Murcia - a Spanish Treasure
The Region of Murcia is known as Spain’s best kept secret. It’s only in the last few years that this has started to change, but even now if you were mention to friends that you were taking a holiday in Murcia, they probably wouldn’t even know what country it was in never mind what part of Spain it is in !
The Region of Murcia is one of the smaller regions of Spain and it is located between the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol on the “Warm Coast” or Costa Calida. The Costa Calida is aptly named, as it is famous for it’s exceptional climate, with over 320 days of sunshine per year and temperatures on average 10 degrees C above those in the UK all through the year.
With miles and miles (sorry kms and kms) of sandy beaches it’s easy to see why this area has been a holiday hotspot FOR THE SPANISH for many, many years. The vast majority of the Spanish holidaymakers do not travel abroad, indeed, why should they? with beaches and guaranteed sunshine, it’s easy to see why they holiday on the Costa Calida.
Thanks to low cost flights to Murcia airport (San Javier) and a new road system partly funded by the EU, Murcia and the Costa Calida has really opened up to “foreign” tourists.
So what it there to do in the Region of Murcia?
- Activities around the Mar Menor, the La Manga Strip and other beaches of the Costa Calida focus on watersports of all kinds - sailing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, swimming
- the Costa Calida also has two of the best dive locations in Europe – the Islas Hormigas Marine Preserve and Cabo Cope Marine Preserve.
- Golf is featuring more and more nowadays with the established La Manga Club with it’s 3 championship golf courses being joined by others such as Hacienda del Alamo, Alto Real, La Serena, Mosa Trajectum, and the Polaris World golf courses
- explore inland the Sierra Espuna which offers walking and hiking trails, mountain biking and even parasailing and mountaineering if you are really energetic.
- The cities of Murcia, the holy city of Caravaca de la Cruz and the Port city of Cartagena are all excellent places to explore with shopping, wonderful architecture, fantastic fiestas and of course … shopping !
So as you can see, you can take a holiday in Spain on the Costa Calida at any time of year. A holiday on the Costa Calida out of season will give you a relatively quiet Spanish holiday near the sea, or will be an excellent time to take a Golf holiday in Spain – no soggy golf courses ! In season, the beach resorts really come to life but travel just a little inland and you will soon find yourself in wonderful quiet unspoilt countryside - a fantastic combination.