Salinas de San Pedro del Pinatar

The salt pans at San Pedro have been worked since Roman times and still are, with seawater led through a series of evaporation ponds that concentrate it until salt crystallises. The high salinity supports brine shrimp, and those feed flamingos, which are present in numbers through much of the year alongside avocets, stilts, terns and waders on migration, making this one of the better birdwatching sites on the Murcian coast. The regional park also covers the Encanizadas, traditional reed fish traps, and a strip of dune and beach on the Mediterranean side. On the Mar Menor shore, the black mud has a long-standing therapeutic reputation, and people coat themselves in it, dry in the sun and rinse in the lagoon, a practice the authorities regulate.

What you actually see

• The salt pans - working evaporation ponds in shifting colours.
• The flamingos - large numbers feeding on the brine shrimp.
• The mud baths - visitors coating themselves in black lagoon mud.
• The dune strip - protected sand between the pans and the Mediterranean.

When to go

March to June and September to November for birds and comfortable walking; summer brings crowds to the beaches and mud baths, and heat on the exposed pans. Flamingo numbers vary with water levels.

Honest expectations

The mud baths are informal and the authorities restrict where they are permitted to protect the shore. There is almost no shade in the park. Salt production is industrial and parts of the site are working plant, closed to visitors.

Nearby

The Mar Menor lagoon lies south; Torrevieja and its pink salt lake are north in Alicante province.