Orange Blossom Season in the Ricote Valley

What it is

Every spring, for a few short weeks, the citrus trees in the orchards of Ulea, Villanueva del Río Segura, Ojós and Ricote come into flower, and the valley smells of orange blossom. The tourist consortium organises guided visits, walks among the orchards, craft and perfume workshops and cooking experiences with lemon on those days, and the villages sell jams, lemonade and orange blossom water.

The star is the lemon blossom. The Región de Murcia blossom leaflet places it in April and May, and presents it as the third of the four blossoms in the regional calendar: after the Mula almond blossom in February and the Cieza peach blossom in February and March, and before the Moratalla lavender in summer. If you like these getaways, you can link the orange blossom with the others.

What happens on those days

According to the programme published by the Región de Murcia, each spring the four villages put on activities such as yoga among the lemon trees, farm tourism with excursions and visits to citrus farms, tastings of paparajotes (the sweet made from a battered lemon leaf), and visits to the viewpoints. The consortium adds workshops on perfume, floral waters, traditional sweets and recipes with citrus fruit. Dates and prices for each activity change from year to year and are published in the calendar on the Ricote Valley website; some are free and others are paid or require booking.

At the tourist office you can stamp the blossom passport and they give you a small souvenir for each one.

How to see it

From the valley's viewpoints and along the orchard paths between the villages. The date changes with the weather each year: check the consortium's calendar before you go.

To explore on foot, the consortium's website has several routes that pass among the lemon trees: the water route, with weirs, irrigation channels, waterwheels and old washhouses; the viewpoints route, with spots such as La Asomá in Villanueva or El Rincón in Ricote, and the bridges route in Ojós, beside the river. Ricote also has the viewpoints of La Calera, Fuente Buena and the Cabecico de la Doctrina, with views over the terraces, the irrigation channels and the Segura.

Good practice

Lemon groves in flower are working crops and farms, not a park. The Región de Murcia asks visitors not to touch flowers or fruit, not to pull off or cut branches, to respect the people working in the fields, not to leave litter, plastic or cigarette butts, and to drive and park considerately on the tracks, which are narrow and used by farmers.

Where to stay and eat

To sleep close to the orchards, La Joya del Valle de Ricote has apartments on a citrus farm in Villanueva del Río Segura, and the Balneario de Archena, a few minutes away, adds hotels and thermal pools. For a meal, El Sordo in Ricote and Jardines de Villanueva in Villanueva del Río Segura are both inside the blossom area.