Calblanque

The Calblanque nature reserve is a magnificent landscape, which takes in where Portmán ends in the east and extends all the way to Cabo de Palos in the east. Calblanque stretches from the eastern edge of Portmán,

where the village's fishing and marina and Playa Lastre are located, to the small town of Cabo de Palos a few miles to the east at the large headland where the coast takes off to the north.

 

Wonderfully untouched environment

The Calblanque nature reserve is formally called in Spanish, El parque de Calblanque - Monte de las Cenizas y Peña del Águila and is one of Spain's few untouched, unspoilt and protected coasts along the Mediterranean. The area is 2,453 hectares in size and has been protected since 1987. Calblanque became a nature reserve (national park) in 1992. The nature conservation association Anse is constantly fighting to protect Calblanque.

 

It has 17 types of priority habitats: coastal lagoons (Limonietalia) and sub-steppe areas with grasses and annuals (Thero-brachypodietea), where the most characteristic vegetative communities are palm groves, artales and cornicales, the Tetraclinis articulata groves and the enclaves of thermophilic islets.

 

Dunes of brick red sand
Calblanque is otherwise best known for its fine, untouched beaches that not everyone knows about and even fewer go there. On Calblanque there is a coast with long sandy beaches, small bathing bays, caressing dunes, salt pools (salinas), cliffs and mountains. Go south approx. 20 minutes on AP:7 from Los Alcázares and take off just before Cabo De Palos for a bumpy ride between hills and mountains. There are several options to choose from, so you can explore for yourself. There are difficult places to meet before reaching the parking lots. During the summer months, the road is closed and you have to get on buses - we think it's less fun in the heat.

Once there, the car can be parked under sun protection - think about how the sun moves 😉

 

Now you have to walk a few hundred meters on a solid trolley gangway through the landscape to get down to the beach. There are no bars on this beach so the cooler needs to be loaded - and then it may be good to be able to wheel it - or not. Once down on the beach, there is usually plenty of room if you just walk a few more meters. A few 100 meters away you come to a rock - behind it there is a nude bath. It might be good to know for one reason or another.

 

Text & image: Måns Löfgren, SkyBlueMedia