Logbook · 14 places

What to see and do in Santomera

What to see and do in Santomera (Huerta de Murcia, Murcia): 14 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 7 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

When to go to Santomera: festival calendar

October: Festivities of Moros y Cristianos de Santomera (October)

How far each place is from the centre of Santomera

Mill of Siscar 2.2 km
Reservoir of Santomera 4.9 km

Towns near Santomera

What to see in Beniel 4.5 km · 6 places
What to see in Orihuela 9.3 km · 19 places
What to see in Murcia 11 km · 68 places
What to see in Benferri 12 km · 3 places
What to see in Bigastro 13 km · 2 places
What to see in Redován 14 km · 3 places
What to see in Molina de Segura 14 km · 40 places
What to see in Fortuna 15 km · 45 places

Spain › Region of Murcia › Huerta de Murcia › Santomera

What to see and do in Santomera

Santomera
Village
Santomera is a municipality in the Región de Murcia, 12 kilometres from the capital, with 16,443 inhabitants spread between Santomera, the municipal seat, El Siscar and La Matanza. It forms part of the Huerta de Murcia and the city's metropolitan area. Its growth came in the 18th century, with the draining of more than 10,000 tahúllas of land, which attracted landowners and religious orders. It took time to achieve full municipal autonomy: it was dependent on Murcia except for three brief periods in the 19th century and a failed attempt during the Second Republic, until the Comisión Pro-Ayuntamiento, in 1967, achieved independence on 29 September 1978. Considered since 1997 “the lemon orchard of Europe” for its citrus production, it is today one of the most dynamic municipalities in the Murcia huerta.
The Great House of Santomera
Monument
An old manor house linked to the families who owned the large farming estates that gave rise to the town of Santomera. It is a palace in neo-Renaissance style built in the 19th century, one of the municipality's most notable historic buildings.
Mill of Siscar
Monument
Flour mill of Arab origin in the pedanía of El Siscar, evidence of the use of the huerta's irrigation channels to grind grain.
Church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Santomera
Monument
19th-century parish church, the municipality's main religious building, built when Santomera was beginning to establish itself as an independent settlement.
Reservoir of Santomera
Nature
A reservoir built in the late 1960s by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Segura to hold back flood flows from the rambla de Santomera and the río Chícamo, protecting the huerta and the municipality; the dam, a mass-concrete gravity dam, reaches 37 metres in height and holds up to 26.29 hm³ over 263 hectares. Designed to defend the Vega Baja del Segura from catastrophic floods, it fulfilled its purpose during the 2019 floods. Today it is also a wetland of regional interest, with waymarked trails and a recreational area beside the dam.
Coto Cuadros
Nature
Natural area of some 1,550 hectares of gentle hills between Santomera and the Murcian pedanía of La Alcayna, listed as public utility woodland and used for walking, cycling and birdwatching.
Festivities of Moros y Cristianos de Santomera
Activity
Declared of Regional Tourist Interest, they re-enact the struggle between the two historical sides with parades and costumed troupes, and are one of the most colourful celebrations in the municipality's festive calendar.
The Orchard House
Monument
An 18th-century complex in Santomera made up of a house with an olive oil mill and a chapel housing the image of the Santo Sepulcro.
Country House of Don Juan
Monument
A 20th-century country house in Santomera, now disused, which forms part of the municipality's civil architectural heritage.
Hermitage of el Calvario de Santomera
Monument
A 20th-century chapel in Santomera, one of the municipality's minor churches alongside the parish church of Nuestra Señora del Rosario.
Town Hall of Santomera
Monument
The town hall building of Santomera, built in the early 20th century, the seat of the municipal administration since the municipality gained its independence in 1978.
The parish independence of Santomera
Historical milestone
After appointing its first outlying-village mayor in 1785, the town obtained a parish of its own and ceased to depend ecclesiastically on Beniel, the first step of a process of emancipation that would take almost two centuries to complete.
The establishment of the municipality of Santomera
Historical milestone
After several short-lived municipal councils in the liberal periods of the nineteenth century and a pro-municipality committee created in 1967, Santomera definitively separated from Murcia and formed its own municipal council.
The lemon of Santomera
Food and drink
The density and the quality of its lemon plantations have earned the municipality the nickname of the lemon grove of Europe; the fruit, with thin skin and very juicy, goes both to fresh consumption and to the juice and essential oil industry.