La Encarnación and the novenarios: where Mar Menor holidays began

Before apartment blocks and sailing schools, visitors from Murcia's huerta came to Los Alcázares for a novenario: nine sea baths taken as a restorative summer ritual. Hotel-Balneario La Encarnación, opened in 1904, is the clearest surviving building from that first resort culture and remains part of the working waterfront.

Why it matters

The balneario drew water directly from the Mar Menor, warmed it and delivered it to one-piece marble tubs. Its two levels, continuous wooden balcony, Andalusian-influenced patio and original bathroom fittings made health travel architectural. Nearby timber bathing platforms allowed people to enter shallow water away from the shore and became one of the lagoon's defining silhouettes.

Plan the visit

Read the building first from the promenade, where balcony, patio entrance and relationship to the water remain clear. Continue along Playa de la Concha to surviving or reconstructed balneario platforms. La Encarnación is a functioning private hotel and restaurant, not a municipal museum; enter only as a customer or with permission and respect guest areas.

• Walk early or near sunset when the open waterfront is comfortable.
• Ask before photographing inside the hotel or toward occupied rooms.
• Do not repeat historical cure claims as medical advice.
• Check the condition and permitted use of each bathing platform before stepping onto it.

Connect the story

The Los Alcázares place story continues from bathing culture to the 1915 seaplane base and modern municipality.

Sources

Written in September 2026 from the Región de Murcia's official records for Balneario de la Encarnación and the Los Alcázares destination history.

Business access, platform condition and bathing advice can change. Observe private-property boundaries and current lagoon guidance.