Things to do in Elche

Local guide

About Elche

Elche, Elx in Valencian, is the second most populous city in the province of Alicante and holds within the city itself the largest palm grove in Europe. The Palmeral de Elche brings together between 200,000 and 300,000 palm trees on about 500 hectares, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 30 November 2000. The date palm arrived with the Muslims, and white palm is still grown today, bleached by keeping it out of the light.

A good place to understand the Palmeral is the Huerto del Cura, a botanical garden of about 13,000 square metres with around a thousand palm trees, pomegranates, orange trees and a cactus collection. The Museo del Palmeral, in a traditional 19th-century house in the Huerto de San Plácido, tells its history and uses.

Elche has a second UNESCO title, this one intangible: the Misteri d'Elx, a sung sacred lyric drama of medieval origin about the Dormition, Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin. It is performed every year on 14 and 15 August inside the basilica of Santa María, a Baroque church built between 1672 and 1784 with that use in mind. It is the only medieval performance inside a Catholic church that has stayed alive to this day.

The city's history goes back much further. Three kilometres to the south, the La Alcudia site is where the Dama de Elche (Lady of Elche), the Iberian bust from the 5th and 4th centuries BC, was found in 1897. In the centre, the Museo Arqueológico y de Historia de Elche occupies the Palacio de Altamira, next to the basilica.

In December, the Venida de la Virgen recalls the legendary finding of the image of the patron saint on Tamarit beach on 29 December 1370. For everyday life, the Mercado Central Provisional and the neighbourhood farmers' markets open almost every day of the week. And getting there is easy: Alicante-Elche airport is within the municipality, and the city has Cercanías commuter trains and AVE high-speed trains.

Things to do

Must-see places

1. Palmeral de Elche: the largest palm grove in Europe, a World Heritage Site since 2000.
2. Huerto del Cura: botanical garden of about 13,000 m² with around a thousand palm trees and a cactus collection.
3. Museo del Palmeral: history and uses of the Palmeral in a 19th-century house in the Huerto de San Plácido.
4. Basílica de Santa María: Baroque church (1672–1784), setting for the Misteri d'Elx.
5. Museo Arqueológico y de Historia de Elche (MAHE): in the Palacio de Altamira, next to the basilica.
6. Yacimiento de La Alcudia: site of about 10 hectares 3 km from the city, where the Dama de Elche was found.
7. Mercado Central Provisional: 160-stall food market on Avenida de la Comunitat Valenciana.