Alicante ยท Vega Baja
Torrevieja
One of the largest and most international towns on the Alicante coast, laid out around the royal salt administration in 1803 and rebuilt on a grid after the 1829 earthquake.
A town made by salt
Between the lagoons and the sea
Torrevieja sits on a low, open coast hemmed between two salt lagoons and the Mediterranean. It grew from a watchtower and a salt landing into a town of nearly 100,000 people within two centuries.
The salt industry is still working, the port still loads it, and the town's summer choral competition grew out of the same trade with Cuba. Everything here connects back to the lagoons inland.
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Two reviewed stories
Torrevieja: the town between the salt lakes and the sea
The salt administration of 1803, the 1829 earthquake grid, the working port and the Habaneras competition.
Read the guide
The salt of Torrevieja: the lagoons, the pink water and the birds
How the La Mata and Torrevieja lagoons make salt, why one turns pink and how the natural park protects the birdlife.
Read the guide