San Pedro Del Pinatar

San Pedro del Pinatar is the northernmost town on the Mar Menor – the lagoon on the Costa Cálida in Murcia – and on the border with Alicante.

With both the warm waters of the Mar Menor and the Mediterranean to offer, plenty of lively cultural activities and abounding natural resources this area is perfect for outdoor adventurers.

With a name meaning St Peter of the Pine Woods, it’ll come as no surprise that you’ll find a delicate balance between the cultural and natural world here. From excellent amenities to the warm, shallow beaches, San Pedro has been a popular destination town for royalty and noblemen since the area became a designated natural health cure in the nineteenth century.

Beaches like Playa de la Torre, Llana beach and El Mojon face the Mediterranean Sea head on, and offer excellent water sports facilities. By contract, the Mar Menor beaches, protected by a bank of sand, are perfect for bathers. Las Charcas are warm lakes where people take restorative mud baths. The Salinas y Arenales is a coastal nature reserve of salt flats and sand dunes where migratory birds such as flamingos stop in.

Salt has been farmed in San Pedro Del Pinatar since Roman settlers arrived, which combined with fishing, have made it a prosperous area. There’s a small port and many Spanish-owned second homes. Since the influx of international tourists, the permanent population has more than doubled. There’s rich bounty: the plains in Murcia are fertile with fruit, vegetables, nuts, vines, and rice. There is a regular fish market in Lo Pagán, a weekly Monday market and a periodic flea market nicknamed El Sal. The popular festival, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, celebrates the bond between the Pinatarenses (locals) and the sea where people drop carnations into the water in memory of seafarers who didn’t make it back to port.