Guardamar Dunes (Guardamar del Segura)
BeachThe Guardamar dunes are a shaded pine forest planted straight onto the sand — a century-old feat of engineering that stabilised shifting dunes and left a rare green belt right beside the beach.
Why visit the Guardamar Dunes
At the mouth of the Segura river, Guardamar del Segura once faced dunes so mobile they threatened to bury the town. From around 1900 the forester Francisco Mira led the planting of hundreds of thousands of pines and other trees to fix the sand — and it worked. The result is a shaded, fragrant pine forest laid directly over the dunes, threaded with walking and cycling paths that run right down to wide, quiet beaches. It is an unusually green, cool stretch of coast, backed by the town’s hilltop castle and Moorish and Phoenician remains.
Pines on the sand
Hundreds of thousands of pines were planted from around 1900 to stabilise the dunes — a rare coastal woodland.
Walk and cycle
Shaded trails wind through the forest and out to the beach, flat and easy for families and bikes.
Wide and quiet
Behind the trees lie long, sandy, low-rise beaches that stay calmer than the resort coast to the south.
Dune engineering
The plantation was pioneering conservation work, credited to forester Francisco Mira — still studied today.
Castle & ruins
Guardamar’s hilltop castle and nearby Phoenician and Moorish remains add history to the nature.
Cool microclimate
The forest keeps the shore noticeably cooler and shadier than the open beaches around it.
Practical information
- Getting there: about 40 min by car from Alicante airport; car parks sit along the forest edge
- Best time: year-round — the shade makes it pleasant even in high summer
- Bring: walking or cycling shoes; paths are flat and family-friendly
- Don’t miss: walking from the pines straight onto the quiet beach, then up to the castle
Explore more of the Costa Blanca
Guardamar Dunes is one of many destinations on the CostaMap interactive map — browse beaches, villages, castles and viewpoints across the whole coast.
