguel Á. Ruiz-Hidalgo's "Lighthouses of Andalusia," and on-site interpretation panels and keeper's log excerpts held at the Faro de Chipiona museum.