La Manga winter break

We were there a few years ago and used bikes. It's pretty quiet riding from the site eastwards to the northward 'strip', 22km if you feel like it.

be aware, the site is huge, a long way from the entrance to the beach,  it the long stay prices are cheap with the Club quoting £12 a night.

enjoy. 

There are some recent reviews of La Manga on here which are worth looking at.

Hi there, thanks for your reply. Could you give me some more advise having been there? 22km is a bit far for me to go but is the area round the site accessible for cycling? would we be able to get out on the bikes enough to make this a good site to visit?

Thanks again

Hi thanks for taking the time to reply. Where can I find the reviews you mention?

Just type La Manga CAMC as a Google search.

one of the reviews

"The Mar menor and salt flats were beautiful"

well i was in the area May/June this year, it was quite hot and the smell in some parts of the Mar Menor was very bad.

This area has been blighted by run off water from the surrounding area which has been heavily fertilised by lots of different chemicals that when entering the Mar Menor have sucked the oxygen out of the water and killed most of the fish etc, but if you type into Google "Mar Menor pollution" you will see lots of recent articles, most from the Olive Press which is a bit controversial but also very factual.

Whilst we were there they had a team of people trying to scoop up all the green algae, we found it almost impossible to eat at some of the restaurants because of the smell. 

Have never visited or stayed at the La Manga site so my comments are based on what we saw in the area around the Mar Menor

this is what inSpain news was reporting in May

"As a result of environmental pollution, the water quality of Mar Menor, Spain’s largest inland sea, is very poor. In this traditional tourist attraction, fish die, the water turns brown and the bad smell is recognisable from afar. Hostecar condemns the ‘unsustainable situation’. Furthermore, it demands solutions for the ‘institutional desolation that the tourism sector is experiencing in this environment."

"Mar Menor is “unsustainable”
“The tragic situation of neglect and deterioration of the Mar Menor” is already having negative economic consequences for the area. In concrete terms, the organisation points out that for the coming months of June, July, and August, the high season, “no reservations have been received in the tourism and catering sector” "

Twenty years ago when we were looking at property on the Costas, the Mar Menor was a delightful place although we ended up buying between Santa Pola and Alicante airport. When we returned there on a day out some years later, I couldn't believe how much building there had been in the area. Being vitrually land-locked, the Mar Menor has been particularly susceptible to the effects of such development.

well i was in the area May/June this year, it was quite hot and the smell in some parts of the Mar Menor was very bad.

This area has been blighted by run off water from the surrounding area which has been heavily fertilised by lots of different chemicals that when entering the Mar Menor have sucked the oxygen out of the water and killed most of the fish etc,

Its strange you mention this but about 7 years ago we were talking to a chap that used to go to La Manga every winter on the rally with C&CC.  He stopped going because every year he was blighted by chest infections when he was there.  When he moved to another rally he was fine,  this happened year after year,  so he decided to give La Manga a miss. From then on he never had another chest infection,  coincidence or not 🤔 he thought it wasn't. 

We have not stayed there but from what I remember, when we looked around the site and area its all pretty level so cycling shouldn't be a problem. 

 "We have not stayed there but from what I remember, when we looked around the site and area its all pretty level so cycling shouldn't be a problem"

cycling is brilliant, as you say very flat and areas away from the sea are very beautiful, i was involved in an International netball match which was hosted by La Manga Golf which is a terrific area, some 5 years ago, but the area they call the "strip" did nothing for me, high rise hotels and apartments flanked on one side by the Mar Menor and the Med on the other, as CY alluded to, many years ago it would have been beautiful but not now. 

There is some speculation that they will open up the Mar Menor to the Med in an effort to gain some control over the pollution and breath some life back into the water but a biologist I spoke to in the area had serious doubts as to whether this would be feasable. 

p.s. there is also a military base quite close by, so you get lots of low flying aircraft screaching overhead , sorry Vanchick if I have just spoilt all your plans, but as i said previously never visited the site so cannot comment on its suitability for you 

We have not stayed there but from what I remember, when we looked around the site and area its all pretty level so cycling shouldn't be a problem.

It is a very large flat site, possibly one of the largest on the Costas. As I recall the on site supermarket is by the entrance and reception and the restaurant was above it up a flight of steps. The site stretches from here in a very long narrow strip down to the beach. 20 years ago we did not like it at all and we haven't been anywhere near it since. The site may have improved but reading what others have said I cannot imagine the area has.  There are much better areas in Spain to spend ones time..

peedee