Spain's Moorish heritage: Private day trip from Alicante

The Palmeral of Elche is the largest palm grove in Europe and one of only two UNESCO World Heritage palm groves in the world, a living legacy of the Moors who irrigated and planted this desert plain over a thousand years ago.

What to see

• More than 200,000 palm trees cover the city of Elche, the largest concentration of date palms outside North Africa and the Middle East
• The Huerto del Cura (Priest's Garden), the most celebrated section of the palmeral, with rare multi-trunked specimens and a collection of cacti and subtropical plants
• The Moorish irrigation system that still feeds the groves is one of the best-preserved examples of Islamic water engineering in Europe

What to do

• Walk through the Huerto del Cura and the surrounding public sections of the palmeral
• Visit the Dama de Elche archaeological museum, housing the famous 4th-century BCE Iberian sculpture found in the city

Take note

• Entry to the Huerto del Cura is ticketed; check huertodelcura.com for current hours

Housed in a beautifully restored Moorish-style building in the historic center of Crevillent, Carmen del Campillo is a tea house and cultural space dedicated to the Moorish tradition of the medina, a rare example of living Al-Andalus culture on the Costa Blanca. What to see

• The restored Moorish courtyard and tea-house interior, with geometric tilework, carved plasterwork, and zellige mosaic floors in the Nasrid tradition
• An exhibition on the Moorish heritage of Crevillent and the surrounding Vega Baja region, which retains a strong cultural memory of its Islamic past What to do
• Take tea in the courtyard, enjoying traditional Moroccan mint tea, Moorish pastries, and a selection of regional products What to eat
• Moruno lamb skewers with Moorish spice blend and honey-soaked pastries (pastissets)

Above the town of Novelda, the striking Sanctuary of Santa Maria Magdalena rises on a white chalk cliff, but the hill itself, peppered with ancient rock-cut tombs and Moorish fortifications, gives the site its deep resonance. What to see

• The Sanctuary church (1918), a miniature Modernista white building that looks almost out of place on its rocky spur, has become one of the most photographed landmarks in the province
• The ruins of La Mola Castle, the Almohad-era Moorish fortress directly above the sanctuary, with walls and towers still standing above the cliff edge
• Views across the plain of the Vinalopo valley, a landscape of vineyards, orchards, and marble quarries that stretches to the coast What to do
• Walk up from the sanctuary to the castle walls for the full panorama and the clearest sense of why the Moors chose this particular hill to fortify