What To Do Near La Zenia Spain

Ok, your first question may be where is La Zenia, Spain? La Zenia is a small coastal tourist town one hour south of Alicante. If you’re looking for a fun time in this area of Costa Blanca, this post will share what to do near La Zenia, Spain. I was there for 9 days in early January 2023 and discovered this area for the first time with a girlfriend.

You may think January is too cold to enjoy Spain, but it was actually very pleasant. Temperatures ranged from a low of 9c to 23c. A light jacket is required for the evenings when it cools off. It’s not exactly sunbathing beach weather, but you can enjoy sunny days with plenty of outdoor activities.

La Zenia

We stayed at a small two-bedroom AirBnB apartment, just a 5-minute walk from the beach and a 5-minute walk to many restaurants. We went everywhere by foot or e-bike and only rented a car for the last couple of days to venture further away.

One thing I was told about La Zenia is that there is a very large influence of English speakers, mainly from England, Scotland, and Ireland. I noticed right away these accents from people visiting or living there.

There were also many international food restaurants to cater to the tourists, including Indian, Asian, Italian, Mexican, and English Pub food. We tried the different restaurants and enjoyed all of them. You will find many pub bars with either live music or karaoke.

You will find a huge outdoor mall in this town called Zenia Boulevard with over 150 stores and many restaurants.

Coastal Path around La Zenia

If you like to walk, you’ll find plenty of coastal paths near La Zenia, one north toward Torrevieja and another south along the Cabo Roig area.

Most of the coastal path is paved with barriers but some parts are dirt with small rocks. The paths are relatively flat and easy to walk. You can use a bike on some parts of the path but may need to go inland for some sections.

If you’re looking to rent bikes or e-bikes, I can strongly recommend Lammertink Bikes in La Zenia. The price for two days was 60 EUR for each bike, and the owner even delivered and picked them up from our apartment building. The bikes were high quality and easy to use!

Torrevieja

Torrevieja is a bigger city north of La Zenia with a population of 80K+. You can take a public bus from the Alicante airport to the central bus station in this town. From there we took a different bus to arrive in La Zenia. The total cost of the bus rides was approximately 5 EUR per person (for a 50-minute total ride). Even in January of 2023, we were required to wear face masks on the buses for Covid reasons.

Torrevieja has a nice waterfront with many restaurants and beaches. We didn’t spend much time here, only walking to the waterfront one day from La Zenia (for a total of 13km one way). We took the bus again for the return to our apartment.

One place in Torrevieja worth checking out is the saltworks and the Pink Lake. We rode bikes there one day, hoping to see either the famous pink-colored lake or the many pink flamingoes that visit at certain times of the year.

Unfortunately, the timing was not right for either. We did see the huge salt hills in the distance and parts of the lake. The salt lake at Torrevieja is one of the largest salt exploitation sites in Spain and produces an average of 600,000 tons of salt per year.

Cabo Roig

Cabo Roig is another small town next to La Zenia with many vacation homes here. The coastal path goes from the La Zenia beach along the cliffside to Cabo Roig and takes approximately 1.5 hours to walk it. There is a nice restaurant/bar by the water called La Bahia. We stopped to watch the sunset and have some cocktails.

The name “Cabo Roig” translates from the Valencian “Red Cape” for the red rock that forms this cape. One of the main characteristics of Cabo Roig is its low density of buildings, where most of the properties are villas on large plots very close to the coast line.

Campoamor and Mil Palmares

The two towns called Campoamor and Mil Palmares are south of La Zenia and have very nice beaches. We rode our rented e-bikes to the towns and had lunch in Mil Palmares.

We had a beautiful view sitting by the beach with palm trees around. I highly recommend going to this town for an afternoon visit.

Los Alcázares

We decided to rent a car for a couple of days to provide more options for visiting other areas around La Zenia. Car rentals are very inexpensive in this part of Spain. We got a small automatic car for 3 days for only 100 Euros. That included unlimited mileage and the possibility to drop it off at the Alicante airport when we left. Check out Rentagain in La Zenia!

We drove the scenic road south to explore the Mar Menor area, which is a large salt lagoon to the west of a narrow strip of land. The strip of land is over 20 km long, measuring only about 1.5 km at its widest point.

We stopped near the town of Los Alcázares for a late lunch at an outdoor cafe by the beach. The restaurant was called La Encarnación and was very good.

After lunch, we took a leisurely walk on the scenic promenade.

La Manga

We drove the route around and up the narrow land strip to see the town of La Manga, which was completely deserted at this time of year. There were many highrise hotels and apartment buildings. It looked like a mini version of Miami, Florida. It wasn’t my type of vacation destination as I found it too touristic.

We did stop for a drink on the lagoon side (at the Area Sunset Restaurant) and enjoyed the view before heading back one hour via the autoroute to La Zenia.

Orihuela

I would have to say Orihuela was my favorite city in this area of Spain. On our last day, we drove one hour there for an afternoon to walk around, eat tapas, and check out this historical town. Orihuela had a very Spanish feel to it.

The drive from La Zenia to Orihuela is very scenic with many groves of orange and lemon trees. We also saw artichoke farms along the route. Spain is Europe’s largest citrus fruit producer and one of the world’s leading exporter of fresh lemon. Most of the citrus fruit in Spain are grown in this region, accounting for 80% of the total plantations.

The surrounding Sierra mountains make the area around Orihuela very picturesque. Sierra de Orihuela is a 9.4 km long mountain range with its highest point being Peña de Orihuela.

We parked next to the Rio Segura river which runs through the city. Orihuela has many museums and religious buildings to visit. There is also an impressive old seminary perched high on a hill overlooking the city. One full day is probably sufficient to visit this historic city.

Summary

I really enjoyed experiencing this part of the Costa Blanca. It was a wonderful way to start off the New Year in a bright, sunny, and warmer climate! I prefer to visit Spain when it’s not peak season. You don’t have to reserve restaurants or navigate your way around the many tourists. I plan to go to the city of Valencia soon and do the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage walk this year.

If you want to read about my similar trip to Costa Blanca in 2022, check out my post on Alicante Spain in One Week.

If you are looking for assistance to plan your next trip, I am here for YOU! I love to plan travel itineraries for myself and others. For more details on how I provide this service, please check out my Itinerary Planning page and drop me a quick email at jan@janadventures.com to get started!