HOME > MURCIA MAR MENOR & CARTAGENA > LOS ALCÁZARES
Introduction to Los Alcázares
Los Alcázares is located on the shores of the Mar Menor, surrounded by the municipalities of San Javier, Torre Pacheco and Cartagena, with a permanent population of around 15,000 inhabitants.
Its main activity is tourism, the hotel of La Encarnación the most historic on the shores of the Mar Menor, Europe´s largest salt water lake, which multiplies the population in summer with holidaymakers, attracted by kilometres of soft sands, the warm and safe shallow waters and the opportunities to enjoy the superb watersports facilities.
The Mar Menor is renown for its safe sailing and afternoon thermal winds, with kitesurfers and windsurfers taking advantage of the clean run from shore to shore, and learners enjoying the safety of an enclosed lagoon, whilst more experienced sailors can head out into the Mediterranean or charter yachts for exploring along the Murcian coastline.
Los Alcázares is also the location of the only surviving Balneario which is still in use today as a restaurant, a vestige from the days when bathers wished to maintain a level of decorum by descending into the waters from the privacy of a bathing hut, rather than baring all on the beach. This part of the beach is also the focal point for one of the most important gastronomic traditions of the region : the preparation of the intensely fish based dish of caldero, the staple diet of the fishing population who fished from these shores before the onset of tourism.
Los Alcázares has been the chosen destination of Murcians from the capital for centuries, and celebrates the annual migration of the huertanos with its vibrant and colourful Semana de la Huerta y El Mar, filling the town with the scent of murcian tapas, the colourful costumes of folk dancers and a selection of artesan crafts from across the Region.
Los Alcázares also hosts one of the best mediaeval markets in the region, when it celebrates itsBerber fiestas, commemorating the raids by Berber Pirates which were such a feature of it's history during the 16th and 17th centuries.
The town is also home to an established ex-pat community, with a wealth of social activities and organisations for the English speaking population, and offers residential properties in established urban locations, rather than on newer and more isolated urbanisations.
Los Alcázares is in the east of the Region of Murcia on the shore of the Mar Menor, about half an hour's drive from the new International Airport at Corvera, with good connections along the Mar Menor to arterial links throughout the Region.
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