What to see in Santa Pola

Santa Pola has lived off the sea since Roman times, when today's harbour operated as Portus Ilicitanus, the outlet to the sea for nearby Ilici. The first documented mention of the medieval settlement dates from 1275, under the name Cap de l'Aljub port, and the Castillo-Fortaleza that still presides over the town centre was built from 1557 on the orders of the Duke Bernardino de Cárdenas to defend the coast against Barbary raids; it was from this same port, in 1609, that much of the local Morisco population embarked when expelled toward North Africa. Several theories explain the town's name, from a derivation of "Santa Paula" to a legend placing the landing of the Apostle Paul on the neighbouring island of Tabarca.

Salt flats and fishing

The Salinas Nature Reserve, covering close to 2,470 hectares, combines salt extraction that has continued since the late 19th century with a protected habitat important for birds such as flamingos and black-winged stilts. The fishing port, operating at its current site since 1911, still runs one of the leading fish auctions on the Alicante coast, though today's catches fall well short of the levels recorded in the 1970s, when the fleet numbered more than fifteen hundred sailors working as far as the Canary Islands. The Museo del Mar preserves that fishing and salt-making history, with models of traditional boats and an explanation of the stages of salt production, from flooding the ponds to raking the finished crystals.

Gateway to Tabarca

Santa Pola is also the shortest departure point for Tabarca island, barely nine kilometres off the coast; boats to the only inhabited islet in the Comunitat Valenciana leave from the fishing harbour for much of the year, which makes Santa Pola the usual base for anyone visiting Tabarca without staying overnight there. From the Atalayola lighthouse, on the cape of the same name, much of this stretch of coast comes into view.

With close to 39,700 registered residents and tourist capacity of around 100,000 beds across hotels and apartments, Santa Pola's population multiplies in summer, and the town holds several sea-related festivals through the year, including the Virgen del Carmen procession every 16 July. The municipality is split between a sierra to the north, a central plain, and a marshland zone to the south next to the salt flats, giving it a notable range of landscapes within a fairly small area.