La Marina travel information and video

La Marina

La Marina is a small coastal village on the Costa Blanca, located between Santa Pola and Alicante to the north, Guardamar and Torrevieja to the south. La Marina is approximately 30 minutes drive from Alicante airport.

The village has a range of shops, bars, banks etc. and has a regular bus service north and south along the coast.

Natural Zone
The area boasts an exceptionally attractive coastal landscape for tourists. The bathing season starts in spring and lasts until autumn.

The natural environment combines great expanses of beach with spectacular rolling dunes; the conditions are perfect for the abundance of rare flora and fauna, which exist here in abundance. The area is a nature lovers paradise.

Beaches


The sandy beach at La Marina stretches some 17 kilometres from Santa Pola to Torrevieja.

Facilities


There is a large urbanisation (town) situated about a mile back into the hills with many shops, bars, restaurants and a municipal swimming pool, amongst other facilities.

Architecture


La Marina consists of various styles of terraced houses such as Josefinas, Finas and Rositas and detached houses, such as Lolas and Rosas. The newer villas have highly imaginative names as Fortuna, Nadine, Alicia or Oceania.

Ambience
La Marina has developed its own charm and in the summer it pulsates with life. During August many Spanish families spend their holidays here with picnic gatherings in the pine woods close to the beach.

Night-life
La Marina enjoys some interesting night-time pastimes, including foam parties and venues offering live music.

Eating out
Visitors can enjoy a choice of Spanish or international cuisine, enjoy a glass of sangria whilst taking in some beautiful live Spanish music and watch the beautiful sunsets. A trip to La Marina is not complete without a visit to a Spanish Bodega, where one can try one of the many different wines with a typical Tapa from the area. 


Leisure & recreation
Aside from beach activities, La Marina and its surrounding area offers varied sport and leisure activities. You can rent bicycles, play mini-golf, take a diving course, walk across the dunes or salt-flats areas or just enjoy the local countryside and natural environment. Horse riding excursions, quad hire and balloon flights are also to hand.

Local Markets
There is a weekly market in La Marina and in most of the local surrounding towns and villages. In the village the market takes place every week on Thursdays and again on Sundays and is situated in the village centre.

The ‘Mercadillo’ in nearby Santa Pola is very popular and takes place on a Sunday, as does the biggest weekly market in the region, that of Campo de Guardamar. This market offers local fruit and vegetables, as well as shoes made in Spanish traditional workshops, craft work, clothes, leather articles and of course a wide variety of culinary delights.

Excursions
If you want to get away from the beach for a day, take the coastal road N-332 into the beautiful rural countryside, or up into the mountains, where you can enjoy wonderful natural landscapes and great views.

A short car journey will also take you to the nearby cities of Torrevieja, Alicante and Murcia and the villages of San Fulgencio, La Marina-Pueblo, Rojales, Almoradí, Crevillente, Dolores and Catral are all worth a visit, where you can take a stroll in the historical and charming old towns, drive along rural roads, past oranges and lemon groves and call into a local artesan store where you will be able to pick up a traditional souvenir: hand-made jewellery, fans, wine, ham and olive oil.

Climate
The Costa Blanca enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate, with cool sea breezes in summer and protection by surrounding mountains against the cold North winds in winter. The area averages nearly 3,000 hours of sunshine each year and the average temperature easily exceeds 20 degrees.

In 1986 the World Health Organisation recommended the climate of the area as one of the most equitable in the world - neither too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter. On average it can boast 325 sunny days each year making it an ideal all year round destination.