VIVA LA VITA

Dubbed the ‘Most Beautiful Park on Costa del Sol’, Paloma Park will certainly make you feel like you’re visiting an exotic destination in Thailand, and not strolling through the middle of a town in Spain.

200 square meters of gorgeous lush surroundings with sea views, exotic tree varieties and bunnies chasing running around in the grass – what’s not to love here?

After spending over 6 years living in Cyprus, with zero access to city parks of this size (or grass for that matter), spotting a huge park close to my new home was certainly a huge reason to get excited.

The park has an artificial lake in the middle, complete with swans (and their babies!), turtles sunbathing on the rocks, ducks and perfectly manicured gardens.

As you walk around, you can spot chickens, ducks, rabbits and peacocks strolling around and finding new hiding places among the exotic trees and plants in here.

If that wasn’t enough, there are over 90 species of palm trees and one of the best collections of bamboo, cactus and succulents in Europe.

The walkways are all named and easy to navigate through, and when you get tired you can take a sip of coffee in one of the three cafes here.

The absolute highlight for me was the cactus garden, in fact, Europe’s richest collections of cacti and succulents. Just the sheer size of them was amazing and I was walking around like Alice in Wonderland.

My husband and son didn’t share the same enthusiasm as running around prickly friends in 36C heat wasn’t their idea of fun. To get you an idea of the size, there are over 2,000 cacti from over 450 different species. 

I can’t wait to return here very soon, as the autumn takes charge of the changing leaves and transforms the park for its winter season.

For now, I will let you enjoy a virtual visit through the photos!