• Sunset is the busiest slot, when the lake turns red and gold, so arrive early; boat-only rides are paid at the pier, and the paella package's 12:45pm meeting is a midday ride, not the sunset one
• Green June to August, golden at the September harvest, then flooded into a mirror full of birds from November to January; in spring the fields are bare
• Commentary in Spanish, mosquitoes at dusk: the boatmen don't speak English, and in the warm months bring repellent and long sleeves for an evening ride

Traditional flat-bottomed boats called albuferencs leave the pier at El Palmar, a fishing village of thatched barracas and canals, for rides of about 40 minutes across Spain's largest freshwater lake. The route crosses marshland and rice fields where herons, cormorants and ducks feed. Afterward, eat paella in the village where the dish was born.