Turisme d’Elx :: Routes

The Park, covering 2,496 ha., is located between the municipalities of Elx and Santa Pola. It is an area of saltpans (Bras del Port and Bonmatí), of saltwater ponds, and bordered by salt marshes and a strip of dunes and beaches. It was declared a Nature Park 1988 by the Valencian Regional Government and is on the RAMSAR Wetlands Convention lists and is classified as a Special Protection Area for Birds, or ZEPA.
More information on las Salinas.

How to arrive:

Take the Santa Pola road and at the N-332 Alicante-Cartagena crossroads, follow the signs for the Museo de la Sal or Salt Museum. The Saltpans reach inland along a strip running parallel to the coast as far as Elx’s municipal boundaries, where part of the salt marshes and saltpan estuaries are to be found.

Route One:

The route begins at the Salt Museum next to the former saltpans. Following a path that runs parallel to the dunes and beach, we can observe a large number of birds such as flamingos, avocets, black-winged stilts, little egrets, redshanks, plovers, black-tailed godwits, little terns, etc. The inlet channel taking sea water to the saltpans runs alongside the pathway. One kilometre from the starting point the route turns right, entering the dunes. In this area, the most representative fauna are reptiles such as the ocellated lizard, spiny-footed lizard and the large psammodromus, the Montpellier snake; mammals such as the shrew, the field mouse and birds such as chats and shrikes; there are also noteworthy colonies of beetle.

Route Two:

This route runs between the sea and the N-332, beginning by entering the salt marsh where the Platja Llissa residential area terminates. The first element we see is a former salt mill and the hulk of an old salt barge. The route takes us past the hills of salt and follows the salt marsh paths to a house where we turn towards the beach as far as the Braç del Port saltpans water outfall. The fauna in this area consists of reptiles and insects although we can also observe birds such as gulls, cormorants and herons.