Walk through the Municipal Park and the Palm Grove orchards

What it is

The Elche Palm Grove is a set of date-palm orchards irrigated by channels since Islamic times, a World Heritage Site since 2000. The Municipal Park is the most central public orchard: free entry, next to the Tourist Info in Plaza del Parque and five minutes from the basilica. It is open from 7:00 to 21:00 from November to March, from 7:00 to 23:00 from April to October and until 23:45 in August. From here you can link up with the Altamira Palace and the orchards that border the Vinalopó riverbed.

What the park is like

It covers six hectares and brings together the orchards of El Colomer, Real, Mare de Déu and Baix. Most of it was bequeathed in 1661 by its owner, Nicolás Caro, to the Virgin of the Assumption, patron saint of Elche, who is still its owner; the City Council looks after it. It was the city's first public garden: it opened in 1946 with 20,000 square metres, and the Hort de Baix, the last addition, came in 1960. As well as date palms there are other palms, bougainvilleas, ficus, araucarias, magnolias, Elche poplars and even the rare African tulip tree.

Corners to look for

The Molí del Real is an 18th-century toll mill that worked with a drop from the Mayor irrigation channel; its façade facing the Vinalopó keeps arches and buttresses. The Visitor Centre, which people call "the egg" for its white, rounded shapes, is the only pavilion left from the regional exhibition with which the park opened in 1946. La Rotonda is an open-air amphitheatre, next to the bandstand from the 1980s. The Hort de Baix, with its staircase, becomes an open-air dance hall during the August festivities.

With children

The dovecote recalls the name of the El Colomer orchard, and feeding the pigeons is what the little ones like most. There are fountains and ponds, one of them with ducks and swans. In the centre of the park there is a café-restaurant with a terrace, and the tourist office is next to the south entrance, from where the guided tour of Elche leaves. On the way out, the Altamira Palace is opposite.