Región de Murcia, an old port, the Mar Menor and an unbuilt coast.

The Región de Murcia is a small, single-province autonomous community between Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha and the Valencian Community. For anyone travelling from the rest of Spain it has three things you will not find together anywhere else: Cartagena, a port city with three thousand years of history on show; the Mar Menor, a saltwater lagoon separated from the Mediterranean by the sandbar of La Manga; and Calblanque, a stretch of protected coast without a single building. The climate is dry and mild almost all year, and the cooking lives on rice, market-garden produce and fish.

Where should you start?

With Cartagena and Calblanque. In Cartagena, the Roman Theatre Museum, designed by Rafael Moneo, leads through tunnels to a theatre for about 7,000 people that lay buried under the upper district. The Castillo de la Concepción, reached by a panoramic lift, gives the best view of the natural harbour, and the tourist boat tours the dock between castles and coastal batteries. Everything is done on foot from the centre. Half an hour away, the Calblanque, Monte de las Cenizas y Peña del Águila Regional Park holds long beaches of golden sand, fossil dunes and salt pans. A weekend is enough for both.

What about the interior?

Half an hour from Murcia, the Ricote Valley and the Archena Spa combine thermal spring pools, gentle rafting on the Segura and Morisco villages among lemon trees. An hour along the Northwest motorway, Caravaca de la Cruz has a Baroque basilica inside a Templar castle and holds the Wine Horses race every 2 May. Both are Sunday outings from Murcia, Alicante or Albacete.

How do you get there?

By car, the region is well connected by motorway: Murcia is about four hours from Madrid and an hour from Alicante, and Cartagena is about 40 minutes from Murcia. Between Murcia and Cartagena there is an Interbus coach and a Renfe train, so the port city can be visited without a car. The region's airport is Región de Murcia International, in Corvera, between the two cities. For the coast and the natural areas, a car is almost essential, except in summer at Calblanque, where you enter on a bus from Los Belones.

When should you go?

From March to June and from September to November. In those months temperatures are mild, museums have long opening hours and the Calblanque beaches are almost empty. In July and August the heat is intense inland and in the cities, the coast fills with holidaymakers and car access to Calblanque is cut off from 8:00 to 20:30. In winter the coast stays mild, although some services, such as Cartagena's tourist boat, close in January and February.

What do you eat?

The coast's signature dish is the caldero: rice cooked in a fish stock from the Mediterranean and the Mar Menor, served with alioli, which in Cabo de Palos and Cartagena is almost a religion. The Cartagena area adds salted fish, michirones (dried broad beans) and vegetables from the Campo de Cartagena, and for coffee, the asiático, with condensed milk, brandy, Licor 43, cinnamon and lemon, served in its own glass. Wines and cheeses from the Campo de Cartagena go alongside.

How do you combine it with other destinations?

From Cartagena, the Mar Menor and La Manga are half an hour away. From Murcia, the Sierra de Cazorla is about three hours away via the north of Granada, and Cabo de Gata, in Almería, a little over two hours along the Mediterranean motorway: both have their page under Andalusia. From Alicante, Cartagena is a comfortable Sunday outing.