Free Guided Walk at the Clot de Galvany, among Pools, Dunes and Bunkers

The Clot de Galvany is a coastal wetland between Arenales del Sol and Gran Alacant that Elche saved from drainage and development in the late 1970s. Today it is a municipal natural site, a site of Community importance and a special protection area for birds. Every Sunday and public holiday, at 10:00, the site's monitors lead a free guided walk of about two hours and about 2 km. It is the simplest way to see birds with someone to point them out, without paying and close to the beach.

Pools, saltmarsh and two bunkers

The site brings together several landscapes in little space: pools, scrub and hillocks, saltmarsh, fixed dunes with replanted pine wood and old farming terraces with carob and olive trees. It has two itineraries. The Wetland one leaves the dunes, crosses the terraces, passes the first bunker and reaches viewpoints over the artificial pool and the central one, with the option of entering the saltmarsh or returning by the hides. The Hill and Slope one climbs to the low pine woods, to the best-preserved area of saltmarsh and to viewpoints towards El Altet, the Balsares and Alicante, with Civil War bunkers and trenches.

From the hides you look for threatened species such as the marbled teal, the white-headed duck and the ferruginous duck, along with little egrets and black-winged stilts. Two of the five kinds of wild orchid described in the Comunitat Valenciana also grow on the site.

The Sunday walk

It leaves at 10:00 on Sundays and public holidays, lasts about two hours and covers about 2 km. There is no need to register if you are a group of fewer than ten people; Visitelche speaks of a maximum of 30 participants. On weekdays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays, the site receives schools, associations and groups with prior reservation, at the nature classroom, on 966 658 028 or through its website.

The classroom is open to the public in winter, from September to June, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 9:00 to 14:00; in July and August, every day from 7:30 to 13:00. It closes on 1, 5 and 6 January and on 24, 25 and 31 December.

Getting there and rules

By car, from Arenales del Sol follow avenida San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the beach promenade, towards Gran Alacant: the entrance is at the end of the avenue, on the right, along a dirt track. Buses from Elche and the airport reach Arenales del Sol. Inside, pets, bicycles and running are not allowed; you cannot eat outside the recreation area and you must stay on the marked paths and keep quiet. Afterwards, Arenales del Sol beach is a step away.