Five things to do within an hour of Roldán

Cartagena (35 minutes). A natural harbour the Carthaginians founded and the Romans expanded, with a 1st-century theatre that was only rediscovered in 1988 and sits under a museum built into the hillside.

San Pedro del Pinatar salt flats (30 minutes). Boardwalks over working salt pans with a resident flamingo population, plus the mud baths people have been coating themselves in for a century.

Torre-Pacheco market (10 minutes). Friday mornings, and the one to go to if you want produce rather than souvenirs. Cabo de Palos (40 minutes) is a small fishing port under a lighthouse with the best seafood on this stretch of coast. Murcia city (30 minutes) has the baroque cathedral façade and the tapas streets behind it.