Elche is most known as the city of the Palms.
The city is located in the south of the town Alicante. Alicante is a part of the province Alicante.
The city offers a nice place to live and to visit.
It was important trough out the history. has a large history and was importance during the Moorish occupation.
The Palm tree park.
Fist, the Palm tree park is the largest “Palmeral Park” in Europe with 200 000 trees.
As a result that the palm groves have an international UNESCO award.
Tourist information.
In the center of city you can find the tourist information office.
Make a visit to the office for a good map and the correct list of opening times of the different things to visit.
The opening hours and the prices of the museums are changing depending on the summer or winter season.
Naturally , do not forget that in Spain the shops and museums can been closed for the siesta .
They take their siesta normally between 14.00 and 16.00 or even 17.00
The tourist information employees will surely recommend the Elche city walking route.
The walking route is a great introduction.
Or take the small tourist train.This is easy and great way to see the best sights of the city.
This is a great and easy way to see the best sights
The Palmeral Park.
Again , the Palmeral park is a park full of groves of date palms.
At the time of the Muslim occupation in the 8th century the date palms were planted.
The Palmeral park, with a great irrigation system, is an oasis. It is an example of the Arab practices on the Iberian peninsula.
After all the Palmeral of Elche is the largest of Europa. Presently on the second place is the Palmeral of the city of Orihuela.
In fact the palm groves has over 200 000 palm trees.
During your visit of Elche for the Palmeral Park you can visits the nice town and offers you a various choice of museums.
Archaeological and History Museum.
Indeed this museum is an award-winning museum. In the museum you learn more about the palm trees. Besides the museum is interactive and you can learn more about the long history of the town with Muslim, Roman and Iberian influences.
Elche Shopping
The next best of Elche is that the town has also fancy shopping malls.
One of the shopping malls is out-of-town and is called the l’Aljub.
In the town there is “El Corte Ingles” departemenet store.
One of the famous outlets for the locals, is the outlet of the Salvador Artesano shoe factory, a real must for the shoe adepts. The outlet is the large as a football field.
Cathedral of Elche.
Also knows as the Basilica de Santa Maria .
If you climb the steps of the roof of the Basilica of the Santa Maria, you can get a beautiful view over wonderful Elche end his Palm Tree Park.
It is built on the remains of the old mosque. When the Muslims were conquered the mosque was considered to the Christian faith and became the Santa Maria church.
It was rebuilt in the Gothic- Renaissance style. The current building, dating from 17th century, shows the influence of the Baroque.
Huerta del Cura.
More specifically ,a beautiful botanical garden full with a large range of Mediterranean plants.
I fact, the Huerta del Cura , the priest garden, has an area of 12 000 m2.
Below in the garden there is a large collection of cacti and palms trees from all over the world.
The largest and the most splendid tree to see is the Imperial Palm.
The Imperial Palm is a date palm with seven branches of the same trunk.
As a result that the beauty and the symmetry are unique. After all, It is named an Imperial Palm tree after the Empress of Austria “Sissi”.
Arab Bath Museum.
Presently , these Arab baths are a remains of an Arabic bathing house. These baths date from the 12th century. Each bath consisted of three rooms.The most popular rooms was the warm bath.
Now our saunas are built the same way today.
In the past it was made of stone slabs and supported by pillars between which hot air was passed.
Museum of contemporary art.
With a large selection of Spanish artists who are the representative figures of the vanguard of Valencian arts like among others Miro, Soria and Cronica.
La Alcudia Museum.
Now the “La Alcudia Museum” is situated where the Iberian bust of the “Dame of Elche” was discovered.
in fact the Dama de Elche is a stone bust. The bust was discovered in 1897 on the archaeological site at l’Alculdia. The dame of Elche is dating from the 4th century.
It was taken to France after is was found and shown in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
During the Franco’s government, Spain had to negotiate with the French government to return the bust to discovery place.
As a resilt that it was placed in…….. the Prado Museum in Madrid.
Meanwhile the people of Elche have asked for its return. In spite of the citizens have to live with a replica.
Palm Grove Museum.
Again the Palm Grove Museum shows the Moorish origin and the culture of the Palm Trees
Visitors house.
In brief , the visitors house is a presentation on the city , its history, culture , festivals…..
Municipal Park.
In particular , a beautiful park where you can enjoy the flora. Many locals come to walk , to talk and to relax.
Town Hall.
In fact , the Town Hall building is the oldest municipal house on this part of the Valencian province . So it is worth a visit.
Beaches .
At last , he town is located in the south of the Costa Blanca nearby the Mediterranean sea .
As a result, that it has around 10 km of shoreline with white sandy beaches.
Now, the beaches are surrounded by restaurants, ice cream kiosks, tapas bars and in the summer season a street market.
Presently the farmers offer directly their excellent products .
Part of the beaches is occupied with style 1950 villa’s . In this villa’s are mostly restaurants and accommodation .
At the most beaches there is life guard vigilance, a large parking possibility and wooden gangways.Because this wooden gangways connect the access to the road with the beaches.
In fact , there is also a regular bus service between the several beaches of Elche.
During the summer season , this beaches are loved by the Alicante people.
Not only for the superb quality of the azulblue water but also for it richness of the water fauna and Flora.
Nearby there is a Nature Reserve a natural wetland nearby Gran Alicant.-/ Santa Pola.
South of the municipal , there are also impressive strip of dunes. This dunes has a pine forest.
Access.
The best , the town is just 20 km from Alicante and El Altet , the airport of Alicante.
Indeed it is within the reach of major motorways like the AP-7.
As a result that it makes the access to and from the other cities like Murcia, Alicante, Benidorm, Santa Pola, Torrievieja, Orihuela …very easy.