Mar Menor: Europe's warmest lagoon, twenty minutes away

The Mar Menor is the largest saltwater lagoon in Europe, cut off from the Mediterranean by La Manga, a strip of sand twenty-odd kilometres long and in places only a hundred metres wide. Because it is shallow — five metres at its deepest — it warms up quickly and stays warm.

That makes it unusually forgiving water. There is no shelf to step off, barely any swell, and in spring and autumn it is often several degrees warmer than the open sea on the other side of the sandbar. Families with small children tend to end up here rather than on the Mediterranean beaches.

From the resort it is about twenty minutes by car to Los Alcázares, the closest town on the lagoon shore, which has a promenade, a Wednesday market and a run of beach restaurants.