La Unión Today

La Unión Tourist Information

La Unión is a municipality of around 19,000 inhabitants enclosed by the municipality of Cartagena on all sides except the south, where it borders the Mediterranean sea and forms part of the Comarca del Mar Menor.

The most outstanding feature of the municipality is both historical and geographical: the mines, their exploitation the focal point around which the History of La Unión revolves.

For over 2000 years the mines of the Sierra Minera, which stretches from Cartagena to Cabo de Palos, were exploited for their reserves of minerals. The Romans tunnelled deep into the hillsides 2000 years ago, and the process ended with open cast mining gouging the landscape,  millions of tons of waste material dumped into Portmán bay and in the area surrounding the town. In 1991 the mines finally closed when there were too few minerals left to make continued activity economically viable.However, the waste left behind by open-cast mining has left a distinctive landscape, scarred with slag heaps and abandoned mineworkings.

To exploit the tourist potential of the mines the Parque Minero, a mining park has been built, with the imposing Mina Agrupa Vicenta at its heart, and the town has also opened a Mining Museum, the Matildes Mine and a flamenco museum. 

Further plans exist to increase the tourism potential of Portmán Bay through regenerating the bay into which millions of tons of sterile wasters were dumped, building a new marina and further residential accommodation.

The Cante de las Minas is the other important attraction of La Unión, the most prestigious celebration and competition relating to Flamenco in Spain, filling the historic old marketplace, the Catedral del Cante with flamenco every summer. Parallel to this, the town is also developing its potential with the addition of a flamenco school, and regular flamenco performances in the mine itself.

Where is La Unión?

La Unión is just a half hour drive from the regional airport at San Javier and is accessed via local rail and main road connections laong the shores of the Mar Menor and via Cartagena.

Click for map, La Unión