El Palmeral de Elche

El Palmeral is the largest date palm plantation in Europe and one of the largest palm groves in the world.

Declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO, the Palmeral of Elche was laid out at the end of the 10th Century at the same time that the Muslim city of Elche was built. It is a magnificent example of the agricultural ingenuity of the Muslim farmers, the date palms are planted alongside the boundaries of the irrigated plots of land, helping to maximise the retention of water and allowing a very varied horticulture in an otherwise arid climate. The same techniques are used around oasis in the North African deserts.

The Palmeral includes the Parque Municipal and many other orchards and covers an area of 3.5 square kilometres. It contains more than 200,000 palm trees, mostly date palms, with individual specimens up to 300 years old. The largest palm is the "Imperial Palm" (Palmera Imperial), with 7 stems in the shape of a candelabra, named after Elisabeth, the Empress consort of Franz Joseph, who visited the plantation in 1894.

The palm trees are harvested in December and not only provides delicious dates, they also provides the blanched palm leaves that are distributed on Palm Sunday.