Los Alcazares
Guide to Los Alcazares, a lovely coastal resort on the Mar Menor, Costa Calida.
Los Alcazares - Holidays - Property - Car Hire - Transfers
Los Alcazares: A beautiful coastal town located on the Mar Menor and the Costa Calida, in the Murcia region of Spain, Los Alcazares (which means “The Palaces”) has excellent sandy beaches and good facilities, it is handy for a number of the Murcia region’s golf courses, and is easily reached from Murcia (San Javier) airport. The perfect holiday resort, you might think, well you would be right, as Los Alcazares has everything going for it. The Spanish people themselves, head for the town in the summer time, and there can be no better recommendation than this.
Enjoying a wonderful climate, being situated in one of the driest regions in Spain, Los Alcazares is more likely to be sunny than not, whenever you choose to visit, with an annual quota of sunny days exceeding 300, you would be unlucky to pick a week when the sun didn’t shine. Having said that choose the months between May and October for the best of the weather.
The town of Los Alcazares itself has a resident population of 15,000, one of the largest towns along the Mar Menor, and its history goes as far back as Roman times, when Spas were established in the area for healing and convalescence.
The high salt content of the Mar Menor was what attracted the Romans, and also the temperature of the water, which is still the biggest attraction today, with the Mar Menor being generally around five degrees warmer than the surrounding Mediterranean Sea.
Long after the Romans had left the region, the Moors further developed the area, and it was in fact from the Arabic language that the name “Los Alcazares” was taken. It was the Moors who improved the irrigation system for the surrounding land, and enabled crops to be grown, where it was previously barren. Their native lands in North Africa, are of course even hotter and drier than Spain, so they were experts in getting the most from what they had. Fruit and vegetables could then be grown and are still grown today, thanks to the Moors.
The Moors were also experts at fishing and the conditions in the Mar Menor required different methods to those used in deeper waters (the Mar Menor is no deeper than 21 feet), a technique called "la encañizada") is still employed by local fishermen today.
After the expulsion of the Moors from the region, Los Alcazares was mostly forgotten and the population faded away to other areas, all that remained was a fortified watchtower, and grazing for cattle. In fact not was not until the late 19th century, when a hermitage was established there, that people again returned to the area, and it was the rich people of Murcia city, that began to use it as a “holiday resort” of sorts, mostly for the purpose of bathing in the healing local waters.
In 1983 Los Alcazares finally gained its independence, since then a weeks festival takes place each year to celebrate this event.
The resort of Los Alcazares now attracts both Spanish and International visitors, and is becoming increasingly popular with the British, as they discover this previously lesser known area. The fine golf courses, are of course a big added attraction, with some fine examples such as Roda Golf, the Mar Menor Golf Resort, and La Serena Golf all nearby. It is also popular for water sports, and as a wind gets up on the Mar Menor most afternoons, windsurfing and kitesurfing are the most popular.
Fiestas that you could attend in Los Alcazares include the town Carnival in February and the Virgin del Carmen in July.
You can drive to Los Alcazares by using the N-332 coast road, which can in turn be accessed from the AP-7 motorway (Autovia), San Javier is just a short ten minutes drive away. The city of Murcia is a 50 kilometre drive, while the ancient city of Cartagena is just 24 kilometres away. Other places which you can visit on a holiday in Los Alcazares are La Manga, the well known sports resort, and Calblanque, an area of unspoilt beaches and rugged coastline.
Los Alcazares Links: Los Alcazares Map - Los Alcazares Weather
Los Alcazares airport driving distances: Murcia (San Javier) airport to Los Alcazares is a driving distance of 5 kilometres (3 miles), Alicante airport to Los Alcazares is a driving distance of 97 kilometres (61 miles).
Nearby Places: Sucina - Roda - Torre Pacheco - San Pedro del Pinatar - Santiago de la Ribera
Golf Courses: Roda Golf Resort - Mar Menor Golf Resort - La Manga Club - Spain Golf Courses
Related: Cartagena - San Javier - La Manga - Mazarron - Murcia Airport Transfers - Builders
HOME