Holiday apartment in Los Alcázares on the Mar Menor

On the Mar Menor, Los Alcázares combines an extensive waterfront area with water sports, natural areas and traces of military, Roman and coastal history. On the Mar Menor, the town has seven kilometres of beaches. The Paseo Marítimo de Los Alcázares stretches for around 5.5 kilometres along the promenade, making the coast visible as a defining feature of the town.

Water and waterfront

The maritime character is also reflected in the activities available on the water. The Club Náutico Mar Menor offers rentals and courses for sailing light sailboats, as well as kayaking routes. At the Estación Náutica in Los Alcázares, activities such as sailing, windsurfing and kayaking can be enjoyed all year round. The Balneario Playa de la Concha creates a historic connection between wood, sea and views: Today, the wooden platform over the sea is used for walks and as a viewpoint over the coast of Los Alcázares and the Mar Menor.

At Playa del Espejo, two monuments commemorate different regional traditions. The Monumento al Pescador commemorates the people of the Mar Menor and the fishing tradition that shaped the area over generations. The Monumento al Huertano refers to the agricultural roots and popular culture of the Región de Murcia.

Nature

Playa de La Hita, between Santiago de la Ribera and Los Alcázares, encompasses former salt pans with species-rich coastal vegetation and small wetlands. At the same time, it is a bird protection area designated by the European Union as a ZEPA. Among other species, resident black-winged stilts and little terns can be observed there. Here, the coastal landscape and birdlife appear alongside traces of the former salt-pan use.

Culture and history

A particular focus is on aviation history. The Museo Aeronáutico Municipal displays aircraft models, aerial photographs, as well as military equipment and objects connected with the history of the Base Aérea de Los Alcázares in Spanish military aviation. The Aeródromo of Los Alcázares is also part of this history: It was Spain’s first seaplane base, and in December 1915 the first flight by a military seaplane took place there.

Roman traces are preserved in the Balsas Romanas de Los Diegos in Los Narejos. They comprise the remains of a Roman settlement dating from the 2nd century BC to the 3rd century AD. In addition, the Balsas Romanas de Los Diegos are the remains of an industrial complex that probably belonged to a Roman villa and may have been connected with the processing and preservation of food.

The Iglesia parroquial de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción was begun in 1898 on the site of a small oratory that had existed since 1890 and was completed in 1905 as a modest chapel. Another testament to the eventful coastal history is the Torre del Rame. The 16th-century defence tower was built at the end of the 16th century to protect the lands of Hoya Morena and El Ramí from frequent raids by Barbary pirates.

The Museo Internacional del Mar Menor is also spread throughout the municipality of Los Alcázares. It comprises around 250 urban works of art and murals that visitors can view there. With the Aljibe Colorao, another feature reaches back into an older rural past: It belongs to a system of cisterns known since the Middle Ages, which were used, among other purposes, by travellers passing through and to water livestock during transhumance.

Events

Gastromar is a culinary event held every year in October in Los Alcázares. It includes a food market, tastings and live cooking demonstrations. The Incursiones Berberiscas in Los Alcázares are a historical festival that recreates pirate raids on the coast of the Mar Menor in the 16th and 17th centuries through performances on the beach and in the town centre.

Occupancy, price breakdown, as well as deadlines and rules for a possible cancellation also deserve a close look.

More destinations

More destinations in the same selection: Las Ventanas, El Portús, El Sabinar, Valentín, Los Vidales, El Algar, Lorquí, La Condomina.

To the higher-level travel overview: Murcia.