The Playas

Mojacar Playa consists of over 5 km of bars, hotels, restaurants, shops and cafes. The developement of these beaches extends along the coast to Garrucha.

Garrucha is primarily a thriving fishing town and port. It also has a smart beachfront; a marble paseo bordered by fish restaurants, and a clean beach making it very popular with tourists. Extremely so on market days (fridays) and during fiestas (often). Garrucha has some very good fish restaurants, some on the beach itself. The town is well serviced, clean and bustling all year round. Many people prefer this to surrounding areas and more recently it is the preferred choice as place to live as more and more dwellings are constructed in the nearby and adjacent areas of Marina Playa (Mojacar) and Pueblo Laguna ( Vera).

The beaches continue in an almost unbroken line to Puerto Rey and Vera Playa, 6 km. of beachfront, part of which is reserved for nudism, which at the moment is undergoing intensive urban development.
Three golf courses and two marinas are close by, and other attractions (waterparks and health clubs), added to a relaxed suburban beach atmosphere give Vera Playa a level of suburban comfort popular with those who prefer a flat beach terrain to mountainous dwellings. Vera Playa a is becoming an increasingly popular year round resort to live and take a holiday.

Palomares and Villaricos: Ironically it was the the Broken Arrow incident January of 1966 that focused attention on the entire region and encouraged the start of the ongoing wave of resettlement. The small port town of Villaricos and the extensive beaches near Palomares, were until recently overshadowed by developments in other areas. Proximity to golf, to its own marina port, to watersports, to the beaches of the area and the slightly lower prices have made this area popular choice for both holidays and for property sales in the last 5 years.Further along the coast is San Juan de los Terreros another quiet beach village which has attracted a lot of interest.

50% of the population is non-spanish. The atmosphere, once considered bohemian, is now more cosmopolitan with many people bringing their culture and talents to work and live in area. During the summer months the beach is crowded, but much less so than most other coastal rsorts in Spain. For those seeking quieter and more natural surroundings, there are still 11km of virgen beach extending towards the Cabo de Gata natural park, sadly not sharing its protected status and being developed.

In the summer the Mojácar area attracts visitors from all over the globe and is undoubtedly the most cosmopolitan place in the whole region. Its bars stay open until the early hours every night. Parking in the village becomes very difficult but a new multi purpose building is being developed to alleviate this problem. In the winter the village is quieter, although the country life and the village bars and restaurants sustain a pleasant and charming atmosphere.

Turre is a village with a long-standing historic tradition, located in the foothills of the wild and attractive Sierra de Cabrera. A few kilometres inland, in the dry Rio de Aguas valley, at the foot of the Sierra Cabrera. Turre is an agricultural town. The town has narrow streets and an authentic air - it has not been developed for tourists or visitors until very recently. There are now excellent restaurants in Turre. Retirement complexes and other luxurious developments are being built in the area adjacent to the town as it becomes a more popular place to live. Orange groves and traditional farms continue to thrive in the countryside around. From Turre roads climb into the Sierra Carera where other small settlements are also being re inhabited, the largest of these being Cortijo Grande and Cabrera, extraordinary and established developments with beautiful scenery and flora.

Rising steeply from the Mediterranean the highest point of the Sierra Cabrera is 962 m above sea level. Sierra Cabrera is an area of great ecological interest whose legal protection is being studied by the Junta de Andalucia.

There are several abandoned and partially re-habited villages in the mountains: El Dondo, Los Moralicos, la Alcantarilla, El Moro, as well as the villages of Cortijo Grande, Cabrera, La Carasca, La Adelfa and Sopalmo, all of them extremely beautiful. Visitors may walk among architectural remains of ancient Moorish origin; labrynthine and each with its water balsa and bread oven. All of them are surrounded by a huerta where horticulture provided until only a few years ago total self-sufficiency amongst the inhabitants.

Due to a lack of protection this area of great natural beauty are slowly being developed for mass tourism, most controvertialy, the Macenas Project. There are others who have preferred a more intelligent route, building their houses using traditional materials and pratices, making the most of the isolation from the local infrastructure by using solar power and alternative technology, encouraging visitors to enjoy this atmosphere to the full.

The area offers rural tourism, particularly popular outside the hot dry summer season (when proximity to the beach is preferred). Accomodation is available at all levels. The mountains are popular with hunters, off road enthusiasts nature lovers and ramblers alike.

Sorbas is an extraordinary place, quite dramatic, surrounded by moonscapes and whose houses overhang an ashen gorge and surrounded by the Rio Aguas. Its slopes form a natural moat and are dotted with houses. The people of this town are great potters and make objects of an extremely high quality.

South of the town is the Parque Natural de Karst en Yesos where around six million years ago water erosion carved out subterranean chasms full of stalagmites and stalactites. The Arizona type landscape leads to Lucainena de las Torres, a cluster of white box shaped houses surrounding a red roofed church which has a narrow main street leading to it and is fronted by a tiny square. Through more Arizona type landscape snaking over the rugged Sierra Alhamilla lies Nijar, a neat white little town with narrow streets in its upper Moorish quarter designed to give maximum shade.

Situated in the foothills of the mountain range of the same name, Bédar still retains the charm and tranquility of times gone by. Both the panoramic views from Bedar and the countryside around Bedar are extraordinarily beautiful. In the mountains you will find groups of very pretty farm houses which are good examples of rural architecture. Almost every house in the village, with its steep, narrow streets, is situated in a priveliged position with a great vantage point from which to look out over incredible views. The town is a favourite retreat for artists and those searching genuine beauty and tranquility without total isolation.

In the winter the village is quieter, although the country life and the village bars and restaurants sustain a pleasant and charming atmosphere.

The area nearby is of particular interest to geologists . Bedar saw years of prosperity during the exploitation of the lead mines in El Pinar. Many fine old buiding from this period remain in the area and the towns around in, namely Los Gallardos and Serena.

Cuevas de Almanzora stands on the banks of the river Almanzora and its rich heritage is a direct result of its long times gone by. On the outskirts of the town some very important archaeological sites containing the remains of several prehistoric areas have been found. Pulpi, also known as San Juan de los Terreros, straddles the seafront with a narrow beach and is also the location of an 18th Century castle.

Huercal Overa is the chief town of a thriving agricultural district and lies on the Lorca-Baza railway between two branches of the Rio Almanzora.