Guest Author - Rachel L Webb

Located in the south-east corner of Spain, Murcia boasts sea, sand, sun and golf galore but they are far from its major features. For decades Murcia and in particular the Mar Menor Europe’s largest salt water lake has been visited for centuries.

People flocked to this natural salt water lagoon as an aid for rheumatism and arthritis also to coat their body with the mineral rich sands around the lagoon. And still today you can see people smothered in sand and basking in the salty waters to bring relief and refreshment to their weary bodies.

These natural mineral mud baths are now offered across the world as Spa and beauty treatments, here it’s free though a little bit more public!

The salt water lagoon of the Mar Menor is also incredibly popular as an area to practice many different water sports as the high salt content aids buoyancy – a great place for beginners of canoeing through to jet-skiing and windsurfing.

The Mar Menor is a vast expanse of shallow salty water that owing to its buoyancy, shallowness and lack of tide is an ideal spot for young children.

For the grown-ups it’s an area rich in golf courses and with a climate that offers more than 300 days of sunshine a year. It’s also the home to the Jack Nicklaus Golf Trail, a circuit which will offer nine 18-hole courses, in a 25 kilometer radius, by Jack Nicklaus Design. Three courses are now open for play at the Polaris World complexes of La Torre, El Valle, and Riquelme at Mar Menor Golf Resort 9-holes are open for play with a further 9 holes under construction, along with the other five courses.

Jack Nicklaus is considered to be the greatest player of the century and has now also become the a successful designer of golf courses. The Jack Nicklaus golf trail in Murcia is a unique concept and in conjunction with The 5* Intercontinental Hotel Mar Menor Golf Resort & Spa it offers a great something-for-everyone family experience.

If you’re hoping to sample a famous paella while in the area then the new Restaurant Limonero – Arroceria in the La Torre Golf Resort is a good choice. The Limonero (lemon tree) has gone back to basics and cook their paella over wood and vine fires as they would have originally been cooked in the open countryside.

The lower cooking heat brings out the flavours of the dish and you can watch your seafood, rabbit and snail or pork and vegetable paella being prepared and cooked to order.

Murcia has much to offer, sea, sand, sun, spas and golf what more could you want.