Santa Pola

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (August 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Santa Pola]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|es|Santa Pola}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Santa Pola
Fortress Castle of Santa Pola
Flag Coat of arms
Santa Pola Location of Santa Pola Show map of Province of Alicante Santa Pola Santa Pola (Valencian Community) Show map of Valencian Community Santa Pola Santa Pola (Spain) Show map of Spain
Coordinates: 38°11′23″N 0°33′20″W / 38.18972°N 0.55556°W / 38.18972; -0.55556
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Valencian Community
Province	Alicante
Comarca	Baix Vinalopó
Government
• Body	Ayuntamiento
• Alcaldesa	Loreto Serrano Pomares (PP)
Area
• Total	58.6 km2 (22.6 sq mi)
Elevation	6 m (20 ft)
Population  (2022)
• Total	37 816
• Density	65,020/km2 (168,400/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	santapolero/ra; icositano/na
Website	www.santapola.es

Santa Pola (Valencian: [ˈsanta ˈpola]; Spanish: [ˈsanta ˈpola]) is a coastal town located in the comarca of Baix Vinalopó in the Valencian Community, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 58.6 km² (23 sq mi) and has a population of 36,174 inhabitants of whom 6,000 are residents of the nearby town of Gran Alacant.^[1]

The town has an important salt evaporation pond known as the salines which remains in business, additionally, most of it is recognized as the Natural Park of Salines de Santa Pola, an important Ramsar site. The town was settled over the ruins of a Roman village called Portus Ilicitanus (literally, Harbour of Elche); after being abandoned for decades, then a castle was constructed in the 16th century which marked the repopulation of Santa Pola. The town has an archeological museum covering these phases.

Santa Pola is, at present, a coastal fishing and tourist town. Population more than doubles during the summer, with people coming mostly from the rest of the Alicante province, and also from the Basque autonomous community, Madrid, France and the UK, just to mention some. The nearby island of Tabarca (part of Alicante) can be visited by ship.

The new town of Gran Alacant, 5 km (3 mi) north of Santa Pola along the Alicante bay, accounts for about one third of the population of the district. Next to it is the Carabasi area, a nature reserve. Gran Alacant lies only a few kilometres from Alicante Airport and a few hundred metres from the town of Los Arenales which is located in the Elche district.

In June 2009, the Valencian Government announced that the Alicante Tram system will be extended southwards via Alicante Airport and El Altet, to stations in Gran Alacant and Santa Pola and then onwards to Guardamar and Torrevieja before terminating in Murcia.