Property for sale in Los Alcázares

Buying a house in Los Alcázares means buying in a young municipality on the western shore of the Mar Menor, in the region of Murcia. Los Alcázares only became independent in the nineteen eighties; before that its centre was split between San Javier and Torre-Pacheco. The centre lies flat and low right on the lagoon, with the beach, the shops and the pharmacy around the corner. Next to the town is the military airfield of San Javier, where the air force academy still trains. Buying here means choosing calm water on the doorstep, and taking the water from the hinterland just as seriously.

Along the promenade lie the town beaches, with the marina at the southern end by the old seaplane base. At the northern end is the beach of Las Salinas, against the fence of the military airfield. Los Narejos is a district with its own beach, popular with water sports fans, and further along the coast lies Torre del Rame with its old tower. Inland lies La Serena Golf, a residential area around a golf course. Mind the boundaries: Roda is in San Javier and Santa Rosalía in Torre-Pacheco, even when an advert says Los Alcázares.

On the promenade and in the centre it is mostly flats, in largely low-rise buildings. In and around La Serena Golf there are linked houses, bungalows and villas, and there are new-build projects there too. Because the town is so low-lying, the position within the district matters more than the type of home: a flat on an upper floor carries a different risk from a home at street level near a rambla. Ask about past water damage and have the insurance checked. The projects under construction are on the new-build page for Los Alcázares.

Los Alcázares suits people who want shallow, calm water for swimming, sailing or windsurfing, and golfers who want a course nearby. It suits those who accept no flood risk at all less well. The town has flooded several times since the start of this century, because rainwater from the hinterland flows through the ramblas to the lagoon; the water authority has planned a new drain to the lagoon. The Mar Menor itself has also had episodes of oxygen loss and fish deaths. Have the official flood map checked per address, and see how close the home is to the airfield.

The public hospital for Los Alcázares is in the municipality of San Javier; the town itself has a health centre and a clinic. The Región de Murcia airport at Corvera is about half an hour away by car, Alicante a good hour. Via the AP-7 you drive to Cartagena and towards Alicante; for Murcia city you take the RM-19 and the A-30. For the train to Murcia or Cartagena you drive to the station at Balsicas. Read more about the rest of the lagoon on the page about the Costa Cálida.