Santa Pola

Mediterranean fishing port on the Alicante coast, Santa Pola pairs a walkable centre with a dense food-and-drink scene and direct access to Blue Flag beaches. The town's working salt flats — most of which form a protected Ramsar wetland — sit alongside a 16th-century castle and an archaeological museum tracing the site's origins as the Roman harbour of Portus Illicitanus. Boats run from the port to the nearby island of Tabarca.

• Population39,709
• Nearest water from center0.5 km
• Nearest mountain from center11.8 km
• UNESCO within 50 km14