Elche day trip: Europe’s largest palm grove, the Huerto del Cura and the basilica, 40 minutes away

The palms

The Moors laid out the grove as an irrigated farm in the 10th century, and the pattern of plots and channels survives. The free way in is the Parque Municipal by the river, a shady public garden under the palms; the famous way is the Huerto del Cura, a private garden with the seven-trunked Imperial Palm, cacti, ponds and peacocks, roughly €6 to €8. The Hort del Xocolater and the palm museum in the Huerto de San Plácido explain how the trees are climbed and the dates harvested.

The old town

Everything is within ten minutes’ walk: the Basilica of Santa María with its blue-domed tower (climb it), the Moorish Calahorra tower, the Altamira palace housing the MAHE museum with Iberian, Roman and Moorish finds, the Arab baths, and the Plaça de Baix with its cafés. Sundays most municipal museums are free. The Misteri d’Elx, a sung medieval mystery play staged inside the basilica on 14 and 15 August, is UNESCO-listed too; rehearsals in the preceding days are easier to get into.

Getting there and lunch

Forty minutes from Punta Prima on the AP-7 and A-7. Park under the Parque Municipal or at the Traspalacio car park. Lunch in the old town: arroz con costra (rice baked with an egg crust) is the Elche dish, and dates come with everything. The shoe outlets on the ring road are worth an hour for Spanish leather at factory prices.