Shopping La Torre Golf Resort
There are shops on-site and also plenty of excellent shopping options within a short drive of the resort
While in some closed residential resorts in Spain shopping can be something of a problem, on
La Torre Golf Resort this is not such an issue as there is an onsite SPAR supermarket and another general store next door. In addition, the two nearby towns of Roldán and Balsicas, although small, at least provide the opportunity to fill the fridge; Roldán is substantially larger than Balsicas, and has many more shopping facilities as well as banks, opticians, etc.
The onsite supermarket on La Torre, SPAR, is open from between 9am and 9pm every day of the week, even on Sundays, all year round.
In the general store next door, LOTS, bicycles can also be hired. Both are located about 200 yards from the main northern entry gate on the right.
Apart from the supermarket, La Torre has been designed with this town centre at its heart. This is next to the area signposted “Restaurants” throughout the resort. Set between the hotel and Club house, it has a colourful design with a number of restaurants and bars set over and around the lake. In summer all are open although unfortunately in winter this is not the case, and non-residents are welcome.
There is also a hairdresser’s and beauty salon in the La Torre Golf Resort Town Centre, the Centro de Peluquería y Estética. Opening times are 10am to 7pm from Monday to Saturday in summer and Tuesday to Saturday in winter. An estate agent
Murcia Services, a travel agent, a solicitor’s office and the chemist’s also occupy commercial premises near the restaurant area in the town centre of the resort.
The nearby towns of
Roldán and Balsicas provide adequate opportunities to fill your fridge, with a selection of small shops and supermarkets and various service sector establishments, but these are small towns.
Those looking for a real shopping day out will have to look further afield to Torre Pacheco, (20 minutes’ drive away), which has everything one might expect to find in a typical medium-sized town, or the coastal towns of
Los Alcázares,
San Javier and
San Pedro del Pinatar. Also twenty minutes down the road on the coast of the Mar Menor, these towns are far more international, and the Oasis centre and Avenida Río Nalón in Los Alcázares are filled with a large number of British-style establishments, including both shops and restaurants.
A 15-minute drive away between San Pedro del Pinatar and San Javier is the Dos Mares shopping centre, which includes a cinema (Spanish language films only) as well as a variety of stores and restaurants, and anyone hankering for British food can also nip up to the Iceland supermarket in San Javier.
The Parque Mediterráneo shopping complex in
Cartagena is only a twenty-five minute drive away: apart from numerous clothes stores it includes a large supermarket, a Primark, Media Markt, Toys ‘R’ Us, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin. Those who enjoy their shopping in a more traditional environment can also visit Cartagena’s old city centre, where the pedestrian streets are full of colourful small shops, some traditional and some part of large international franchises, interspersed with bars and restaurants. The largest department store in the city is El Corte Inglés, which is located about a mile north of the Town Hall.
A similar distance away is the regional capital of
Murcia, where the city centre is a shopper’s paradise, combining major chain stores with smaller traditional establishments in the central pedestrian streets, such as Platería and Trapería. The city centre is a maze of small streets clustered around the major thoroughfare of the Gran Vía, and the temptations to stop and have a coffee or a bite to eat in the myriad squares and terraces are hard to resist! In Murcia El Corte Inglés is just off the northern end of the Gran Vía, where it merges with Avenida Libertad.
Outside the centre to the north are the city’s two major out-of-town shopping centres, Thader and Nueva Condomina. Those who enjoy clothes shops will be in seventh heaven here, and among all the establishments touting their wares there are also numerous eateries. Outside the main concourses are other larger superstores, including Ikea, Media Markt, Leroy Merlin and Porcelanosa, where the number of foreign visitors normally ensures that sales staff are able to communicate in English.
Local street markets near La Torre Golf Resort
- Monday: Sucina, Roldán (also includes household items and handicrafts) and San Pedro del Pinatar.
- Tuesday: Los Alcázares (fruit and veg, household goods, clothing, etc.)
- Wednesday: San Javier (mainly fruit and veg)
- Thursday: San Javier (mainly local produce and household goods), Lo Pagán, Balsicas.
- Friday: El Algar (fruit and veg, clothes, jewellery, handicrafts, etc).
- Saturday: Dolores de Torre Pacheco.