Los Alcázares, am Westufer des Mar Menor

Los Alcázares sits on the western shore of the Mar Menor - a 22-kilometre saltwater lagoon separated from the Mediterranean by a thin sandbar. The water is warm, shallow and famously calm, which is why families and Northern European retirees have quietly been coming here for forty years.

The apartment is on the Serena Golf estate, a gated residential community built around an executive 18-hole course just outside town. It's a twenty-minute walk from the lagoon, five minutes' drive from the town centre, twenty-five from La Manga Club, and forty from Corvera Airport.

The estate has its own communal pool, on-site clubhouse restaurant, and a small supermarket five minutes away. No cars on the pedestrian paths inside the estate - good for kids learning to cycle.