Mar Menor Area Murcia Spain La Manga

Mar Menor (little sea in spain) is a beautiful touristic place, in the south-east of the of Murcia, in Spain, separated from the Mediterranean sea by La Manga, a sandbar 22km in length and with a variable width from 100 to 1200m.

When you are thinking in spend a holidays weekend in spain, in mar menor and la manga, you will find the most amazing place to enjoy.

Its relatively high salinity, which aids floatation, and remarkable sporting infrastructures make this one of the most popular places in Europe for the practice and training of all kinds of water sports.

It belongs to four municipalities: Cartagena, Los Alcazares, San Javier and San Pedro del Pinatar. With a surface area of nearly 170km², a coastal length of 70km, and warm and clear water which does not exceed 7m in depth, it is "the largest swimming pool in the world" according to the opinions of the famous swimmer and Hollywood actress Esther Williams.

In 1994 the Mar Menor was included on the list of the Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands. The Mar Menor is also part of a Specially Protected Area of Mediterranean Importance.

La Manga del Mar Menor (The Sleeve of the Minor Sea) is a resort town in Murcia, Spain. It should not be confused with the nearby La Manga Club resort, known for hosting numerous football clubs from all over the world during the winter months. La Manga Cup has been staged every year since 1999.

 La Manga is a narrow piece of land with a width that varies between 30 m and 500m. It is cut off by natural channels that keep the two seas in contact with each other; the so-called golas allow water from the Mediterranean into the lake. As such, the space was untouched until the 60s, when La Manga was discovered as a tourist resort and underwent a transformation which included the urbanisation of the area and the construction of tourist infrastructures.