Los Alcazares
Los Alcazares is in the region of Murcia and is situated on the shores of the Mar Menor. The area itself is known as the Costa Calida (Warm Coast), because of its costal location in the middle of Spain it has hot summers and mild winters. Los Alcazares is the largest town on the Mar Menor and probably the oldest. It has been a resort since the Roman times when they discovered the therapeutic benefits of the Mar Menor. The Mar Menor, with its high salt and iodine content, is a non-tidal lagoon separated from the Mediterranean by the La Manga Strip. The water is very shallow (it is only 7 metres deep at its deepest point) clean and clear. Being non-tidal and shallow it is ideally suited to children and adults alike. The beach directly in front of the apartment is cleaned every day by a municipal employee driving a tractor, if you closely at the pictures of the beach you can see the marks left by the tractors tyres.
Los Alcazares is where many Spanish choose to holiday and as a result during the months of July and August it can become quite lively. Because of this, it is still mainly a Spanish town. The prices charged by the local bars and restaurants reflect this, they don’t charge the tourist prices you expect to pay in more developed resorts. There are no high rise apartment blocks in the town, like you find in other resorts as there is a military airport nearby. The whole area of the Mar Menor has just been designated a National Park so any future development will be strictly controlled. Almost all of the properties on the beachfront are Spanish owned and a lot only used during the months of August and July. We were lucky to have bought our apartment within a week of it going on the market. We just happen to see it in May at the beginning of the holiday season. Since we have owned it we have not heard of another one coming up for sale.
Los Alcazares has all the amenities you would expect from a medium size town. There are a number of banks (with Cash machines), Shops and Ice cream parlours as well as Bars and Restaurants which cater for all tastes and budgets. There is a large medical centre and a number of English speaking doctors and dentists. Although it is on the whole a Spanish town there are number of urbanisations and developments on the outskirts of the town which cater for British, German and people from northern European countries. In these areas there are British owned Bars, Restaurants and Shops.
Within an hours drive of Los Alcazares, 29 new golf courses have either been built or are under construction/being developed. The area has been dubbed the Costa del Golf. The most famous course in the area is the La Manga club which is a 15 minute drive away. The Torre del Rame golf course has been developed by Los Alcazares council as a municipal course where anybody can play. It is less than a mile from our apartment. We do offer a golf club rental service and can arrange transport to any golf club you may wish to visit.
There is an excellent bus service which runs between the major towns in the area like Cartegena and Murcia. There are a couple of places in town where you can hire bicycles on a daily or weekly basis at a reasonable rate. During the summer months there is a ferry service which runs between Los Alcazares and one of the islands, where there are bars and restaurants.
The apartment is located less than 10 minutes away from Murcia airport (San Javier). The airport is served by a number of airlines flying from the UK on a daily basis.