Alicante · Vega Baja
Guardamar del Segura
The last town on the Segura before the sea, rebuilt after 1829 behind a pine forest planted to hold back the dunes, with major archaeology at the river mouth.
Where the river reaches the sea
River mouth, dunes and forest
Guardamar watched the Segura crossing from a walled hill town until the 1829 earthquake destroyed it. The survivors rebuilt on a grid nearer the coast.
From 1896 the engineer Francisco Mira fixed the advancing dunes with marram grass and hundreds of thousands of pines. That forest still separates the town from around 11 kilometres of beach.
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Guardamar del Segura: river mouth, dunes and a planted forest
The move off the hill after 1829, Mira's dune forest, the beaches and the archaeology at the Segura mouth.
Read the guideSeeing the sites
Forest, beach and river mouth
Start at the Casa de Cultura
The archaeological and ethnographic museum explains the Rábita, Cabezo Lucero and La Fonteta before you walk out to them.
Walk the pinewood to the dunes
Paths through the Alfonso XIII and Reina Sofía parks lead to the quieter southern beaches and the Rábita in the sand.