The Magical Town of Elche

Elche is the capital of Baix Vinalopo District; this city is also Alicante Province’s second biggest offering a charming destination for tourists. It is located at the Valencian Autonomous Community.

History of Elche

This city lies in the Spanish Costa Blanca region with a prosperous history that goes way back to Iberian times; hence, it offers plenty of interesting historical sites.
It is called City of Palms for its famous expansive palm trees called the Palmeral. Elche is honored to be credited with the only palm forest that still exists in Europe with more than 10,000 palm trees; many of them are actually date palms. The expansive site of over 3.5 square kilometers was originally planted by Phoenicians at 6th century BC. However, the Moors designed and cultivated the grove sometime during 8-13th centuries.

The most spectacular forest sight has to be the Imperial Palm with seven stems in a Candelabra shape. Today, many such groves are developed into beautiful parks and gardens. The groves are still being watered by the River Vinalopó irrigation system which was designed at the 10th century. Today, this forest is declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Elche’s Mystery Play is also very popular during its annual performance. UNESCO has declared it as the 2001 Oral and Intangible Heritage masterpiece. Its play is a 15th century sacred program with lyrics. This is the only medieval religious theatre of Europe.

Interesting Sights

Elche has many museums for you to feast your eyes on like the Municipal Festa, Pucol Agricultural and La Alucida museums. They showcase many rare artifacts that will amaze you. Besides museums, there are popular ancient monuments found in Torre de la Calahorra, the Town Hall, Santa Maria Basillica and Torre de Calendura. For a taste of nature, refreshing sights await at El Honda and Clot de Galvany nature parks.

Elche offers many superb white beaches found at La Marina, El Altet, El Penet and El Carabassi as well as Arenals del Sol; all have excellent water sports facilities.
Fiestas are vibrantly celebrated at Elche such as the Virgin Arrival, The Hallelujas, Palm Sunday and Nit del Alba.
For shopping, Elche offers the best of European footwear as one major footwear producers in Europe.

Gastronomy

The city offers great Mediterranean cuisine at its best with strings of restaurants whipping up international and local cuisine.
Its easily accessible ferienwohnung spanien location makes Elche a popular Costa Blanca tourist destination for many Europeans. It is only an hour away from Alicante and half an hour from Benidorm to be a major tourist resort on Costa Blanca’s shores.

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