Costa Calida/Murcia

The Costa Cálida is the approximately 250 km stretch of Mediterranean coastline of the Spanish province of Murcia. This region has a micro-climate which features comparatively hot mean annual temperatures (and hence its name, "Warm Coast") and a relative degree of aridity (precipitation averaging less than 34 cm annually).

The Costa Cálida extends from El Mojón in the north near the province of Alicante, to near the municipality of Águilas in the south bordering on the region of Almería province.

The northern end of this coastline includes the Mar Menor ("Little Sea"), a coastal saltwater lagoon which at around 170 km2 is Europe's largest. The Mar Menor is separated from the Mediterranean by a 22km-long spit of land called La Manga, on which most of the tourism development for the region has been constructed.

Cartagena and Mazarrón are two other important coastal towns in the region. The Costa Cálida is the coastline of the province of Murcia, including the Mar Menor, a vast, near-landlocked salt-water lagoon. Its attractions for visitors include the fact that it has largely escaped the overdevelopment which has spoiled much of the Spanish Mediterranean. Even in Murcia's most exploited area, the Mar Menor, international tourism is limited to La Manga, the strip of land, more or less a sandspit, which separates it from the Mediterranean, and La Manga Club, the enormous tourist complex next to it. Part of Spain's Levante region, the Costa Cálida's 250 kilometres run from El Mojón beach in the north, nearly in the province of Alicante, down to Águilas in the south-west, before becoming the Costa Almeriense. And the Costa Cálida shares many of the features associated with Almería, such as its high temperatures (hence the name), its 315 sunny days in the year, and its aridity. The Costa Cálida receives less than 34 cm of rain a year, so water has historically been in shortage, though you wouldn't think so from the number of golf courses in the region.

Águilas.

The last town in Murcia before you enter Almería, noteworthy for its beaches, its historic carnival and its high average annual temperature (25ºC). Lorca. Yes, Lorca is very much an inland city, but a number of fine beaches fall within its territory as a borough, especially those to the south of Cabo Cope (yes, Cape Cope, I'm not making it up).

Mazarrón.

An attractive little place within the municipal boundaries of which lie most of Murcia's nudist beaches.

Cartagena

includes a great deal of the Murcian Mediterranean as well as the south of the Mar Menor and of La Manga, including the fishing village turned resort at Cabo de Palos, at the southern end of La Manga.

Mar Menor

The Mar Menor is a huge (135 square kilometres) salt-water lagoon, separated from the Mediterranean by the 24 kilometre long La Manga del Mar Menor. The average depth of the Mar Menor is four metres and its maximum seven which, combined with its great extension, means that the seabed slopes very gradually, and you have to get several hundred metres in before the water is of any depth. The Mar Menor's salinity, furthermore, provides buoyancy so, all in, all it is one of the safest places to swim in the world. The mineral-rich waters of the Mar Menor are supposed to have therapeutic effects, so the area has a significant spa tourism industry. The sludge in the salt pans of Lo Pagán to the north of the Mar Menor is also credited with beneficial effects on the health, so there are often dozens of people wallowing in it at any one time (plus, it cools you down in the August heat).

El Mojón

A former fishing village on San Pedro del Pinatar's coast, now a small, entirely modern resort with a fabulous beach, the last one in Murcia before you enter the province of Alicante in the south of the Valencia region.