Palmeral of Elche (UNESCO)

The Palmeral of Elche is Europe's largest palm grove, with over 200,000 date palms in the gardens around the town, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Its best-known garden is the Huerto del Cura, home to the seven-armed Imperial Palm. Good starting points are the Municipal Park in the centre or the easy Ruta del Palmeral, about 2.6 km long.

The Palmeral of Elche is the largest palm grove in Europe: according to the Spanish Wikipedia it holds 200,000 to 300,000 palms across some 500 hectares. Date palms were grown here as early as Iberian times, around the 5th century BC, but the grove's present layout dates from the Muslim period, after the Arabs founded the new town. The orchards (huertos) are watered by a network of channels fed by the Acequia Mayor, which distributed water among rectangular plots bordered by rows of palms. According to UNESCO, the protected area covers 144 hectares, 67 orchards and about 45,000 palms, inscribed on the World Heritage List on 30 November 2000. The best-known garden is the Huerto del Cura, covering about 13,000 m² and declared a National Artistic Garden in 1943. It holds some of the grove's oldest specimens, and some of the grove's palms are more than 300 years old. Its most famous tree is the Imperial Palm, with seven candelabra-like arms, named after Empress Elisabeth (Sissi), who visited the garden in 1894. Besides its roughly 1,000 palms, the garden has pomegranates, citrus trees and a cactus collection in the La Rocalla rock garden. In central Elche lies the Municipal Park (Parc Municipal), one of the best-known parts of the grove, with paths, fountains and a playground. Visitors praise the well-kept paths, the ducks, the pigeons and the children's play area, and reviews also mention a pigeon tower and the cooler air in the shade of the palms. One visitor writes that the northern part of the park, across the road, is less well maintained than the southern part. The easy Ruta del Palmeral is about 2.6 km long, can be done on foot or by bike, and starts and ends at the Huerto de San Plácido. This orchard houses the Palm Grove Museum, set in a 19th-century house, which explains the grove's origins, history and uses. The palms produce dates as well as white palm fronds, which are sent all over the Iberian Peninsula for decoration and Palm Sunday processions.