Calblanque Regional Park
Tucked behind the overdeveloped La Manga strip yet somehow still pristine, Calblanque is a 3,000-hectare coastal park of fossil dunes, salt flats, Phoenician silver-mining ruins and a succession of wild, sandy coves that look like they belong to a Mediterranean fifty years ago. There are no beach bars, no sunbed rentals and no noise — just clear turquoise water and juniper-covered cliffs.
The Beaches and the Water
The park's coastline stretches for about 13 kilometres and contains at least a dozen named beaches, the finest of which are Playa de Calblanque, Playa de Paredes and the tiny, cliff-framed Cala Larga. The seabed is rocky in places and the water exceptionally clear — visibility of 15 metres is not unusual — making it excellent for snorkelling without any equipment more serious than a mask and fins.
The fossil dunes at the western end of the park are a geological curiosity: ancient sand dunes that solidified into pale sandstone over millennia, creating a lunar landscape of rippled rock above the waterline. Walking through them at sunrise, when the light turns everything amber, is quietly extraordinary.
Wildlife and History
Calblanque sits within the larger Espacios Naturales del Mar Menor protected area and is one of the most important nesting sites on the Spanish Mediterranean coast for the Kentish plover and the Audouin's gull. The salt flats at the western end attract flamingos during migration in spring and autumn.
The hillsides above the coast are scattered with the ruins of Roman and Phoenician silver and lead mines — Cartagena's ancient wealth came largely from this sierra. A signed walking route, the Ruta Minera, loops through the ruins and offers elevated views back down to the coves below.
More of Murcia
Discover where to stay, what to do and the best deals for your trip.
Explore Murcia →
