After the Maratón de Murcia: Elche

The Route: Murcia del Carmen → Elche → Murcia del Carmen Logistics: Cercanías line C-1 from Murcia del Carmen to Elche, roughly 45 minutes. Trains run every hour or so at weekends and more often on weekdays. Marathon Month: February Duration: Day trip

Murcia del Carmen ──(about 45 mins Cercanías C-1)──> Elche ──(about 45 mins)──> Murcia del Carmen

The Maratón de Murcia is flat, and so is the best recovery walk within reach of it. Elche, across the regional border in the province of Alicante, grew up around a palm forest. The Palmeral of Elche is a system of walled orchards of date palms, laid out with irrigation channels in the Moorish period, and it covers a large part of the town centre. UNESCO lists it as a World Heritage Site.

February in Elche is mild, usually mid to high teens in the afternoon, and dry more often than not. The palms give some shade even in winter sun. The town's major festivals are in summer and at Easter, so February is quiet.

Cercanías line C-1 runs from Murcia del Carmen station, south of the river, to Elche and on to Alicante. The journey to Elche takes about 45 minutes. At weekends there are about a dozen trains in each direction through the day, and more on weekdays. Fares are low and tickets are sold at the station. Get off at Elche's central station, Elx Parc, which is a short walk from the palm groves.

The Palmeral

The simplest route is the signed palm-grove walk (Ruta del Palmeral), which links several orchards on paved and compacted-earth paths. It is flat throughout, with benches, and can be cut short at almost any point. Allow one to two hours at post-marathon pace.

The Huerto del Cura is the best-known of the orchards, a private garden with a charge for entry, cacti and water features, and the Imperial Palm, a single palm with several trunks growing from one base. Check the current price and opening times at the gate.

The Parque Municipal, beside the old town, is a free public palm garden and an easy place to sit in the sun. The Museo del Palmeral, in a traditional orchard house, explains how the groves are irrigated and how the palms are still harvested and tied for Palm Sunday fronds.

The old town

The Basílica de Santa María, a Baroque church, stands at the centre of the old town, where Elche's medieval mystery play, the Misteri d'Elx, is staged each August. The streets around it are level and full of cafés.

Lunch and the return

Arroz con costra, rice baked with a crust of egg, is the local dish and a heavy one. The old town and the streets around the Parque Municipal have the most choice. Check the return train times before lunch; the last trains back to Murcia leave in the evening.