Elche, Spain

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grow of Elche, Spain, is unique. There is the greatest concentration of palm trees, there are between 200,000 and 300,000 specimens in the Municipal District of Elche.
It is a living testament to the historical Arabic Berber presence in Spain from the 8th to 17th Centuries.
In December 2000. the Elche palm grove was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
A portion of the fruit (dates) produced never reaches maturity or matures imperfectly so that it is unsuitable for human consumption, and only the female palm trees produce dates.
If you are a fan of palms, then you’ve seen what is happening with Palm killer- Rhynchophorus ferruginous (red palm weevil) that attacks and destroys many palms especially phoenix species. I saw devastated southern Italy and it looks horribly sad. I can say that I am impressed how well are protected palm trees in Elche (Elx) and I did not saw the disastrous consequences and destroyed palms.




The Huerto del Cura owes its name to a priest Chaplain José Castaño Sánchez, he was the owner until 1918.
Although Elche is not a place at the sea, it is certainly worth a visit if you are near Alicante or on your way from Valencia to Cartagena or Alicante. Perfect peace and beauty of the landscape and palm trees are worth seeing. The biggest attraction is certainly Jardin Huerto del Cura. Garden where you can see the Imperial Palm Tree, which is about 165 years old. It is phoenix dactylifera palm that has 7 trunks and it’s really impressive to see.

In addition of date palms which are the most and numerous, in this garden you will see many different species of palms, cactus, succulents and agave. I especially liked rocks with high cacti and succulents.

This is a wonderful place to spend the day with family, walking. Everything exudes peace.
So, because I’m big fan of palms, as we arrived in Hotel Huerto del Cura (it is so close to Major Jardin) I made so many photos, that my card was fool, so we tried to buy another one for Huerto del Cura Jardin National, but all shops were closed till 4-5 p.m. So we took our walk tour to Jardin after that. It was a lot of shade in Jardin, I need to come again and see it in the morning.


This whole place is beautiful. Even the center of this place is not less charming. It has a beautiful small square and a variety of restaurants, benches that are interesting tiled with blue tiles. It is called Placa de la Glorieta.
We had a great time there and dinner too. There are lots of parks full of palms with benches and nice shade.


What has contributed to the pleasure in this place is definitely a hotel named as the garden: Hotel Huerto del Cura. One of the most beautiful places in Europe with a beautiful garden, a swimming pool, and bungalows. Rooms are large and have beautiful bathrooms. Such peace is almost impossible to find anywhere. It has an impressive zen garden with old curved phoenix dactylifera, it’s called “Cobra palm”. So if you are a fan of palms, don’t miss this place and this hotel. Prices are affordable, dinners are served by the pool, breakfast is a rich buffet breakfast. I liked their bananas. You can see that it’s from their garden. Different, but tasty.

Elche has a number of historic monuments. ‘Basilica of Santa María’ is a great basilica with a bell tower and blue dome. The Basilica is the fourth religious building occupying the same site. It was the site of a Muslim mosque, started in 1672 and finished in 1783.