La Puebla Today

La Puebla is a small town a few kilometres inland from the western shore of the Mar Menor, in the north-eastern corner of the municipality of Cartagena and just a few kilometres from the town of Los Alcázares.

Despite its location, close to some of the largest and busiest resorts of the Costa Cálida, the airport of San Javier and the numerous golf courses which have been built over the last couple of decades, La Puebla has been rather left behind in terms of tourist development. As a result, although it is administratively the main town of the Lentiscar area of Cartagena (which includes the coastal village of El Carmolí) it is still for the most part a genuine agricultural village, specializing in the cultivation of leaf vegetables and potatoes: the latter are celebrated every year in late May of early June on “Potato Day”, an event which heralds the beginning of the annual fiestas!

These fiestas are theoretically held in honour of the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (also the official denomination of the local church), but the locals are especially devoted to the figure of Santa María del Buen Aire, whose image is paraded through the streets every 8th and 9th June. 

For many people La Puebla is little more than a rural village through which we drive when taking a “back route” between Los Alcázares and Cartagena, but for those with time to explore it is also a chance to remember what the area around the Mar Menor was like not so long ago, before it became an international tourism destination! 

Where is La Puebla?

La Puebla is located on the RM-F35 road between Cartagena and Los Alcázares, approximately 15 kilometres from the former and 8 kilometres from the latter. Anyone taking this route into Cartagena from Los Alcázares or the Mar Menor Golf Resort will arrive directly at the Parque Mediterráneo shopping mall, and the route is also useful for those heading to the ITV vehicle testing centre! See map for further details.