Elche Costa Blanca, Spain
Elche Palm Grove, Altamira Palace, Basilica of Santa Maria & the sea on the horizon 16km to the east.
Elche Location
- The City of Elche is situated in the Costa Blanca, Spain, & about 15.5 miles (25 kilometres) and a 30-minute drive inland southwest of Alicante.
- Elche is Capital of the Municipality, Baix Vinalopó, which stretches to the coast and included the Airport Alicante-Elche (Aeroport d'Alacant-Elche Miguel Hernández)
Elche Introduction
- Elche is the third most populous city of the Valencian Region. Elche encompasses the entire range of attractions that the province has to offer its visitors: prehistory, history, natural riches, and the influence of its citizens on culture and traditions are all elements that are worthy of note in this modern, thriving and growing city.
- Elche is Elx in Valencian
Top Attractions in Elche
The Palm Grove (El Palmeral)
- Elche Top Attraction
- Europes Largest Palm Grove and a UNESCO site
- The Palm Grove is made up of 100s of orchards called huertos. Most of the Palms are Date Palms. There are also other fruit trees mainly citrus fruits.
- The 2 main areas of the Palmeral to visit are:
Municipal Park Elche
- The largest section of the Palmeral
- Free to visit
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Municipal Park Elche
Huerto del Cura Palm Grove & Garden
- The most beautiful section of the Palmeral
- Located on private land therefore there is a small entry fee to pay
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Huerto del Cura
Basilica Santa Maria Bell Tower
- Joint Number 2 in Elche
- Must See the View from the Roof
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Basilica Santa Maria Bell Tower
The Altamira Palace Fountain Plaza
- Surounded by more attractions
- Loved by kids
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Arab Baths
Calahorra Tower
- Defensive Tower
- Later Added to & converted into a Manor House
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CalaHorra Tower
Top Great Things to Do in Elche
The Altamira Palace Fountain Plaza (Plaza del Palacio y Sus Fuentes.)
- The Altamira Palace Plaza is very popular with attractions on all sides and in its centre:
- The Fountains are impressive and vary in the amount of water they shoot out , ranging from no flothrough low, medium to very stronwhen the jets are 3-4m high.
Calahorra Tower (Torre de la Calahorra)
- The Calahorra Tower is the main gateway into the Muslim City of Elche from Alicante
- It also acted as an Islamic defensive watch tower& the only tower of the city walls still standing.
- Built by the Almohads in the 12th century & rebuilt 2 centuries later.
Huerto del Cura Gardens (Jardin Huerto del Cura)
- Huerto del Cura Garden is best known known for the famous and very rare 7-branched Imperial Palm Tree, a biological mystery.
- Besides this magical wondrous palm, the park has fascinatingly numerous ponds with colourful fish swim below the marvellous reflections in the water.
- Also see many birds that can not be seen in the colder counties such as Britain both on the water, gardens and palms
- The Huerto del Cura Garden was declared a National Artistic Garden in 1943.
- Although there area 1000 palm trees there are many more interesting trees including mandarin, orange, bitter orange, grapefruit, lemon, Buddha’s hand, caviar lime, calamondin orange, kumquat, lime quat, citrus rosso, yuzu lime or citrus bergamot
Palm Grove (Palmeral de Elche)
- The Elche Palm Grove is the largest palm park in Europe
- Planted in Roman Times, then formally laid out by the Muslim Moors, who also vastly improved the irrigation system by building canals and water channels to distribute water from the River Vindalopo
- A World heritage site
Visitors Centre (Centro de Visitantes)
- Nicknamed The Egg because of it's shape of 4 white domes.
- Originally used for the Archaeological Museum, transferred in 1984 to Palace of Altamira in 1984
- After housing the bust of Lady of Elche statue for 2 weeks it became the Museum of the White Palm and as an exhibition hall.
- From 2003 it became a visitor centre with touch screen audio visual displays of the City of Elche
- Opposite the entrance is a narrow water feature enhanced with a row of bushes on either side
Lady of Elche (Dama de Elche) Statues
Footwear City of Spain
- Elche is the centre of the footwear industry in Spain.
- There are 1000 shoe factories in & near the city, many of these are open to the public and have outlet shops, including Salvador Artesano, one of the biggest shoe outlets in Europe.
- For price, quality, choice, the factory outlets are well worth a visit.
Multiaventura Elche Adventure Park
Video of Multiaventura Elche Adventure Park
- Adult & Kids sections
- Address Av. del Travalon, 31, Elche
Nit de L’Albà Elche's Famous Fireworks display
- Held at midnight on the 13th of August.
- To celebrate Eche's patron saint.
- The display is awe inspiriting with.
- 90,000 rockets set off from all over the City of Elche
- 2,000 kilos of Gunpowder. That's the same weight of explosive as used in the UK's biggest Grand Slam bomb, nicknamed the earth quake bomb, used in World War
- Then comes the exceptionally massive firework The Palm of the Virgin, set off from the Santa Maria bell tower roof
Moors and Christians festival (Fiesta de Moros y Cristianos)
- The festival takes place from August 7 through to August 11.
San Juan Baptist Church
Santa Lucia Convent
Town Hall in Elche
The Town Hall in Elche includes this building whose arch was once the main gateway in the city walls for the road to Alicante.
Tourist Information Office
Tourist Train outside Information Office Elche
Located at the South West corner of the Municiple Park
Address: Plaza Parque,3 03202 Elx/Elche
Elche Museums
Archaeological and History Museum of Elche. Museo Arqueológico y de Historia de Elche (MAHE)
The entrance to the museum is at the western end of The Castle square
Located inside the Altamira Palace
Address: Diagonal del Palau, 7. 03202 Elche-Elx, Elche, Alicante - Alacant (Region of Valencia)
Nativity Museum (Museu del Betlem)
Created by the makers of nativity scenes.
- The City of Bethlehem is reborn with it's people & city square in miniature
- Various Nativity scenes
- Free
Located at Plaça de la Fruita nº31, in front of the Central Market and behind the Town Hall.
Plaza de la Fruita, 31. Elche
Palaeontological Museum (Museo Paleontologico de Elche)
(Molí del Real)
- Mill used to be powered by a head of water via water channel from 10 kilometres upriver
- Impressive building but closed to the public although owned by the council.
Transport to or in Elche
Elche Tourist Train (El Trenet)
- Starting from the front of the Tourist Information Office
- Leaves on the hour from 10am to 5pm
- A 45 minute tour of Elche's tourist sites including:
- Municipal Park largest section of the Palmeral
- Part of Historical Walk Route
- 4 more stops
Route
Oficina de turismo (Parada principal), Cases de la Mare de Deu, entrada al parque municipal por la puerta situada junto a la oficina de turismo, recorrido interior por el parque municipal, atravesando la zona de juegos infantiles, salida por la puerta situada junto al Molí del Real, Av.Alcalde Vicente Quiles, Paseo de la Estación, C/ Fatxo, C/ Uberna, C/ Trinquet, Corredora, Puente Ortices, Plaza Constitución, C/ Almórida, Porta de la Morera, C/ Beniardá, Camino de la Almazara, C/ Curtidores, C/ Eugenio D’Ors, Porta de la Morera, C/ Daoiz, C/ Doctor Jiménez Díaz, C/ Luis Gonzaga Llorente, C/ Maestro Albéniz hasta la parada principal junto a la oficina de Turismo
Train Stations
- Both railway stations are operated by ADIF-RENFE
Elche-Parque Station
- The C1 train route runs from Alicante to
Elche/Elx Carrus station
Av. De la Llibertat, 03201 Elx, Alicante, Spain
Local Bus Services Subus
Long Distance Bus Services Alsa
- ALSA bus routes from Alecante are about 30 minutes long.
- 1A - El Altet Airport t - Business Park- Timetable PDF Summer
- 1B - Elche Business Park - Torrellano -El Altet Airport (Alicantre Airport) -- Arenales del Sol Timetable PDF Winter
