Driving 30 minutes from Ciudad Quesada by A-7 highway, direction of Alicante, we will find Elche – the city of palm trees. There are around 300.000 palm trees in the city. They were brought there by the Arabs long time ago. Nowadays we can visit beautiful palm trees gardens in the center of the city.
One-day excursion to Elche:
– You can start with a visit to the tourist info office, where you will get a map and useful information about the city (if you go with small children, ask about “Ili Palmir” adventure);
– Behind the Tourist Info office there is “Parque Municipal“. You can’t visit Elche without having a walk there. It’s one of the biggest and the most beautiful park of the city;
– Really close to the park we will find basilica of Santa Maria, which is the main and the biggest church of Elche, you can visit it for free (going to the top of the tower costs 2 €);
– There are a lot of museums in the center of Elche but for one-day trip MAHE and MUPE are the most interesting ones. The first museum shows a history of the city and the visit there finishes into a beautiful castle. MUPE is a paleontological museum. You can see there some real dinosaur bones. Small children will really enjoy visit to this museum. Every Sunday morning you can enter to all the museums for free;
– Thinking about eating in the center, there are a lot of tapas restaurants with typical Spanish food. Just lose yourself among the streets and you will find a nice place to eat;
– During your one-day trip you can’t miss “Huerto del Cura” botanic garden. It’s a beautiful garden where you can find all kinds of palm trees from all over the world. The entrance is about 5 € but the visit is worth it.
There are more places to see, like the Arabic alleys of Raval, Museo del Palmeral, Calahorra, Arabic baths etc. But for one-day trip is enough.
