Your Guide to La Manga del Mar Menor Beaches.

La Manga del Mar Menor is the strip of land which encloses the Mar Menor and runs for a total of 22km, although the top end is inaccessible on foot as it comprises a series of marshy islands.

The urban area is just under 19 kilometres long, linked by the Gran Vía which runs from km 0 at Cabo de Palos to Veneziola at km 18.5 and is densely populated, although the density of accommodation thins out at the top end.

La Manga is effectively divided into 2 for administrative purposes, the lower half falling under the jurisdiction of Cartagena, the top half belonging to San Javier.

Both municipalities have both Mar Menor beaches, ie those on the internal Mar Menor coastline and external, or Mediterranean coastal beaches.

Internal Mar Menor La Manga beaches are generally high occupancy during peak season but offer calm, safe bathing conditions on narrow, but sandy beaches, whereas the vast Mediterranean La Manga coastal beaches which run the entire length of La Manga offer waves, huge open areas of sand and are lower occupancy as they are simply so enormous that it is difficult to fill them.

There are also a number of coves around the coast of Cabo de Palos (Cartagena) which are wilder and rockier.