Flamingo watching in the Salinas

Where you see them

The nature park lies directly behind Lo Pagán and covers the salt lakes, the dunes and the beach up to the boundary with Torrevieja. The flamingos stand in the shallow basins, often a few dozen metres from the path. You do not need binoculars to see what is there, although with binoculars you see a great deal more.

The easiest starting point is the end of the Lo Pagán promenade, by the mud baths. That is where the boardwalk begins. Carry on towards the salt mill and you pass the largest basins, which is usually where most of the birds are.

There is no fence and no ticket. There are signs showing where you may and may not walk, and they are there for a reason.

The best hour of the day

The last hour before sunset. There is no argument about this. The light is low and warm, the water turns deep pink, and the birds move to the shallow edges to feed, so closer to the path. Anyone who goes in those two hours sees a different park from someone walking there at two in the afternoon.

The second best moment is early morning, for the same reasons but with fewer people. In the middle of the day the light is harsh, the birds stand further off, and in summer the boardwalks are blazing hot because there is no shade at all.

Which months

There are flamingos all year. The numbers vary: after the summer, in August, September and October, there are usually the most. In spring you see fewer at once, but far more other species, because that is peak migration season.

Winter is surprisingly good. It is quiet, the light is soft and you often have the paths to yourself. Bring a jacket though, there is always wind across the salt lakes.

What else you see

This is one of the most important bird areas on the Spanish southeast coast, so flamingos are only the start. Avocets with their upturned bills, black-winged stilts on absurdly long pink legs, several kinds of terns that hover over the water and then drop in one movement. In migration season sandpipers and plovers pass through, and an osprey regularly hunts over the salt lakes.

Anyone who knows nothing about birds will still see all of this within half an hour. The area is so open that anything that moves stands out immediately.

What to bring

Binoculars if you have them, because they turn a pink dot into a bird. Water, because there is nothing for sale along the way and no shade. A cap and sunscreen for the same reason. Shoes you can walk in for an hour, the boardwalks are flat but long.

For photos: a telephoto lens helps enormously, but a phone takes perfectly good landscape shots of the pink basins with the mill in them. That last one is honestly the photo everyone takes home.

The rules, and why they exist

Stay on the paths and the boardwalks. The basins look solid and are not, and the birds nest on the ground. One person walking into the field puts up an entire colony.

Dogs on the lead. Drones are banned throughout the park, and that is enforced. Do not feed the birds, however tempting.

If you come as a group, keep your voices down. Flamingos are not shy, but they keep their distance as soon as it gets noisy, and then you are looking at dots after all.

How long it takes

A short loop from the end of the promenade to the first large basins and back takes about forty five minutes. The full route along the salt lakes to the mill and the beach behind it is roughly two hours, and it is the finest walk in the municipality.

Combine it with the mud baths, which sit on the same path. First the mud, then rinse in the Mar Menor, then into the park with the sun behind you. That is exactly what we do ourselves when we have visitors.