Beautiful park, I love the landscape design here! You may see squirrels, birds and rabbits if you…read moreare lucky. The park is open 24/7, dogs are allowed. There's a restaurant with sea views. Very good for running/walking. Close to the sea

I was lucky to visit this park on a sunny Sunday after a rainy week…read more Aka "Parque Reina de la Sal" (everything is named at least twice in Spain), the Los Balcones Park offers many things to do - picnic area, table tennis, basketball, bocce courts, dog park, playgrounds for kids and more. The upper part of the park has different varieties of trees and bushes planted, with some info about them on wooden plates. Two things to do next time I'm here: - Buy boules here: https://www.decathlon.es/3-bolas-ocasionales-estriadas-id_8322076.html and finally try to throw them - Bring this girl to the dog park: https://www.instagram.com/p/BpVYEgMAup9/ and see what happens Street parking available.

A park. There was a railway station here years ago, now out of service. The station building was…read moreused as an exhibition hall for a while but now everything is closed. What do you find here? 1) Skatepark. A place where teenagers with skateboards, BMXs, kick scooters and other toys on wheels hang out. 2) Roosters. Lots of them live in the park. Beautiful creatures, fun to look at. Try chasing them around :) 3) Playground for kids. Loved by smaller kids, they can play here forever. Prepare for the worst (2 hours?) and take a seat - there are some benches around. 4) "Via verde of Torrevieja", the greenway (former railway) starts here https://www.yelp.com/biz/via-verde-torrevieja A trail for cycling, running and walking along one of the two salt water lakes. 5) Museum of Salt Mining Industry. Free entrance. Open only on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, 10am - 2pm. Meaning it's basically always closed, I never visited. 6) Mini Golf Las Salinas (with a restaurant) is across the street https://www.yelp.com/biz/mini-golf-las-salinas-torrevieja-3 The nearest place to eat Conclusion: Popular among teenagers and parents with small kids. Safe. Kind of historical. I wish the city took better care of the park and its buildings - broken lamps should be fixed.

The park consists of two salt lakes: "Salina (Laguna) de La Mata" and "Salina (Laguna) de…read moreTorrevieja" (pink water). The area has a status of birds protection zone. Salina de La Mata (green/blue water) is great for walking, running, cycling and birds watching. The information center of the park (aka "Vistor's Centre" or "Centro de interpretación Parque Natural la Mata-Torrevieja" in Spanish) is located here: 38.025134, -0.658438. Salina de Torrevieja (pink water). You can get down to the lake to swim and bathe. Drive to Calle de las Lavandores (37.996916, -0.700556), park there, walk towards the lake (100-150 m). The salinity level is very high, you can float. Mud is in abundance. The best time to visit is from June to September. There's no infrastructure Update June-10-2017. I wrote a blog post about one of the two lakes (Salina de La Mata), check it out: http://andrewcherkashin.com/salina-la-mata-torrevieja/

The Albufera is much larger than I imagined. I think I only got to the northern tip of it. Mostly…read moreto find places with excellent arroces dishes. There is no denying the best rice comes out of this area, but the scenery and the wildlife is also equally amazing. I think next time Im here and it's not dumping buckets, I may just go get a kayak and troll around the central parts.

Most of my four stars are for the best sunset in Spain that you can enjoy here on the jetties. The…read morephotos provide all the info required for the sunsets here. The rest of the national park and beach is pretty bland. We stayed here for 5 nights and 1 was enough. May have been more interesting if the rice fields were in full swing and not just empty fields of mud. Apparently this is where Paella was born!!

La Pinada is a picnic area located in the middle Salina de La Mata nature reserve (one of the two…read moresalt water lakes in Torrevieja). There's a wooden walkway from the tourist center (Centro de Interpretación Parque Natural La Mata), it will take some 20 minutes to get there. Alternatively you can park near Cemeterio Municipal de La Mata, just 5 minutes walk from there. Wooden tables and benches are installed under the trees. There's a wooden observation tower (El Mirador) offering great views to the lake, especially at sunset. This place is never crowded, great if you want to combine your visit to the salina with a picnic. The area around the lake is great for cycling and running. No fire allowed and no toilets.

Beautiful sea facing park in Alicante. El Palmeral ("the palm grove") is home to some 7000 palm…read moretrees. Great landscape design with wooden sidewalks, bridges, ponds, waterfalls and fountains. There are facilities like sport area with outdoor exercise machines, open air theater, toilets and a cafe. Quiet in winter on weekdays, great for walks, runs and exercising. Clean, well kept and free to visit. Great for a picnic. Plenty of free parking around