Ryan Hodnett · CC BY-SA 4.0Coastal town
Santa Pola is a coastal town and municipality located in the comarca of Baix Vinalopó in the Valencian Community, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 58.6 km2 (23 sq mi) and has a population of 36,174 inhabitants of whom 6,000 are residents of the nearby town of Gran Alacant.
The town has an important salt evaporation pond known as the salines which remains in business, additionally, most of it is recognized as the Natural Park of Salines de Santa Pola, an important Ramsar site. The town was settled over the ruins of a Roman village called Portus Illicitanus (literally, "Harbour of Elche"); after being abandoned for decades, then a castle was constructed in the 16th century which marked the repopulation of Santa Pola. The town has an archeological museum covering these phases.
Santa Pola is, at present, a coastal fishing and tourist town. Population more than doubles during the summer, with people coming mostly from the rest of the Alicante province, and also from the Basque Country, Madrid, France and the UK, just to mention some. The nearby island of Tabarca (part of Alicante) can be visited by ship.
The new town of Gran Alacant, 5 km (3 mi) north of Santa Pola along the Alicante bay, accounts for about one third of the population of the district. Next to it is the Carabasi area, a nature reserve. Gran Alacant lies only a few kilometres from Alicante Airport and a few hundred metres from the town of Los Arenales which is located in the Elche district.
In June 2009, the Valencian Government announced that the Alicante Tram system will be extended southwards via Alicante Airport and El Altet, to stations in Gran Alacant and Santa Pola and then onwards to Guardamar and Torrevieja before terminating in Murcia.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
12 places to stay in Santa Pola
See places to stay210 restaurants in Santa Pola
See where to eat8 experiences in Santa Pola
See experiencesEverything you need for your visit or your day-to-day
Tap a row to see it on the map and how far away it is.
Parks, beaches and places to stay that OpenStreetMap marks as dog-friendly. Many places allow dogs without it being marked: ask when you book.
No data on: train station, motorhomes, pool.
Data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL), extract from October 2026: we count what is mapped within the municipal boundary. "No data" means OpenStreetMap doesn't have it, not that it doesn't exist. Completed with Overture Maps (CDLA-Permissive-2.0): the pharmacies, health centres, petrol stations, banks, cash machines, food shops and schools that OpenStreetMap was missing. Town hall contact details: General Database of Local Entities (Spanish Ministry of Finance); tourist offices: each region's open registry, where it publishes one. Connectivity: Spanish Ministry for Digital Transformation, % of homes covered in June 2025.
Municipal information, services, procedures and grants.
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