The dining anchor is settled: Aponiente (★★★) is the only 2+-star Michelin restaurant in El Puerto de Santa María [1], and its 2026 format is a departure from any typical tasting-menu experience — guests physically walk the salt marshes of Cádiz Bay before sitting down in the tide mill, duration tied to weather and tides [2]. That outdoor element changes weekend logistics: a car or confirmed ride-share isn’t optional, and the booking confirmation should specify the start window, not just the date.
Three tiers of the same ocean philosophy exist within 35 km — a decision tree not visible from either child in isolation. Aponiente (€400, in-town) is the apex; Alevante (★★, ~€175, 35 min at Novo Sancti Petri) carries Ángel León’s concept at roughly 45% of the price [3]; La Taberna del Chef del Mar (€5–25 tapas, old-town) fills the backup slot if Aponiente is fully booked [4]. The fourth entry: LÚ Cocina y Alma (★★, €180–210, Jerez, 25 min) was launched by a chef who trained under Ángel León — even the outside option traces the same lineage [5].
Jerez surfaces independently in both children. The activities child recommends it as the horse-and-sherry day-trip [6]; the Michelin child places LÚ there. These collapse into one trip: a Sunday in Jerez (Real Escuela → bodegas → LÚ dinner) is more efficient than treating them as separate entries. Sanlúcar de Barrameda (~30 km north) closes the Sherry Triangle — manzanilla at source and Doñana views — and is comfortably day-trip scale.
Spring is structurally the right window. The almadraba red-tuna season peaks April–June [7], Aponiente opens in March and runs seasonally [8], and the Feria de Primavera runs 29 April–4 May 2026 [9]. All three converge — booking a spring weekend catches the best of every layer simultaneously.
The IT conferences child is out of scope for leisure planning. The only genuinely local event — the Gestión de Territorios Inteligentes jornada on June 11, 2026 at Palacio Juan de Araníbar [10] — targets municipal professionals and institutional representatives, not tourists.
The open question this expedition leaves: the 2026 Aponiente marsh walk is ~3 hours and explicitly weather/tide-dependent [2] — what is the contingency if conditions aren’t right on the booking night, and does the restaurant rebook or refund?